Migration
Ukrainians flee grim life in Russian-occupied Kherson
It was early one morning when life under Russian occupation became too much for Volodymyr Zhdanov: Rocket fire aimed at Ukrainian forces struck near his home in the city of Kherson, terrifying one of his two children.
His 8-year-old daughter “ran in panic to the basement. It was 2 o’clock in the morning and (she) was really scared,” said Zhdanov, who later fled the city on the Black Sea and has been living in Kyiv, the capital, for the past three weeks.
Kherson, located north of the Crimean Peninsula that was annexed by Moscow in 2014, was the first city to fall after Russia’s invasion on Feb. 24. The port remains at the heart of the conflict and Ukraine’s efforts to preserve its vital access to the sea. For Russia, Kherson is a key point along the land corridor from its border to the peninsula.
Zhdanov and others who made the hazardous journey to escape from the region describe increasingly grim conditions there, part of a heavy-handed effort by Russia to establish permanent control.
The streets in the city, which had a prewar population of about 300,000, are mostly deserted. Rumors swirl about acts of armed resistance and the sudden disappearance of officials who refuse to cooperate with the Russian authorities.
Occupation forces patrol in markets to warn those trying to use the Ukrainian currency, the hryvnia, in transactions. Pro-Moscow officials have been installed in local and regional governments, as well as on the police force. Workers at various municipal services face pressure to cooperate with Russian managers. Most schools have closed.
Supplies of essential goods are uneven, halting most commercial activity. There are shortages of medicines and spikes in the price of other commodities.
Many residents had been determined to hold out as long as possible for a promised Ukrainian counterattack that hasn’t materialized.
“There was physical danger in the city, because there were many soldiers,” Zhdanov said.
A referendum on the region becoming a part of Russia has been announced by Moscow-installed officials, although no date has been set. Meanwhile, officials are pressuring those remaining to take Russian citizenship.
Income from Zhdanov’s family flower business dried up after the currency change, although he kept growing plants anyway.
“It’s difficult to survive with no money and no food,” he said. “Who would want a Russian government if your life, business, and kids’ education are taken away from you? They’ve all gone.”
When he left Kherson with his family, Zhdanov risked arrest by hiding a Ukrainian flag in the bottom of his pack. He had kept the flag from a public protest of the Russian troop presence.
Read: Russia takes small cities, aims to widen east Ukraine battle
Journalist Yevhenia Virlych also stayed for five months and kept working, writing about officials who had allegedly cooperated with the Russians. But she worked while in hiding and feared for her safety, frequently changing apartments and posting photos of Poland on social media to give the impression she had already fled.
“They have tied a knot around Kherson and it’s getting tighter,” Virlych said, adding that locals are being pressured to accept Russian passports. “Russia, which came under the banner of liberation, but came to torture and take us captive. How can anyone live that way?”
Last month, Virlych finally fled to Kyiv with her husband.
Those wanting to leave Kherson must pass a series of Russian military checkpoints. Soldiers search belongings, identity papers and mobile phones, with anyone suspected of supporting the resistance facing interrogation at so-called filtration camps.
As Kherson sinks into poverty, it’s getting harder to leave. A bus ticket to Zaporizhzhia, a city 300 kilometers (185 miles) to the northeast, now costs the equivalent of $160. Before the war, it was $10.
Virlych said she admired the bravery of those who are staying behind as well as of those who risked their lives to join anti-Russian protests in the early stages of the occupation.
She recalled a major demonstration on March 5 attended by more than 7,000 people.
“In all my life, I’ve never seen people take such action,” she said.
By April, the protests had stopped as occupying troops began responding to them with lethal force, Virlych added, saying, “The Russians were opening fire (at crowds) and people were getting wounded.”
Moscow wants to maintain its hold on Kherson, which is strategically located near the North Crimean Canal that provides water to the Russian-occupied peninsula. Ukraine had shut down the canal after the annexation eight years ago, but the Russians reopened it after they took control of the region.
Like Zhdanov, Virlych is still holding out hope for a Ukrainian counteroffensive to wrest the region away from Russia.
“I believe only in God and the Ukrainian armed forces,” she said. “I no longer have faith in anything else.”
Mass awareness crucial for safe migration: Speakers
Speakers at a meeting at Shariatpur district on Friday highlighted the importance of creating mass awareness on the negative aspects of the human trafficking so that everyone is encouraged for safe migration.
Local leaders, media, NGOs, Imams, school and college teachers have been requested to play active role in this regard.
The speakers appreciated such initiative of having all the stakeholders in one platform to address the illegal migration issue properly.
The town hall meeting on "Preventing Human Trafficking and Encouraging Safe Migration" held at the Pourashava auditorium of Shariatpur district was arranged by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with the cooperation of the Shariatpur District Administration.
Nahim Razzaq, Member of Parliament and Member of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs spoke as the chief guest.
Moving abroad? Know the Pros, Cons of Migrating to a New Country
People migrate for many reasons, some of which are economical, while some are personal. Migration can be a very positive experience, providing opportunities and new experiences that can enrich one’s life. It can also be challenging, with the attendant risks and uncertainties. Many people leave their country because of poverty, violence, or political unrest. Others may choose to migrate for a better job, lifestyle, or education opportunities. Whatever the reasons, there are always pros and cons of moving abroad. Let's get to know them.
5 Adantages of Migration
There are many pros to migration, both short-term and long-term. Migrants often find new opportunities and ways to improve their lives. Here are the reasons why people might choose to migrate:
Career growth
Moving to another country can help you grow your career if you are willing to make the necessary changes. Moving to a new country will give you a fresh perspective on how to solve problems and develop new skills.
Read Overcoming Study Gap: How to Start Studying after a Long Break
It can also give you access to new networks and people, which can help you grow your business. Additionally, moving to a new country may challenge you in ways that you haven’t been challenged before, and this can help you become more creative and innovative.
Better education
Moving to a first-world country can help one to get a better education, as many international schools are noted for their high-quality teaching. This can be especially helpful for students who want higher studies as they can get a more diverse and comprehensive education than what is available at home.
Experience a different culture
Moving abroad can be a great experience as you might learn something about yourself, or you could learn something about the culture. By getting to know the people and the customs, you will be able to better integrate into the community and learn the language more easily.
Read Higher Study in China: Scholarship Opportunities for Bangladeshi Students
Furthermore, moving can force you to get out of your comfort zone and take on new experiences, which can help you grow as both an individual and as a person.
Security
Moving to a new country can provide you with life security in a number of ways. By moving to a country with a low crime rate, you can save money on security measures like home security and insurance. If you are looking for ways to give your family more security, consider moving to a new country.
Better lifestyle
Moving to a new country can help you to have a better lifestyle by providing opportunities for new experiences, making new friends, and expanding your knowledge base. By making changes in your living habits and adapting to a new way of life, you can improve your quality of life.
Read Study in the Netherlands: Scholarship Opportunities for Bangladeshi Students
Moreover, the fresh air, new scenery, and different culture can be a great way to boost your mental and physical health. What’s more, living in a new place can provide you with the comfort and freedom that you may not have access to back home.
5 Drawbacks of Migration
There are many factors to consider when making the decision to move to a new country, but some potential downfalls of moving should not be overlooked. While it can be an exciting and rewarding experience, moving to a new country can also have some disadvantages.
Language barriers
Moving to a new country can be hard, but it can also be a great experience. However, you need to be prepared for the fact that you will need to learn a new language. If you do not have a good grasp of the local language, surviving in a new country will be difficult.
Read Study in France: Scholarship Opportunities and Overview for Bangladeshi Students
Culture shock
Culture shock is a common occurrence when moving to a new country, and you might find it hard to adjust to the culture of a new country. You might feel homesick at first, and you may have to get used to a new culture. It can be difficult to adjust to the new way of life and the different customs. In addition to this, it can be hard to make friends since most people in the new country are strangers.
Lack of familiar foods
When people move to a new country, one of the first things that they may notice is that the food is different from what they are used to. This can be a disadvantage because it can be difficult to adjust to this change and find familiar foods.
So, initially, it might be difficult to adapt to the new foods. For these reasons, it is important for immigrants to make sure that they have access to familiar foods while they are living in a new country. It is helpful, if the migrants learn the basic cooking skill before leaving the home country.
Read Study in Australia: Scholarship Opportunities for Bangladeshi Students
High living cost
People often choose to move to a new country in order to improve their quality of life. However, the high living cost can be a disadvantage. It has been seen that people who live in countries with high living costs are less likely to be satisfied with their lives.
Detachment with family
To many, moving to a new country is seen as a rite of passage or a way to start afresh. But for some, the process of uprooting oneself and moving to a different part of the world can create detachment from family and friends back home. Moving can be a stressful and overwhelming experience, which can make it difficult to form relationships with those closest to you.
Final Words
In conclusion, there are pros and cons to migrating to a new country, so be sure to do your research before making the big move. However, if you are determined and have the courage to make a change, then, by all means, go for it. Consider things like the cost of living, job opportunities, and the natural environment before making your decision. Finally, always be prepared for the challenges that come with going abroad - from learning a new language to adjusting to a new culture.
Read Study in Norway: Scholarship Opportunities for International Students including Bangladesh
'Internal migrants need same policy attention as international migrants'
The internal migrants now need to have the same policy attention as international migrants, said Dr Hossain Zillur Rahman, former adviser to the caretaker government, Wednesday.
Before the pandemic expenditure growth was very strong across all household groups. The share of food in the expenditure bundle was decreasing, while the share of non-food items was increasing rapidly. These trends reversed during the pandemic, Dr C Rashaad Shabab, senior lecturer at the Department of Economics, the University of Sussex Business School, said.
However, internal migrant households were best able to protect expenditure from adverse shocks. The expenditure of non-migrant households was the worst affected by adverse shocks during this period, he added.
By 2020, the poverty rate among internal migrant households is very similar to non-migrant households. Thus migration has reduced inequality through social mobility.
"Migration, especially internal migration, appears to enable households to protect expenditure against shortfalls and to prevent them from falling into poverty. It enhances social mobility and so is an important tool to reduce inequalities," Rashaad said.
"Compared to 2017, the volume of remittance fell by 8 percent per household in nominal terms in 2020. When 5 percent inflation per year is added then the reduction in remittance in real terms is at 23 percent," said Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit Chairperson Professor Tasneem Siddiqui.
The amount of remittances sent by female migrants increased by 16 percent in nominal terms, in real terms it reduced by 1.6 percent.
Female internal and international migrants come from more disadvantaged backgrounds. They are more likely to be widowed and divorced and more likely to have lower levels of education, said Professor Tasneem.
The experts were addressing the workshop "Impact of Migration on Transformation to Sustainability: Poverty and Development in Bangladesh" at a Dhaka hotel Wednesday.
RMMRU presented the findings of a long-running panel survey of over 6,000 households, spanning 20 districts of Bangladesh, at the event.
Md Shahidul Haque, former foreign secretary, commended the research for bringing internal migration so strongly to the policy arena for the first time.
The research compared the economic sustainability of internal migrant, international migrant and non-migrant households. It found that among these groups internal migrant households are best able to protect expenditure against adverse climate and health shocks.
Stop migration to Dhaka city to raise its living standard, says Mayor Taposh
No plan to improve the living standard of Dhaka dwellers will work unless the capital-bound migration is stopped, DSCC mayor Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh said on Saturday.
"Around 2 crore 10 lakh people live in Dhaka now. Without decentralisation this might go up by 3 crore within 2030 and 5 crore by 2041," Taposh said.
All the master plans taken to increase the standard of living for the residents of Dhaka will fail if people continue to flock into the capital from outside, he said.
Read: Combing operation to help contain dengue: Taposh
For this reason, the villages and suburbs of the cities should be provided with all modern facilities so that people don't have to come to the capital for the smallest of reasons, the mayor advised.
He was speaking at a seminar titled "Achievements and Future of 50 Years in Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Sector" organized by Local Government Department and Water Aid Bangladesh at the ballroom of Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel in the capital on Saturday.
Speaking as the chief guest, the Minister of Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives Tajul Islam said," A group is trying to disturb the communal harmony of the country for their own selfish interest."
Read: Taposh blames development projects for city’s waterlogging
People's representatives at all levels, including the local government, must be vigilant to deal with this conspiracy, he said.
Describing the recent incidents in Cumilla as part of a conspiracy, the local government minister said, "Strict action will be taken against those involved in the incident by identifying them."
Refugees in fear as sentiment turns against them in Turkey
Fatima Alzahra Shon thinks neighbors attacked her and her son in their Istanbul apartment building because she is Syrian.
The 32-year-old refugee from Aleppo was confronted on Sept. 1 by a Turkish woman who asked her what she was doing in “our” country. Shon replied, “Who are you to say that to me?” The situation quickly escalated.
A man came out of the Turkish woman’s apartment half-dressed, threatening to cut Shon and her family “into pieces,” she recalled. Another neighbor, a woman, joined in, shouting and hitting Shon. The group then pushed her down a flight of stairs. Shon said that when her 10-year-old son, Amr, tried to intervene, he was beaten as well.
Shon said she has no doubt about the motivation for the aggression: “Racism.”
Refugees fleeing the long conflict in Syria once were welcomed in neighboring Turkey with open arms, sympathy and compassion for fellow Muslims. But attitudes gradually hardened as the number of newcomers swelled over the past decade.
Anti-immigrant sentiment is now nearing a boiling point, fueled by Turkey’s economic woes. With unemployment high and the prices of food and housing skyrocketing, many Turks have turned their frustration toward the country’s roughly 5 million foreign residents, particularly the 3.7 million who fled the civil war in Syria.
In August, violence erupted in Ankara, the Turkish capital, as an angry mob vandalized Syrian businesses and homes in response to a the deadly stabbing of a Turkish teenager.
Turkey hosts the world’s largest refugee population, and many experts say that has come at a cost. Selim Sazak, a visiting international security researcher at Bilkent University in Ankara and an advisor to officials from the opposition IYI Party, compared the arrival of so many refugees to absorbing “a foreign state that’s ethnically, culturally, linguistically dissimilar.”
Read: Trump aides aim to build GOP opposition to Afghan refugees
“Everyone thought that it would be temporary,” Sazak said. “I think it’s only recently that the Turkish population understood that these people are not going back. They are only recently understanding that they have to become neighbors, economic competitors, colleagues with this foreign population.”
On a recent visit to Turkey, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi acknowledged that the high number of refugees had created social tensions, especially in the country’s big cities. He urged “donor countries and international organizations to do more to help Turkey.”
The prospect of a new influx of refugees following the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan has reinforced the unreceptive public mood. Videos purporting to show young Afghan men being smuggled into Turkey from Iran caused public outrage and led to calls for the government to safeguard the country’s borders.
The government says there are about 300,000 Afghans in Turkey, some of whom hope to continue their journeys to reach Europe.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who long defended an open-door policy toward refugees, recently recognized the public’s “unease” and vowed not to allow the country to become a “warehouse” for refugees. Erdogan’s government sent soldiers to Turkey’s eastern frontier with Iran to stem the expected flow of Afghans and is speeding up the construction of a border wall.
Read: California governor seeks $16.7M in aid for Afghan refugees
Immigration is expected to become a top campaign topic even though Turkey’s next general election is two years away. Both Turkey’s main opposition party, the Republican People’s Party, or CHP, and the nationalist IYI Party have promised to work on creating conditions that would allow the Syrian refugees’ return.
Following the anti-Syrian violence in the Altindag district of Ankara last month, Umit Ozdag, a right-wing politician who recently formed his own anti-immigrant party, visited the area wheeling an empty suitcase and saying the time has come for the refugees to “start packing.”
The riots broke out on Aug. 11, a day after a Turkish teenager was stabbed to death in a fight with a group of young Syrians. Hundreds of people chanting anti-immigrant slogans took to the streets, vandalized Syrian-run shops and hurled rocks at refugees’ homes.
A 30-year-old Syrian woman with four children who asked not to be named for fear of reprisals said her family locked themselves in their bathroom as an attacker climbed onto their balcony and tried to force the door open. The woman said the episode traumatized her 5-year-old daughter and the girl has trouble sleeping at night.
Some shops in the area remain closed, with traces of the disturbance still visible on their dented, metal shutters. Police have deployed multiple vehicles and a water cannon on the streets to prevent a repeat of the turmoil.
Syrians are often accused of failing to assimilate in Turkey, a country that has a complex relationship with the Arab world dating back to the Ottoman Empire. While majority Muslim like neighboring Arab countries, Turks trace their origins to nomadic warriors from central Asia and Turkish belongs to a different language group than Arabic.
Kerem Pasaoglu, a pastry shop owner in Istanbul, said he wants Syrians to go back to their country and is bothered that some shops a street over have signs written in Arabic instead of Turkish.
Read: EU ministers meet to discuss Afghanistan, refugees
“Just when we said we are getting used to Syrians or they will leave, now the Afghans coming is unfortunately very difficult for us,” he said.
Turkey’s foreign minister this month said Turkey is working with the United Nations’ refugee agency to safely return Syrians to their home country.
While the security situation has stabilized in many parts of Syria after a decade of war, forced conscription, indiscriminate detentions and forced disappearances continue to be reported. Earlier this month, Amnesty International said some Syrian refugees who returned home were subjected to detention, disappearance and torture at the hands of Syrian security forces, proving that going back to any part of the country is unsafe.
Shon said police in Istanbul showed little sympathy when she reported the attack by her neighbors. She said officers kept her at the station for hours, while the male neighbor who threatened and beat her was able to leave after giving a brief statement.
Shon fled Aleppo in 2012, when the city became a battleground between Syrian government forces and rebel fighters. She said the father of her children drowned while trying to make it to Europe. Now, she wonders whether Turkey is the right place for her and her children.
“I think of my children’s future. I try to support them in any way I can, but they have a lot of psychological issues now and I don’t know how to help them overcome it,” she said. “I don’t have the power anymore. I’m very tired.
From 9/11′s ashes, a new world took shape. It did not last.
In the ghastly rubble of ground zero’s fallen towers 20 years ago, Hour Zero arrived, a chance to start anew.
World affairs reordered abruptly on that morning of blue skies, black ash, fire and death.
In Iran, chants of “death to America” quickly gave way to candlelight vigils to mourn the American dead. Vladimir Putin weighed in with substantive help as the U.S. prepared to go to war in Russia’s region of influence.
Libya’s Moammar Gadhafi, a murderous dictator with a poetic streak, spoke of the “human duty” to be with Americans after “these horrifying and awesome events, which are bound to awaken human conscience.”
From the first terrible moments, America’s longstanding allies were joined by longtime enemies in that singularly galvanizing instant. No nation with global standing was cheering the stateless terrorists vowing to conquer capitalism and democracy. How rare is that?
Too rare to last, it turned out.
Read: 9/11 artifacts share ‘pieces of truth’ in victims’ stories
Civilizations have their allegories for rebirth in times of devastation. A global favorite is that of the phoenix, a magical and magnificent bird, rising from ashes. In the hellscape of Germany at the end of World War II, it was the concept of Hour Zero, or Stunde Null, that offered the opportunity to start anew.
For the U.S., the zero hour of Sept. 11, 2001, meant a chance to reshape its place in the post-Cold War world from a high perch of influence and goodwill as it entered the new millennium. This was only a decade after the collapse of the Soviet Union left America with both the moral authority and the financial and military muscle to be unquestionably the lone superpower.
Those advantages were soon squandered. Instead of a new order, 9/11 fueled 20 years of war abroad. In the U.S., it gave rise to the angry, aggrieved, self-proclaimed patriot, and heightened surveillance and suspicion in the name of common defense.
It opened an era of deference to the armed forces as lawmakers pulled back on oversight and let presidents give primacy to the military over law enforcement in the fight against terrorism. And it sparked anti-immigrant sentiment, primarily directed at Muslim countries, that lingers today.
A war of necessity — in the eyes of most of the world — in Afghanistan was followed two years later by a war of choice as the U.S. invaded Iraq on false claims that Saddam Hussein was hiding weapons of mass destruction. President George W. Bush labeled Iran, Iraq and North Korea an “axis of evil.”
Thus opened the deep, deadly mineshaft of “forever wars.” There were convulsions throughout the Middle East, and U.S. foreign policy — for half a century a force for ballast — instead gave way to a head-snapping change in approaches in foreign policy from Bush to Obama to Trump. With that came waning trust in America’s leadership and reliability.
Other parts of the world were not immune. Far-right populist movements coursed through Europe. Britain voted to break away from the European Union. And China steadily ascended in the global pecking order.
President Joe Biden is trying to restore trust in the belief of a steady hand from the U.S. but there is no easy path. He is ending war, but what comes next?
In Afghanistan in August, the Taliban seized control with menacing swiftness as the Afghan government and security forces that the United States and its allies had spent two decades trying to build collapsed. No steady hand was evident from the U.S. in the harried, disorganized evacuation of Afghans desperately trying to flee the country in the first weeks of the Taliban’s re-established rule.
Allies whose troops had fought and died in the U.S-led war in Afghanistan expressed dismay at Biden’s management of the U.S. withdrawal, under a deal President Donald Trump had struck with the Taliban.
THE ‘HOMELAND’
In the United States, the Sept. 11 attacks set loose a torrent of rage.
In shock from the assault, a swath of American society embraced the us vs. them binary outlook articulated by Bush — “Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists” — and has never let go of it.
You could hear it in the country songs and talk radio, and during presidential campaigns, offering the balm of a bloodlust cry for revenge. “We’ll put a boot in your ass, it’s the American way,” Toby Keith promised America’s enemies in one of the most popular of those songs in 2002.
Americans stuck flags in yards and on the back of trucks. Factionalism hardened inside America, in school board fights, on Facebook posts, and in national politics, so that opposing views were treated as propaganda from mortal enemies. The concept of enemy also evolved, from not simply the terrorist but also to the immigrant, or the conflation of the terrorist as immigrant trying to cross the border.
The patriot under threat became a personal and political identity in the United States. Fifteen years later, Trump harnessed it to help him win the presidency.
THE OTHERING
In the week after the attacks, Bush demanded of Americans that they know “Islam is peace” and that the attacks were a perversion of that religion. He told the country that American Muslims are us, not them, even as mosques came under surveillance and Arabs coming to the U.S. to take their kids to Disneyland or go to school risked being detained for questioning.
For Trump, in contrast, everything was always about them, the outsiders.
In the birther lie Trump promoted before his presidency, Barack Obama was an outsider. In Trump’s campaigns and administration, Muslims and immigrants were outsiders. The “China virus” was a foreign interloper, too.
Overseas, deadly attacks by Islamic extremists, like the 2004 bombing of Madrid trains that killed nearly 200 people and the 2005 attack on London’s transportation system that killed more than 50, hardened attitudes in Europe as well.
By 2015, as the Islamic State group captured wide areas of Iraq and pushed deep into Syria, the number of refugees increased dramatically, with more than 1 million migrants, primarily from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq, entering Europe that year alone.
The year was bracketed by attacks in France on the Charlie Hebdo magazine staff in January after it published cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, and on the Bataclan theater and other Paris locations in November, reinforcing the angst then gripping the continent.
Already growing in support, far-right parties were able to capitalize on the fears to establish themselves as part of the European mainstream. They remain represented in many European parliaments, even as the flow of immigrants has slowed dramatically and most concerns have proved unfounded.
Read: From election to COVID, 9/11 conspiracies cast a long shadow
US soldier loses 1 Afghan translator; fights to save another
The two men risked their lives together nearly a decade ago trying to eliminate the Taliban, dodging bullets and forever bonding in a way that can only be forged in war.
Now the American soldier and his Afghan translator were together again in Germany shopping for a suit. Abdulhaq Sodais’s future hinges on an asylum hearing in a German court after he was denied a U.S. visa, and U.S. Army Veteran Spencer Sullivan was there to help him prepare.
Together, they watched videos from Sodais’ hometown: The crackle of gunfire, dead bodies being carted off as black smoke billowed. Once U.S. troops withdrew, the fragile government built over years by people like Sodais and Sullivan collapsed in just days.
“I couldn’t stop crying,” Sodais said. “My father said the Taliban were knocking on every single door in Herat looking for guys who worked for the coalition forces.”
Sullivan already lost another translator, Sayed Masoud, who was killed by the Taliban while waiting for a U.S. visa. It’s a scar Sullivan carries deeply, the realization that the U.S. government is capable of the one thing he never believed: betrayal.
Read:Kabul airport attack kills 60 Afghans, 13 US troops
Sullivan was determined not to let Sodais, who used smugglers to get to Europe, suffer the same fate.
So he flew from California to Germany to help Sodais pick out something to wear for his Sept. 6 asylum hearing.
In a world of hurt and uncertainty, buying a suit was the one thing Sullivan could control. It offered a small hope of making a difference.
A professional appearance just might convince a judge to help keep Sodais safe and uphold the sacred vow that America was unable to keep.
“I made a promise to him just as America made a promise to him to protect him and save his life,” Sullivan said. “I mean how can you turn your back on that promise? I don’t think the answer is more complicated than that. I think it’s actually very simple.”
Sullivan is among scores of U.S. combat veterans working on their own to rescue the Afghans who served alongside them.
Their efforts started long before this month’s chaotic rush to evacuate Afghans after the Taliban’s swift takeover of Afghanistan as U.S. forces withdraw from America’s forever war.
Thousands of Afghans who aided US troops have spent years stuck in a backlogged and beleaguered U.S. Special Immigrant Visa program, while frantic messages of the Taliban hunting them down have been pinging the phones of the American soldiers they helped on the battlefield.
The program was meant to award Afghans for their support by giving them and their families a pathway to the United States. But it has fallen far short, with Congress failing to approve enough visas each year, while the former Trump administration added new security requirements and bureaucratic hurdles that turned the average wait time from a few months into nearly three years.
Others have been denied over what immigration attorneys say were minor or unjust discrepancies in their performance records. Many now fear that the time they were marked as late to work, unfairly or accidentally even, may cost them their escape, and possibly their life.
Sodais and Masoud stood out among the dozen interpreters who worked with the platoon Sullivan led in Afghanistan from 2012 to 2013.
Both interpreters went with his platoon on dozens of missions into villages controlled by the Taliban, taking on fire while unarmed.
In 2013, Masoud applied for a special immigrant visa after receiving death threats for his work. His application included a letter of recommendation from Sullivan who described him as “punctual and professional, an exemplary linguist and trustworthy friend.”
“Granting him a special immigration visa is the least that can be done in order to express America’s gratitude for his services,” Sullivan wrote.
Two years later, Masoud’s application was denied. The U.S. embassy said he had not worked for the U.S. government or its military. In fact, Masoud was hired by a U.S. firm that had a contract with the Department of Defense to provide linguistic services to troops in Afghanistan.
Masoud appealed and Sullivan wrote another letter to the Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy, Kabul, providing more details of his work, but he got no response.
Sullivan reached out to other veterans to see what he could do. He learned he could pay $20,000 to get Masoud smuggled out, but he didn’t want to support a criminal network. Instead, he hoped the U.S. government would come through on its end.
Meanwhile, Masoud’s texts to Sullivan became more sporadic as the threats escalated, forcing him to move from house to house.
“He was becoming increasingly frantic and afraid,” Sullivan said.
Sullivan got the last one in the summer of 2017.
“Hello sir. I am so sorry to reply you late. I got a problem,” Masoud wrote, apologizing for not keeping in better touch with his friend.
“Hey Sayed it’s OK!” Sullivan texted back. “Are you safe?”
Sullivan never got a reply.
Weeks later, Masoud’s brother answered an email Sullivan sent to Masoud’s account: Masoud had been shot by the Taliban after returning home for a relative’s funeral and was dead.
Sullivan was consumed by sadness and guilt. He felt partly responsible since he had posted Facebook pictures of them and wondered if he had put his friend at risk. He wondered, too, if he could have done more to protect him.
“I felt helpless,” he said. “I didn’t know what else I could have done. Maybe I should have spent the $20,000 to pay seedy smugglers.”
A year and 1/2 after his death, Sullivan got an email from the U.S. embassy in Kabul informing him that the Afghanistan Special Immigrant Visa Unit had received his recommendation letter for Masoud.
Read: What's happening with Afghanistan evacuations?
The official wanted to know if the letter was legitimate and if Sullivan would still recommend the applicant so they could begin the process. It included a photo of Masoud with his thick red hair and thin moustache.
Sullivan wrote back to the embassy to inform them that Masoud had been killed while waiting more than four years for his application to be processed.
After Masoud’s death, Sullivan texted Sodais to tell him what had happened to his fellow translator. But he got no reply.
Like Masoud, Sodais also had applied for a special immigrant visa in 2013 and was denied. He applied again in 2015 and 2016. Sullivan sent the U.S. embassy in Kabul letters to support his case.
His last rejection came in 2017. After Sodais’ uncle was beheaded, and his neighbor, who worked as a fuel truck driver for coalition forces, was gunned down by the Taliban while standing in his front doorway, Sodais, who taught himself English using library books because he admired America and believed in its mission, decided he had to find another way out.
His plan would be to go to Europe by land. His brother, who knew someone in a travel agency, helped him get a tourist visa to Iran, and his family knew an Afghan man living there who would end up connecting Sodais to the first of a long line of smugglers.
Sodais left with a backpack full of clothes, and $100 worth of Iranian rials.
Along the way, he met other Afghans who worked for coalition forces also now turning to smugglers to find safe refuge.
Sodais was crammed into cars with refugees stacked on top of each on the floors. They hiked through the mountains in a snowstorm at night and dodged gunfire from Turkish border guards. He was beaten and abandoned by smugglers and jailed and beaten by police.
Meanwhile, his family back in Afghanistan was forced to move because of the Taliban’s growing presence in the area, and urged him to get to safety. He decided to head to Germany since Turkey and Greece were deporting Afghans at the time. His family sold their small general store in Afghanistan to fund his journey.
In the end, it took him seven months and would cost his family $15,000 to get to Germany. Once there, he applied for asylum but was lacking sufficient photos or documentation to support his claims and was immediately denied.
He called Sullivan, who he had not spoken to in more than a year.
“I was like ‘oh my God, he’s alive!’” Sullivan recounted, feeling overjoyed.
Four months later, Sullivan went to see him in Germany and offered to help his case.
Sullivan wrote a transcript for the German court. He sent him photos of his time with his platoon and wrote to the U.S. government to get his record, which showed his contract was terminated in 2013 due to “job abandonment.”
Sodais says he overextended his 30-day leave after going home to deal with a back injury from the blast of an improvised explosive device during a mission.
He was rehired in 2014 by the U.S. military but his contract was administered by a civilian contractor who terminated it in 2016 due to poor job performance.
Sullivan contacted the civilian defense contractor who fired Sodais in 2016 to ask what happened since he had found his work exemplary, but she refused to help him or provide an explanation. The paperwork she signed stated only that he was being released due to “incompatible skill set with the unit’s mission.”
She also would not answer questions about whether she remembered Sodais or had a security concern when contacted by The Associated Press.
Sodais said she falsely accused him of checking his personal Facebook page on the job.
Sodais fell into a deep depression after two years of waiting for a decision by the German courts. The fear of being deported was overwhelming, and he suffered headaches, back aches and other ailments from injuries from the IED blast.
In March of 2020, he tried to end his life, overdosing on pain medication. He spent nearly two months in a psychiatric ward after being diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.
When he got out, he messaged Sullivan.
“I’m alive right now because of Spencer, because of him,” Sodais said later.
Sullivan said he’s just keeping the promise he made on the battlefield. He is helping Sodais write a book to shed light on the experience of Afghan refugees.
For now, Sodais is safe. On Aug. 11, Germany temporarily halted the deportation of all Afghans due to the upheaval but did not specify how long the order would last.
“Germany is filling our moral void,” Sullivan said of the U.S. government’s failure to help.
But Sodais worries his luck will run out once deportations resume.
“Really sometimes, it’s really hard for me to fight against this life,” he said on a Zoom call with Sullivan as he rattled off his fears over what’s happening in Afghanistan, his guilt over not being able to save his family there, and his anxiety over whether he will ever have a future.
And how will he ever get to the United States, where he wants to live? he asks.
Read:G-7 grapples with Afghanistan, an afterthought not long ago
Sullivan interrupts, stopping his downward spiral, and reminds him to stay focused on the Sept. 6 asylum hearing.
“Step one is we keep you alive,” he said. “We get you asylum in Germany and everything else will follow.”
Sullivan had to stay focused, too. Sodais was the one U.S. ally he felt he could possibly save. Days later, he would get an email from Masoud’s brother, who worked for a U.S. military base, pleading for help. He included photos of his mother and uncle who were recently killed.
Sullivan knew there was little he could do since they had never worked together.
At the suit store in Bremen, on Sullivan’s second visit, Sodais exited the dressing room in a black suit.
“Nice! Do a spin,” Sullivan joked, twirling his finger and patting his friend on back as they look in mirror. “You’re looking sharp.”
Sodais chuckled.
It is a moment of lightness after talking about what they’ve been through and what’s to come.
Before Sullivan leaves, Sodais breaks down, and Sullivan embraces him as he sobs.
“It’s OK,” Sullivan says. “You’re going to make it.”
Australia sends jets to fly personnel from Kabul
The latest on Afghanistan:
CANBERRA, Australia — Australia is sending three transport and air-to-air refueling jets with 250 military personnel to repatriate more than 130 Australians and their families from Afghanistan, officials said on Monday.
Australia is also working to evacuate an undisclosed number of refugees, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said in a statement.
The support comes as the U.S. and other nations scramble to evacuate diplomats and Afghan employees and their families from Kabul. The Taliban a day earlier toppled the Western-backed government.
An Airbus A330 airliner modified for aerial refueling would support U.S.-led operations in Afghanistan later this week, Australia’s Defense Department said in a statement. Two C-17A Globemaster heavy transport aircraft would also be sent to the Middle East, the statement said.
Australia shut its Kabul embassy in May and withdrew the last of its troops from Afghanistan in June.
More than 39,000 Australian military personnel have served in Afghanistan since 2001, and 41 died there.
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LISBON, Portugal - Portugal’s defense minister says his country is prepared to take in 243 Afghans, and their families who worked with Portuguese forces stationed in the country.
Defense Minister João Gomes Cravinho said NATO is coordinating the evacuation of the Afghans because Portugal doesn’t have the military capacity to do so.
Read:Taliban seek to project calm as US speeds chaotic evacuation
He told public broadcaster RTP late Sunday he is not aware of any Portuguese citizens living in Afghanistan.
Portugal had a small detachment of fewer than 200 troops stationed at Kabul airport, as part of the NATO mission in the country. The last ones pulled out at the end of May.
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STOCKHOLM — Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde said Monday that 19 embassy employees had been evacuated from Kabul to Doha, Qatar and they’ll eventually flown to Sweden.
Earlier Monday, Norway and Denmark said that the bulk of the embassy staff were out of Afghanistan.
Norway Foreign Minister Ine Eriksen Soereide said for the sake of the Norwegians it was done overnight.
Denmark’s Defense Minister Trine Bramsen told Danish broadcaster DR that while most Danish diplomats had been evacuated, “there are still Danes,” and others in the country still to be flown out.
Challenges include being able to land at Kabul’s chaotic airport, he said. But there’s a struggle, too, to get people to the airport, “a very difficult operation,” Bramsen was quoted as saying.
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LONDON -- British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace says the government is planning to fly out 1,500 more people from Afghanistan over the next two days.
The first flight carrying British nationals has landed in the U.K., he said Monday, as countries scrambled to evacuate their diplomats, Afghan employees and their families from the chaotic airport in Kabul.
Wallace expressed hope that the government will be able to evacuate around 1,000 people a day, including Afghan nationals who have helped British citizens.
He told the BBC that work is under way to “remove any bureaucratic barriers” to make sure people who pass screenings are able to be flown to the U.K.
He said the British government sent more than 600 troops over the weekend to Kabul to help secure the airport and “to effectively process, manage and escort people onto our flights to get them out of Afghanistan.”
Wallace said one of the “biggest regrets” with the speed of the collapse of the Afghan government is that the timetable to remove Afghans and British people from the nation by Aug, 31 has had to be shortened.
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Read:Concerns over US terror threats rising as Taliban hold grow
In post-pandemic Europe, migrants will face digital fortress
As the world begins to travel again, Europe is sending migrants a loud message: Stay away!
Greek border police are firing bursts of deafening noise from an armored truck over the frontier into Turkey. Mounted on the vehicle, the long-range acoustic device, or “sound cannon,” is the size of a small TV set but can match the volume of a jet engine.
It’s part of a vast array of physical and experimental new digital barriers being installed and tested during the quiet months of the coronavirus pandemic at the 200-kilometer (125-mile) Greek border with Turkey to stop people entering the European Union illegally.
Read:Boris Johnson, fiancée Carrie Symonds wed in London
A new steel wall, similar to recent construction on the U.S.-Mexico border, blocks commonly-used crossing points along the Evros River that separates the two countries.
Nearby observation towers are being fitted with long-range cameras, night vision, and multiple sensors. The data will be sent to control centers to flag suspicious movement using artificial intelligence analysis.
“We will have a clear ‘pre-border’ picture of what’s happening,” Police Maj. Dimonsthenis Kamargios, head of the region’s border guard authority, told the Associated Press.
The EU has poured 3 billion euros ($3.7 billion) into security tech research following the refugee crisis in 2015-16, when more than 1 million people — many escaping wars in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan — fled to Greece and on to other EU countries.
The automated surveillance network being built on the Greek-Turkish border is aimed at detecting migrants early and deterring them from crossing, with river and land patrols using searchlights and long-range acoustic devices.
Key elements of the network will be launched by the end of the year, Kamargios said. “Our task is to prevent migrants from entering the country illegally. We need modern equipment and tools to do that.”
Researchers at universities around Europe, working with private firms, have developed futuristic surveillance and verification technology, and tested more than a dozen projects at Greek borders.
AI-powered lie detectors and virtual border-guard interview bots have been piloted, as well as efforts to integrate satellite data with footage from drones on land, air, sea and underwater. Palm scanners record the unique vein pattern in a person’s hand to use as a biometric identifier, and the makers of live camera reconstruction technology promise to erase foliage virtually, exposing people hiding near border areas.
Testing has also been conducted in Hungary, Latvia and elsewhere along the eastern EU perimeter.
Read:In time for summer, Europe sees dramatic fall in virus cases
The more aggressive migration strategy has been advanced by European policymakers over the past five years, funding deals with Mediterranean countries outside the bloc to hold migrants back and transforming the EU border protection agency, Frontex, from a coordination mechanism to a full-fledged multinational security force.
But regional migration deals have left the EU exposed to political pressure from neighbors.
Earlier this month, several thousand migrants crossed from Morocco into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta in a single day, prompting Spain to deploy the army. A similar crisis unfolded on the Greek-Turkish border and lasted three weeks last year.
Greece is pressing the EU to let Frontex patrol outside its territorial waters to stop migrants reaching Lesbos and other Greek islands, the most common route in Europe for illegal crossing in recent years.
Armed with new tech tools, European law enforcement authorities are leaning further outside borders.
Not all the surveillance programs being tested will be included in the new detection system, but human rights groups say the emerging technology will make it even harder for refugees fleeing wars and extreme hardship to find safety.
Patrick Breyer, a European lawmaker from Germany, has taken an EU research authority to court, demanding that details of the AI-powered lie detection program be made public.
“What we are seeing at the borders, and in treating foreign nationals generally, is that it’s often a testing field for technologies that are later used on Europeans as well. And that’s why everybody should care, in their own self-interest,” Breyer of the German Pirates Party told the AP.
He urged authorities to allow broad oversight of border surveillance methods to review ethical concerns and prevent the sale of the technology through private partners to authoritarian regimes outside the EU.
Read:Rise in UK coronavirus cases stoke concerns over 3rd wave
Ella Jakubowska, of the digital rights group EDRi, argued that EU officials were adopting “techno-solutionism” to sideline moral considerations in dealing with the complex issue of migration.
“It is deeply troubling that, time and again, EU funds are poured into expensive technologies which are used in ways that criminalize, experiment with and dehumanize people on the move,” she said.
The London-based group Privacy International argued the tougher border policing would provide a political reward to European leaders who have adopted a hard line on migration.
“If people migrating are viewed only as a security problem to be deterred and challenged, the inevitable result is that governments will throw technology at controlling them,” said Edin Omanovic, an advocacy director at the group.
“It’s not hard to see why: across Europe we have autocrats looking for power by targeting foreigners, otherwise progressive leaders who have failed to come up with any alternatives to copying their agendas, and a rampant arms industry with vast access to decision-makers.”
Migration flows have slowed in many parts of Europe during the pandemic, interrupting an increase recorded over years. In Greece, for example, the number of arrivals dropped from nearly 75,000 in 2019 to 15,700 in 2020, a 78% decrease.
But the pressure is sure to return. Between 2000 and 2020, the world’s migrant population rose by more than 80% to reach 272 million, according to United Nations data, fast outpacing international population growth.
At the Greek border village of Poros, the breakfast discussion at a cafe was about the recent crisis on the Spanish-Moroccan border.
Many of the houses in the area are abandoned and in a gradual state of collapse, and life is adjusting to that reality.
Read:European regulators OK Pfizer vaccine for children 12-15
Cows use the steel wall as a barrier for the wind and rest nearby.
Panagiotis Kyrgiannis, a Poros resident, says the wall and other preventive measures have brought migrant crossings to a dead stop.
“We are used to seeing them cross over and come through the village in groups of 80 or a 100,” he said. “We were not afraid. ... They don’t want to settle here. All of this that’s happening around us is not about us.”