February 15, 2006	Wednesday	Muharram 16, 1427

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ISLAMABAD, Feb 14: The absence of rule of law in many parts of Afghanistan coupled with difficult socio-economic conditions and political instability has been hampering efforts to repatriate Afghans especially from Pakistan and Iran, says a report.

The report prepared by an NGO — Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit — and launched here on Tuesday says Afghans of all ethnic groups continued to experience insecurity due to political instability in their country.

“At present, migration to Afghanistan’s neighbouring countries is prompted by persecution and security-related concerns in only a minority of cases; however, the levels of protection-related departures are still significant in some areas.”

While the migration is primarily economy driven, motivations may overlap and many men still flee their villages because of ethnic tensions, particularly in northern Afghanistan, to avoid forced conscription and taxation by some local commanders.

Besides, personal circumstances such as gender, age and family composition influence decision to migrate. Access to resources such as finances, goods and credit and joblessness not only create hurdles in repatriation but also lead to migration of more people.

The migrants are mostly in their teens, twenties, thirties and early forties. Single men often seek work abroad to save for a dowry as well as to provide for their parents and siblings at home; husbands go in order to send remittances to cover the basic needs of their family.

According to the research, many of the families try to always have one of their men in Iran or Pakistan as a means of ongoing financial support. It is age and marital status but also the composition of the household that determines who migrates. If a father is too old or ill, then he will stay behind and if a family has only one son it is unlikely that he will be allowed to leave for another country.

Unequal economic development: Another reason which leads to hurdles in repatriation is the inequality in finances. Inequitable economic growth seriously undermines Afghanistan’s development, as trade opportunities tend to be monopolised by the rich and powerful. The informal economy and the black market account for a large proportion of the Afghan economy, while the booming drugs trade is controlled by the commanders who keep farmers under pressure to produce.

Even with some economic growth taking place in major cities since the end of the Taliban regime, large-scale investment and national emergency and development programmes have reached different regions in Afghanistan unevenly. The city of Herat in western Afghanistan is thriving because of its trade with Iran.

Impact of drought and pests: Rural Afghan families both with and without land and livestock have had to adapt their livelihoods strategies to deal with the impact of drought. Male migration in particular emerged as a coping strategy in response to the effects of drought in the 1970s and again in the late 1990s. And then in 2004, there was drought in 17 provinces with the loss of groundwater, diminished snow packs and less rainfall. This resulted in crop losses prompting many men as well as former tenants, sharecroppers and small landowners from semi-urban areas to leave their places of origin.

The report has suggested that repatriation of all Afghans from the neighbouring countries is not feasible, and it would have a negative impact on the economic reconstruction of the country. The governments of Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan must recognise that migration is not only a reaction to war and economic hardship but also a key livelihood strategy.