The refugee influx from Afghanistan to Iran and Pakistan since the Taliban (outlawed in Russia) took over has been over 3 million people already, which is about 10% of Afghanistan’s population, CSTO Joint Staff commander Colonel General Anatoly Sidorov told journalists on Thursday.
"The Taliban takeover provoked a massive exodus of refugees from the country. Over 3 million Afghans fled to Iran and Pakistan alone - about 10% of Afghanistan’s entire population," he said.
According to Sidorov, the internal migration in Afghanistan was over 500,000 people, while the number of Afghan US collaborators evacuated from the republic is in the tens of thousands.
He noted that the migration issue really picked up in September, when the radicals started to evict ethnic minorities en masse.
The military official speculated that the eviction of ethnic minorities amid the escalating terror threat can provoke a massive exodus of refugees to Central Asian countries, including CSTO member states.
Sidorov also mentioned the assessment of UN experts, who said that the Afghanistan is about to face a massive famine this fall, caused by the 80% reduction of fertilizers supplied to the northern provinces and the 40% reduction in crop yields. "The situation is exacerbated the significant dependence of Afghanistan’s economy on external financial aid, most of which was blocked after the Taliban takeover," he said.
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