The Next Wave: Afghans Flee To Europe in Droves

As the situation in Afghanistan becomes ever more chaotic, an increasing number of Afghans are heading towards Europe. But as one family's story shows, the trip often ends in tragedy.
Redwan Eharai's journey ends where it began: in Afghanistan, in the city of Herat. Eharai, a 15-year-old boy, is carrying the heavy body of his mother Sima up the hill to the cemetery, together with neighbors and relatives. He and his mother had set out from Afghanistan together, headed for Germany. Now he is standing at her grave.  She died at the border between Iran and Turkey, struck in the head by a bullet fired by an Iranian police officer.

Many Afghans dream of a better life in Europe. About 80,000 applied for asylum in Europe in the first half of 2015 alone, with most of them going to Germany. They are the second-largest group of refugees and migrants in Germany after Syrians.

At the moment, people are flooding into Herat Province from all over Afghanistan. From there, they drive across the border to Iran or travel farther south to cross into Iran along a less well-guarded section of the border. About 3,000 Afghans are now coming into Iran every day illegally. From there, they continue to Turkey, where they board boats to the Greek islands of Lesbos or Kos and then cross the Balkans to Northern Europe.

This sudden rise in the number of refugees raises fundamental questions for the West, about the success of the almost 14 years of military intervention and reconstruction in Afghanistan, about Western mistakes and about how many schools, hospitals, universities and police academies are needed for the country to be stabilized and made livable for its people. These are painful subjects, especially in light of the billions of euros that were spent on Afghanistan, and the thousands of Western soldiers who died for the freedom of the Afghan people.

This year, a number of factors are coinciding to worsen the situation on the ground: The rigged 2014 presidential election, the ensuing political stalemate and the formation of a coalition, pushed through by the Americans, between two men who were both determined to be president. The result is a dysfunctional government: new president and former World Bank manager Ashraf Ghani, and his rival, Tajik-Pashtun doctor Abdullah Abdullah, are engaged in power struggles while the Taliban, al-Qaida and, more recently, the so-called Islamic State (IS) are gaining control over growing parts of the country.

President Ghani had promised his fellow Afghans effective leadership, jobs and a tough anti-corruption campaign. But none of this materialized. On the contrary, since the international ISAF troops withdrew in late 2014, the amount of money flowing into the country has declined sharply. It's not just the West that has lost interest in Afghanistan: Most Afghans have given up all hope that their country will ever develop in the right direction.

Tens of thousands of translators, construction workers, drivers, bodyguards, cleaning personnel and cooks who worked for the military and international NGOs are now unemployed. Rents and real estate skyrocketed after 2001, when the market was inflated by the wartime economy, but now they have abruptly plunged. The country is in a dramatic downward economic spiral. On Sept. 28, when the Taliban captured the strategically significant provincial city of Kunduz in northern Afghanistan, many people who had held out started packing their bags.

With its many parks, old boulevards and a historic district, Herat, the hometown of Redwan Eharai and his mother Sima, still shows signs of its important past as a trading hub. The main trade routes from the Middle East to Central Asia once crossed in Herat. In the medieval 15th century, when war and chaos prevailed in Europe, Herat was the center of civilization for academics and intellectuals from around the world.

The city is still a center today, but for migrants and refugees who use it as a base from which to begin their journey to the West. The Iranian border is only about 100 kilometers (62 miles) away, making Herat a base for human-traffickers. - Read More at Spiegel

The Next Wave: Afghans Flee To Europe in Droves

More : European Refugee Crisis

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