The Government of Afghanistan must prove it has drastically changed before American officials enlist its help in stemming a flow of refugees that is fueling a European political crisis, according to a US government watchdog report published Thursday.
The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction said that the country’s Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation (MORR) had been so decimated by “corruption and a lack of capacity” throughout the past decade that the State Department should wait and see if it improves before “assist[ing] the new Afghan administration in addressing the needs of Afghan refugee and returnees.”
SIGAR noted that under previous Afghan President Hamid Karzai, MORR was tasked in 2005 with distributing land to “eligible returnees” but failed spectacularly. In 2011, investigations by the State Department and the Middle East Institute cited by the inspector general found that the ministry only distributed land to about one in five of the 270,000 families that applied, while only 3.5 percent of applicants repatriated.
“Poor access to land and shelter in Afghanistan continues to be a key challenge to the successful reintegration of returnees and an obstacle to the voluntary repatriation of refugees,” SIGAR noted.
Asylum seekers fleeing violence, instability and poverty in Afghanistan are currently part of a larger group of refugees seeking sanctuary in European Union member states in record numbers.
In July, the United Nations High Commissioner on Refugees issued a report which found that the first half of 2015 saw an 83 percent year-over-year increase in migrants to Southern Europe. Just more than one in every ten came from Afghanistan, UNHCR said, with the overall surge primarily explained by the brutality of the ongoing Syrian Civil War.
“Many have first fled for safety to neighbouring countries, such as Turkey and Lebanon,” the UNHCR report noted. “But after years of rising pressure, the economies and infrastructure of many refugee-hosting countries are buckling, making it increasingly difficult for refugees to find work, shelter, health care, and education.”
UNHCR also noted that the trend has been met with “a rise in anti-foreigner rhetoric and xenophobia in several European countries, including those traditionally welcoming to refugees.”
“Restrictive policies have been introduced in some European countries, such as fence-building and push-backs,” the commission stated.“UNHCR is concerned that such practices place refugees at risk, pushing them into the hands of smugglers or simply redirecting their movement.”
If that redirection occurs, Afghan asylum-seekers will probably not find much help from MORR. In its Thursday report, SIGAR noted that several UN, State Department and Afghan Government Inspector General reports issued over the past few years have concluded the ministry is “not a reliable partner.” An independent Afghan government report in 2013 “cited bribery, forgery, nepotism, embezzlement, and poor customer services as obstacles” to MORR fulfilling its land distribution mandate. A 2013 UN investigation “found that the MORR misappropriated approximately $117,000 in [UN High Commissioner on Refugees] funds for staff bonuses, reimbursements to officials supported by forged documents, and property rentals that were against UNHCR rules and Afghan laws.” In 2012, UNHCR decided it would primarily be supporting MORR with “non-financial items.”
In 2013, the State Department decided to wind-up its role in an initiative with MORR ahead of schedule, as SIGAR noted, “due to an ‘extremely challenging’ working relationship with the MORR under its prior leadership.”
“When the program ended, State did not extend it or replace it with another capacity building program, citing ongoing capacity and corruption issues within the MORR,” the inspector general stated.
The Afghan government under President Ashraf Ghani, who took office in September 2014, has “expressed its commitment to addressing refugee reintegration needs,” SIGAR noted. The watchdog also reported that State officials have said that, under new its new minister Sayed Balkhi, MORR “has demonstrated that it’s taking positive steps toward fulfilling its mandate.”
The oversight agency nonetheless warned that State should remain patient before resuming work with the ministry. In a letter to high ranking diplomats including Secretary of State John Kerry, SIGAR John Sopko said that extensive multilateral and bilateral cooperation with MORR should resume, but only if State finds that it “has made the necessary progress.”
The State Department has spent more than $950 million to assist Afghan refugee resettlement efforts between 2002 and 2014. More than 85 percent of it has gone to international organizations such as UNHCR, the International Organization for Migration, and the Red Cross.
“State reports that the funding has been used to pay for transportation and initial return needs for over 4.7 million Afghan refugees,” SIGAR noted.
The inter-agency watchdog’s report primarily focused on efforts to repatriate Afghans who have fled three and a half decades of almost continuous war to Pakistan and Iran. The two countries currently host roughly 3.5 million Afghan refugees. About 40 percent of the 2.5 million Afghans residing in Pakistan are undocumented.
Read the full SIGAR report here.
