The situation in Afghanistan can lead to an influx of refugees from this country to Tajikistan. As it turns out, Tajikistan is practically not ready to accept them.
With the Taliban’s rise to power in Afghanistan, many residents of this country have been trying to flee seeking shelter in other countries. Creepy footage from Kabul airport showing Afghans falling from plane after takeoff is a clear evidence of this.
Tajikistan, as one of the nearest neighbors of Afghanistan, may turn out to be a transit point (and maybe a permanent place of residence) for many Afghan refugees.
There are refugees, but it is not known how many
As eyewitnesses say a lot of citizens of Afghanistan managed to fly to Tajikistan through third countries before visa cancellation. According to them, two weeks ago, passengers of flights from Turkey and Dubai to Tajikistan consisted mainly of nationals of Afghanistan.
The Interior Ministry of Tajikistan says it has no data on the number of Afghan refugees who have arrived in Tajikistan over the recent weeks.
Nusratullo Mahmadzoda, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry, says that for this, they must first register at relevant agencies as refugees, but this procedure takes time, and therefore, they do not yet have such data at their disposal.
Tajikistan does not have refugee service centers
Tajikistan has neither refugee service centers nor enough money to pay them allowances. The Afghan refugees who had entered Tajikistan earlier had been supported by UNHCR. Several years ago, UNHCR joint with the Interior Ministry of Tajikistan planned to build the Temporary Accommodation Center for Refugees for 30 families in Roudaki district, but what became of these intentions is unknown.
The Interior Ministry says there is no Temporary Accommodation Center for Refugees in Tajikistan. They also failed to answer what happened to that project.
Apparently, Tajikistan is even not trying to create any conditions for accepting refugees.
What to live on?
An expert in refugee issues says, “As a rule, the countries that host refugees pay for the maintenance of each person the same subsistence minimum that is set for their citizens (the amount does not include accommodation).”
Meanwhile, the subsistence minimum is just not set in Tajikistan.
An official with the Agency for Statistics told Asia-Plus that Tajikistan had adopted the law on the subsistence level (the law was adopted back in 2009), the subsistence minimum itself has not yet been set in the country.
Radio Liberty’s Tajik Service, known locally as Radio Ozodi, citing representatives of the public sector, wrote about the living wage. RFE/RL noted at the time that the subsistence minimum in Tajikistan amounted to 50.00 U.S. dollars.
“According to preliminary calculations, the subsistence minimum [in Tajikistan] amounts to 50.00 U.S. dollars. It was last calculated in 2018. It was noted at the time that a daily ration for citizens of Tajikistan must include 405 grams of bread, 112 grams of meat, 25 grams of fish, 216 grams of milk, 46 grams of butter, 55 grams of sugar, 455 grams of vegetables, 340 grams of fruits, 252 grams of potatoes and half an egg.”
Meanwhile, even preliminary calculations show that the current total cost of these products exceeds the mentioned rate of the subsistence minimum.
And apparently, Afghan refugees will have to get out of difficult situation and solve housing problems themselves if they find shelter in Tajikistan.
However, there is one good thing – Tajik civil society is quite active in these matters issues and can always respond to someone's trouble…
