Should Singapore offer these desperate Afghans a visa and a safe home here?

[ASEAN NOW News]

Today, millions of Afghans have been spread out across Central Asia for decades now. And in recent years, Afghans have been encouraged to repatriate back to their home country under the promise of a brighter tomorrow.

 

That time seems to be at an end, and the scenes from the Kabul airport show that the exodus from the country is likely only just beginning.

 

At least 400,000 Afghans have been forced from their homes in 2021 by fighting and are displaced within their own country, according to the U.N.’s refugee agency.

 

Some 2.9 million people were already internally displaced in Afghanistan by the end of 2020, and 2.6 million Afghans were refugees abroad.

 

In Europe, where anti-immigration policies and rhetoric has surged after more than 2.5 million people—most fleeing from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq—sought asylum in 2015 and 2016, and welcoming more refugees is politically toxic to many voters.

 

British citizens and dual nationals residing in Afghanistan board a military plane for evacuation from Kabul airport, Afghanistan August 16, 2021, in this handout picture obtained by Reuters on August 17, 2021. LPhot Ben Shread/UK MOD Crown copyright 2021/Handout via REUTERS

 

The parallel between the Vietnam War and Afghan War is troubling. In both cases, the U.S. became involved in a foreign war without having a clear picture of what our ultimate objective was.

 

The US largely took over the direction of each war from a corrupt host government.

 

Many citizens of the host country placed reliance on the U.S. to provide for their safety, come what may.

 

In the case of Vietnam, even though the US knew weeks beforehand that the fall of South Vietnam was imminent, they made no concerted effort to extract the Vietnamese who had steadfastly supported the U.S.

 

When their government fell, many thousands who had helped, trusted, and relied upon the US were murdered or incarcerated to the great dishonor of our nation.

 

Hundreds of thousands of refugees fled the south and, although we gave many of them sanctuary, help was slow in coming.

 

First Vietnam, now Afghanistan

 

The final chapter in Afghanistan has yet to be written, but it must not end up with a betrayal of our friends.

During the long and tortured course of America’s war in Afghanistan, many Afghans stepped forward at their great peril, to serve and help protect overseas military personnel.

 

As the international withdraw from Afghanistan began, the Taliban have stepped up their violent attacks and the danger to these friends has dramatically increased.

 

Panic in the streets of Kabul

 

Surely, everyone is morally obligated to provide them sanctuary within our borders, and to the thousands of Afghans that fear for their lives?

 

Immigration takes time

 

There are two special immigrant visa (SIV) programs in place to bring Afghan’s back to the U.S., but they are mired in red tape — it takes up to three years to process an application.

 

Meanwhile there is a backlog of nearly 19,000 SIV applicants, with about 50,000 family members.

 

They are waiting in line, living in fear of death. There are not enough slots to take care of the backlog. The vetting process is understaffed, underfunded and overly burdensome.

 

In this crisis situation, there are two feasible alternatives — either review existing documentation in the files and grant visas to those who U.S. personnel have credibly vouched for in the files, or extract the SIVs and families from Afghanistan and complete any necessary vetting in a safe location.

 

Now the Taliban have taken over, this is creating a flood of refugees, fleeing for their very lives.

 

So, what can SE Asian countries do to help?

 

Central Asian countries bordering Afghanistan are already bracing for the influx of refugees as thousands of Afghan nationals scrambled to escape the Taliban, who are feared for their unbridled extremism.

SE Asia cannot ignore their plight as well, so what are they doing?

 

Most SE Asian governments are currently focused on getting their own citizens back home safely quickly.

 

At the moment, it is difficult to find a reliable statistic for any other Asian countries.

 

However, the Philippines has been the first SE Asian country to officially state their position.

 

The government is ready to welcome refugees fleeing the Taliban-controlled country, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said this week.

 

“All those who need care because they are persecuted in their countries, you have a place here in the Philippines,” he said in a press briefing.

 

Roque said the Philippines, through the decades, admitted asylum seekers such as the Russians fleeing the civil war between the White Army and Bolsheviks in the 1920s; German and Austrian Jews fleeing persecution by the Nazis; and the “boat people” who fled South Vietnam after it fell to the communists.

 

“Since time immemorial, the Philippines has had jurisprudence—even before it adopted the Convention of Refugees—welcoming asylum seekers. As the Supreme Court said [in one of its decisions], the Philippines will not hesitate to admit individuals fleeing their homelands because of fear of persecution,” he said.

 

Afghans already here

 

According to Wikipedia, as of December 2020, there are 7,629 registered Afghan refugees residing in Indonesia under the care and protection of the UNHCR.

 

The government of Japan reported 3,509 natives of Afghanistan residing in its country, Malaysia has approximately 1,100 Afghans. in China, there are an unknown number of Afghan traders based in the international trade city of Yiwu.

 

Around 15,806 similarly reside in India, mostly in Delhi.

 

Eventually all governments cannot ignore the plights of these desperate people.

 

What is your opinion as an expat?

 

Do you think your host country should open its borders to let Afghans escape?