LONDON: As a female prosecutor in Afghanistan, Shafiqa Saye knew she would have to run for her life if the Taliban came to power – she had no idea how much it would cost.
Smugglers are taking advantage of Afghans’ desperation to leave the country, after increasing demand for their services makes prices soaring and borders difficult to cross.
Afghans who fled to Pakistan after the Taliban takeover on August 15 last year said members of Pakistani security forces had also given them milk for bribes and that some landlords had doubled or tripled the rent.
“Everyone is taking advantage of our plight to make money from us,” Sai told the Thomson Reuters Foundation from Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan.
The Taliban’s power over the country has prompted mass exodus of Afghans fleeing persecution and poverty.
But border closures by Pakistan, Iran and other neighboring countries, along with the difficulty of obtaining passports or visas, have prompted many to turn to smugglers.
Those taking risky journeys often trek the grueling desert and mountain. Some tunnel under the border fence. Others use fake IDs.
The Center for Mixed Migration, which tracks smugglers’ prices, said fees had already gone up during the COVID-19 pandemic as travel restrictions made it harder to get around, but from August onwards, there was no need to move out of Afghanistan. The scuffle pushed up the prices.
26-year-old Sai, along with her mother and seven siblings, had fled the capital, Kabul, on August 25.
The prosecutor’s family are the Hazaras, a predominantly Shia minority who were targeted by the Taliban when they last ruled from 1996-2001.
The return of the Islamic group to power left Saye fearing for her life. Not only did she help put Taliban members behind bars, but she had been active in protests against the group and was a vocal advocate for women’s rights.
Before leaving Kabul, Sai’s mother was fitted with a fake cannula and intravenous drip.
Pakistan still allows Afghans without a visa to cross in for emergency medical treatment, and the family hoped the border guards would show mercy.
The trick worked, with the help of a few dollars slipped to the right people.
Once the border was crossed, the demand for bribe intensified. Fourteen outposts later and they were $300 poor.
In Islamabad, Saye said his landlord was charging him three times the local rate. They also gave him $700 to pay the police because it is illegal to hire Afghans without a visa.
According to data from the Geneva-based Mixed Migration Centre, people smugglers now charge an average of $140-$193 for Afghans to reach Pakistan through the border town of Spin Boldak, up from $90 a year ago.
The average fee to Iran through Zaranj’s smuggling center is $360-$400, compared to around $250 previously.
Fees vary depending on the length and difficulty of the route, the property and ethnic background of the person traveling, whether they have contacts, and the number of people seeking bribes.
Several Afghans interviewed by the Thomson Reuters Foundation cited much higher fees than the figures collected by the Center for Mixed Migration.
One woman said she was quoted $1,000 for a recent trip to Islamabad with her two children.
Abdullah Mohammadi, an expert at the Mixed Migration Centre, said smugglers are usually part of well-established organized criminal networks.
However, due to the economic crisis and severe drought in Afghanistan, farmers desperate for money to feed their families have also joined in.
“They know what they are doing is wrong, but say they have no other choice,” Mohammadi said.
“Criminal networks are benefiting because they can use these people to expand their operations.”
Taliban also benefited The BBC reported that smugglers who openly took Afghans from Zaranj to Iran paid the local Taliban about $10 per pickup truck.
The Norwegian Refugee Council reported in November that 5,000 Afghan refugees were fleeing Iran every day, although many had been deported.
Most go through Pakistan, but Mohammadi said smugglers were increasingly using a shorter, more precarious route that requires climbing or tunneling under barriers along the Iranian border.
Although the chances of being caught are high, Hazaras often favor this route, which, because of their ethnicity, runs the risk of attacks by terrorist groups on traditional routes through Pakistan.
Mohammadi said smugglers could charge about a third more than non-thousands because of the increased risk from the Taliban, Jundallah and other militias.
Journalist Ismail Lali, 28, said smugglers were getting out of trouble.
Lali, who is also a Hazara, said, “People are so desperate to leave that they can charge whatever they want.”
In August he paid $700 to transport a smuggler to the Pakistani city of Quetta, which included a bribe, but friends report the fee is now $800.
“It has become a lucrative business for smugglers and also for Pakistani police,” he said.
Since arriving in Quetta, he said he had paid a $200 bribe to the police after being repeatedly stopped and threatened with deportation. He no longer dares to go out.
A senior police inspector in Quetta said that the authorities have been given strict instructions not to disturb the Afghans.
The security forces deployed at the posts did not respond to calls immediately.
Migration experts expect some Afghans in Pakistan and Iran to move to Turkey and Europe in the spring.
In January, the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) launched a $623 million appeal to support Afghans in neighboring countries and their host communities.
It has also urged countries to keep their borders open and stop deportations.
The UNHCR said Iran had repatriated more than 1,100 Afghans in a single day in January. Fewer numbers have been reported from Pakistan.
These include Sai’s mother and three sisters, who were deported back in December.
The Taliban have already visited the family in Kabul to inquire about the whereabouts of the prosecutor.
Sai rarely leaves her Islamabad apartment for fear of deportation.
He said, “The Taliban will kill me, or the prisoners they have released will kill me.”