The message is: If you must leave, go to neighboring countries, but don\u2019t come here.<\/b>
\nHANGEDIGI, Turkey \u2013 From above, the new border wall separating Turkey from Iran looks like a white snake winding through the barren hills. So far it only covers a third of the 335-mile border, leaving plenty of gaps for migrants to slip across in the dead of night. Traffic on this key migration route from central Asia to Europe has remained relatively stable compared to previous years. But European countries, as well as Turkey, fear the sudden return of Taliban rule in Afghanistan could change that. Haunted by a 2015 migration crisis fueled by the Syrian war, European leaders desperately want to avoid another large-scale influx of refugees and migrants from Afghanistan. Except for those who helped Western forces in the country\u2019s two-decade war, the message to Afghans considering fleeing to Europe is: If you must leave, go to neighboring countries, but don\u2019t come here. \u201cIt must be our goal to keep the majority of the people in the region,\u201d Austrian Interior Minister Karl Nehammer said this week, echoing what many European leaders say. European Union officials told a meeting of interior ministers this week that the most important lesson from 2015 was not to leave Afghans to their own devices, and that without urgent humanitarian help they will start moving, according to a confidential German diplomatic memo obtained by The Associated Press Austria, among the EU\u2019s migration hard-liners, suggested setting up \u201cdeportation centers\u201d in countries neighboring Afghanistan so that EU countries can deport Afghans who have been denied asylum even if they cannot be sent back to their homeland. The desperate scenes of people clinging to aircraft taking off from Kabul\u2019s airport have only deepened Europe\u2019s anxiety over a potential refugee crisis. The U.S. and its NATO allies are scrambling to evacuate thousands of Afghans who fear they\u2019ll be punished by the Taliban for having worked with Western forces. But other Afghans are unlikely to get the same welcome. Even Germany, which since 2015 has admitted more Syrians than any other Western nation, is sending a different signal today. Several German politicians, including Armin Laschet, the center-right Union bloc\u2019s candidate to succeed Angela Merkel as chancellor, warned last week that there must be \u201cno repeat\u201d of the migration crisis of 2015. French President Emmanuel Macron stressed that \u201cEurope alone cannot shoulder the consequences\u201d of the situation in Afghanistan and \u201cmust anticipate and protect ourselves against significant irregular migratory flows.\u201d Britain, which left the EU in 2020, said it would welcome 5,000 Afghan refugees this year and resettle 20,000 Afghans in coming years. Besides that, there have been few concrete offers from European countries, which besides evacuating their own citizens and Afghan collaborators, say they\u2019re focusing on helping Afghans inside their country and in neighboring countries such as Iran and Pakistan. Europe \u201cshould not wait until people stand at our external border,\u201d EU Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johanson said. EU Council President Charles Michel acknowledged the challenges facing Europe when he visited Madrid on Saturday to tour Spain\u2019s emergency hub for Afghan refugees. \u201cPartnerships with third-party countries will be at the heart of our discussion in the European Union. We have to adopt strategies that ensure migration is possible in an orderly and consistent fashion,\u201d he said. \u201cWe need to find that balance between the dignity of the European Union and the capacity to defend European Union interests.\u201d Greece, whose scenic islands facing the Turkish coast were the European point of entry for hundreds of thousands of Syrians, Iraqis, Afghans and others six years ago, has made clear it doesn\u2019t want to relive that crisis. Migration Minister Notis Mitarachi said Greece won\u2019t accept being the \u201cgateway for irregular flows into the EU,\u201d and that it considers Turkey to be a safe place for Afghans. Such talk makes Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan see red. His country already hosts 3.6 million Syrians and hundreds of thousands of Afghans, and he has used the threat of sending them to Europe for political leverage. \u201cTurkey has no duty, responsibility or obligation to be Europe\u2019s refugee warehouse,\u201d Erdogan warned in a speech Thursday. The Turkish president talked about migration from Afghanistan in a rare phone call with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Friday, and also is discussing the issue with Iran. Attitudes toward migrants have hardened in Europe following the 2015 crisis, fueling the rise of far-right parties like the Alternative for Germany, the biggest opposition party in parliament ahead of Germany\u2019s parliamentary election next month. Even in Turkey, migrants from Syria and Afghanistan, once treated like Muslim brethren, are increasingly viewed with suspicion as the country grapples with rising inflation and unemployment. Acknowledging the public\u2019s \u201cunease\u201d about migration, Erdogan noted how his government has reinforced the eastern border with Iran with military, gendarmerie, police and the new wall, which has been under construction since 2017. AP journalists near the Turkish border with Iran encountered dozens of Afghans this week, mostly young men, but also some women and children. Smuggled across the border at night in small groups, they said they left their country to escape the Taliban, violence and poverty. \u201cThe situation in Afghanistan was intense,\u201d said one young man, Hassan Khan. \u201cThe Taliban captured the whole of Afghanistan. But there is no work in Afghanistan, we were compelled to come here.\u201d Observers say there are no indications yet of any mass movement across the border. Turkish authorities say they have intercepted 35,000 Afghans entering the country illegally so far this year, compared with over 50,000 in all of 2020 and more than 200,000 in 2019. UNCHR estimates that 90 percent of the 2.6 million Afghan refugees outside of the country live in neighboring Iran and Pakistan. Both countries also host large numbers of Afghans who left in search of better economic opportunities. By comparison, about 630,000 Afghans have applied for asylum in EU countries in the past 10 years, with the highest numbers in Germany, Hungary, Greece and Sweden, according to the EU statistics agency. Jan Egeland, secretary-general of the Norwegian Refugee Council, said it\u2019s not a forgone conclusion that the Taliban takeover will result in a new refugee crisis. \u201cI would warn against a self-fulfilling prophecy,\u201d he told AP. Afghans are \u201cscared, bewildered but also hopeful that a long, long war will be over and maybe now they can avoid the crossfire.\u201d He said much depends on the Taliban allowing development and humanitarian work to continue. \u201cIf you would have a collapse of public services and if there would be a major food crisis, there will be, for sure, a mass movement of people,\u201d Egeland said. Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page. Enter your email and password to access comments. Forgot Password? Don’t have a Talk profile? Create one. Invalid username\/password. Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration. Create a commenting profile by providing an email address, password and display name. You will receive an email to complete the registration. Please note the display name will appear on screen when you participate. Already registered? Log in to join the discussion. 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