Afghans in Ukraine are the country's largest diasporic community with origins outside of the former Soviet Union.
During the existence of the Soviet Union, Afghans were the largest foreign group studying in Ukraine. After the resignation of the pro-Soviet president of Afghanistan, Mohammad Najibullah, in 1992, some Afghans in Ukraine applied for asylum.[1] Other Afghans had returned to Afghanistan and served in the security forces during the Afghan Civil War of 1989 to 1992, with some then returning to Ukraine. Some male students married Ukrainian women.[2] Many Afghans in Ukraine live in Kyiv and Dnipro, where some run small businesses that recruit workers from Afghanistan.[1] There is also an Afghan community in Odesa, "made up of successive waves of exiles, refugees, and migrants" as well as commercial traders.[3] The 2001 Ukrainian census recorded 1,008 people of Afghan nationality.[4]
In 2019, Ukraine was hosting 1,034 Afghan refugees.[1] At the end of 2020, 1,449 Afghans had permanent residency in Ukraine and 233 had temporary visas.[5]
After the withdrawal of United States and other foreign troops from Afghanistan, in September 2021 the Ukrainian military evacuated Afghans alongside Ukrainian citizens from Afghanistan, now under the control of the Taliban. This followed previous rescue missions that had followed the fall of Kabul on 15 August 2021.[6] In the context of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, TOLOnews reported that there were around 6,000 Afghan refugee in Ukraine, many of whom lacked permission to leave the country.[7]
A number of Afghans in Ukraine have volunteered with the Ukrainian army against the Russian occupation in 2022.[8] There is one known Afghan commander in the army, namely Jalal Noory, who joined following the Russian invasion.[9]
Notable people
See also
References
- ^ a b c Odynets, Svitlana (2020). "Not really at home: Adaptation strategies of Asian migrants in Ukraine". Asian and Pacific Migration Journal. 29 (3): 422-443. doi:10.1177/0117196820968901. S2CID 227906228.
- ^ Marsden, Magnus (2015). "From Kabul to Kiev: Afghan trading networks across the former Soviet Union". Modern Asian Studies. 49 (4): 1010–1048. doi:10.1017/S0026749X14000584. S2CID 143926099.
- ^ Marsden, Magnus; Ibañez-Tirado, Diana (2015). "Repertoires of Family Life and the Anchoring of Afghan Trading Networks in Ukraine". History and Anthropology. 26 (2): 145–164. doi:10.1080/02757206.2014.1002375. S2CID 145621182.
- ^ "The distribution of the population by nationality and mother tongue". All-Ukrainian Population Census 2001. State Statistics Committee of Ukraine. Retrieved 28 February 2022.
- ^ Abibok, Yulia (5 November 2021). "Ukraine's Afghan Diaspora Sees Change Coming". Institute for War and Peace Reporting. Retrieved 28 February 2022.
- ^ Schwirtz, Michael (24 September 2021). "A Nervy Trip to Kabul: How Ukraine Negotiated With the Taliban and Rescued 96 Afghans". New York Times. Retrieved 28 February 2022.
- ^ "Afghan media highlights 28 Feb 22". BBC Monitoring. 28 February 2022. ProQuest 2633912105.
- ^ "Meet the Afghan refugees fighting Russia's latest invasion".
- ^ "The Afghan refugee commanding Ukrainian troops". BBC News.
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