The first event led to the second and third events - all outlined under the question "What prompts our interest in this issue?" and all taking place beyond Australian shores. The fourth event took place in Australia. Australians and the Australian Government were involved in all four events - either directly or through voiced support. The significance in terms of this unit was that in Afghanistan the attacks from the air prompted thousands to flee from the cities into the surrounding regions or towards the country's borders in the hope that they would make it to a refugee camp. These movements away from the cities contrasted with the refugee migrations in earlier years when the opposite occurred - Afghanis left the countryside and fled to the cities in search of food.
There are many issues associated with the facts outlined above. But, the immediate humanitarian issue concerned the 'new' refugee crisis which arose from the bombing and the ways in which this compounded an already desperate refugee situation. Aid workers spoke of a refugee crisis 'inside and outside Afghanistan'. Before the events of September 11 and the commencement of bombing on October 7th there were a few media reports of the plight of thousands of Afghanis both within and on the borders of Afghanistan. For example in April 2001 The Australian reported the death of a five year old child, Abdurahman Tupalan, from diphtheria in a refugee camp on Afghanistan's northern border.
"Tupulan was merely the latest child to die in an increasingly desperate camp that (had) been dug into a remote island in the River Pjang, part of the 1,206 km border between Afghanistan and Tajikistan, one of the former Soviet Union's poorest republics. About 3,000 Afghan refugees (were) stranded ... for six months in exceptional squalor and grave danger....The refugees could hardly (have been) in a more desperate situation.. From behind, they (were) being shelled by the Taliban, who (were) less than 2 km away. In front the Tajiks (had) mined the riverbank. The border guards (were) under orders to repel any attempts by refugees to cross into Tajikistan. The island, less than 4.8km long, (would) soon be flooded as melting snows swelled the Pjang." (4/04/01, page 8)
The Age reported that:
"The UN said yesterday that 1000 Afghans (were) arriving each day at camps in the western city of Herat seeking food and shelter. The situation in western Afghanistan (was) deteriorating with the approach of summer and the refugees (were) fleeing the worst drought in 30 years and fighting between the Taliban and the opposition" (7/04/01, page 27).
In October 2001 the United Nations estimated that up to 2.2 million people were internally displaced because of the bombing and earlier events in Afghanistan. The Afghans made there way to temporary refugee camps on the country's borders, taking the total number of war and drought affected people in Afghanistan to more than 7 million. In the same month UNICEF's (United Nations Children's Fund) regional representative warned that 100,000 children were at risk.
"Afghan children (were) already one of the most traumatised generations of children in the world...I ask (the world community) not to turn (their) back on the children of Afghanistan yet again". (Source: John Zubrzycki, "UN says 100,000 children will die", The Australian, 16/10/01, page 10.)
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| Arif Ali 4 years old at the Jalozai refugee camp in Pakistan | Treena 15 years old at the Jalozai refugee camp in Pakistan |
 | These three photographs were taken by Mathias Heng for Caritas Australia. Caritas is the Catholic agency for overseas aid and development. It conducted an emergency appeal for humanitarian aid in Pakistan during the fighting in Afghanistan. For more information contact Caritas Australia |
| Refugees from Kabul at the Jalozai refugee camp in Pakistan |
The map in the section "Background to Afghanistan" shows where the Afghans refugees (sometimes labelled IDP's - Internally Displaced Persons) were headed in 2001 and the table gives information on the numbers involved.
| Refugees moving towards: | Ex-Soviet Republics (Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan) | Iran | Pakistan |
| Refugees numbers | 100,000 + | 400,000 + | 1,000,000 + |
| Refugees already in: | 1,000,000 + | 2,000,000 + |
| People within Afghanistan requiring emergency assistance: 7,000,000 |
