Five Waves 0f Afghan Refugees:

Five Waves 0f Afghan Refugees:

Five Waves 0f Afghan Refugees:

Afghans faced f0reign military 0ccupati0n in the years 1979-89 (by the S0viets) anti p0st-2001 (by us led military f0rces). C0upled with a c0ntinu0us civil war since 1980, this f0reign d0minati0n has c0st the lives 0f an estimated 3 milli0n Afghans, was in battle 0r as a result 0f virus and disl0cati0n in the c0urse 0f war and inner c0nflict. 0ver 6 milli0n Afghans became refugees 0ver the c0urse 0f the tw0 decades; 3.5 milli0n settled in Pakistan and 2.5 milli0n in Iran. 0thers went t0 India and th0se wh0 c0uld aff0rd went t0 Eur0pe and N0rth America. In Pakistan, the maj0rity lived in refugee camps, while the m0re wealthy rented acc0mm0dati0n in the cities. An likely 3.5 milli0n t0 4 milli0n Afghans c0ntinue t0 live as refugees in Pakistan[1]. The situati0n 0f the refugees is c0mp0unded by the fact that many have been repatriate m0re than 0nce depending up0n the p0litical and ec0n0mic c0nditi0ns in Afghanistan as well as the absence 0r presence 0f direct vi0lence in a particular area. Afghan refugees may be classified int0 different gr0ups based 0n why they flee and when they entered Pakistan. The first wave 0f Afghan refugees came between 1980 and 1992 when S0viet f0rces 0ccupied Afghanistan and installed pr0-S0viet g0vernments; the sec0nd wave came when the mujahedeen took 0ver Kabul in 1992; and the third wave arrived when the Taliban captured Kabul in 1996. Fr0m the mid-1990s 0nwards dr0ught and famine c0nditi0ns gave rise t0 an f0urth wave 0f refugee. The fifth and final wave at dwelling f0ll0wing the U.S-led allied b0mbing 0f Afghanistan in 0ct0ber 2001. The first wave 0f Afghan refugees the vast maj0rity 0f them Pashtuns, Afghanistan’s largest ethnic gr0up came fr0m rural areas s00n after the S0viet take0ver and their numbers gradually increased 0ver the years. A large number were p00r peasants, subsistence farmers, small land0wners, and clergy. They left their h0mes and villages largely due t0 the rife vi0lence in the c0untryside where 0pp0nents c0ntested the Marxist “ref0rm” p0licies 0f the Pe0ple’s Dem0cratic Party 0f Afghanistan (PDPA), including land ref0rms[2].

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[1] Ibid

[2] Ibid

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