VOA新闻杂志2024--Displaced Afghans Cross Borders to Survive

Displaced¹ Afghans Cross Borders to Survive

The desert in the mountains of eastern Afghanistan is filled with hundreds of thousands of people. Some live in tents. Others live out in the open after they were forced to leave neighboring Pakistan.

More than 40 years of war, violence and poverty have turned 6 million Afghans into refugees². Another 3.5 million people are displaced within the country of 40 million. Many were driven from their homes by war, earthquakes and drought.

Afghanistan's economy collapsed³ after the Taliban returned to power following the withdrawal⁴ of the United States and NATO allies⁵ in 2021. Now, two-thirds of its population depends on international aid to survive.

Displaced Afghans live in camps around the country. They do not have enough food or firewood for heat in the winter. Women and children often turn to begging. Others marry off their young daughters to families willing to pay them money.

In May, for example, 15-year-old Shamila was married at a camp for internally displaced people outside Kabul. She stood in a bright-red dress among the women of the family who congratulated her. But the girl was unhappy.

"I have no choice. If I don't accept, my family will be hurt," said Shamila, whose father did not give the family's name because he feared the Taliban. The groom⁶'s family is giving her father money to pay off debts taken to support his wife and children.

"I wanted to study and work, I should have gone to school," Shamila said. "I have to forget all my dreams...so at least I can help my father and my family a little and maybe I can take the burden off their shoulders."

Last year, Pakistan decided⁷ to deport⁸ Afghans who entered the country illegally. Many Afghans lived for years in Pakistan. They were afraid of continuing conflicts at home. When Pakistan's order was announced, hundreds of thousands feared arrest and fled back to Afghanistan. The Afghans said Pakistani officials often prevented them from taking anything with them.

Their first stop has been the camp in Torkham, where they might spend days or weeks before Taliban officials send them to another place. With little food and little to protect them from the mountain cold, many in the camp are sick.

In a camp at the foot of a mountain, 55-year-old Farooq Sadiq sat with his wife and children on the ground among some of their belongings⁹. Sadiq said he had been living in the Pakistani city of Peshawar for 30 years and owned a home there. Now they had nothing, not even a tent. He said they had been sleeping on the ground for the past eight nights.

"I have nothing in Afghanistan, no house, no place to live, not enough money to buy a house," he said. He hopes to settle somewhere in Afghanistan and get a visa to Pakistan so he can go sell his home there to use the money for his family.

The deportations from Pakistan have greatly increased the large numbers of Afghans who try to migrate¹⁰ into Iran, hoping to find work.

Every month, thousands cross into Iran at the border near Zaranj. At night, with the help of smugglers, they climb over the border wall and jump to the other side.

Mostly young men, from age 12 to their 20s, flee Afghanistan this way. They plan to work in Iran and send money home to their families. Many are caught by Iranian border guards and sent back.

Others take a longer trip by car through mountains and deserts on Afghanistan's southwestern border through Pakistan to reach Iran. There is no border wall there. But fighters from the Sunni militant¹² group Jundallah often attack the migrants, killing¹³ or kidnapping Shiites among them.

Over several months, Associated Press photographer Ebrahim Noroozi traveled across Afghanistan from its eastern border with Pakistan to its western border with Iran to report their stories.

Words in This Story

drought –n. a severe lack of rain for an extended period

beg –v. to ask people for money or food

groom –n. a man about to be married

burden off (one's) shoulders –idiom to solve a difficult problem or responsibility

deport –v. to legally expel¹⁴ a person, who is not a citizen, from a country

smuggler¹¹ –n. a person who move goods or people from country to country secretly and illegally

1 displaced   

移动( displace的过去式和过去分词 )； 替换； 移走； 撤职

参考例句：

• Gradually factory workers have been displaced by machines. 工厂的工人已逐渐被机器取代。
• He was displaced by another young man. 他已被另一个年轻人顶替。

2 refugees   

n.避难者，难民( refugee的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The UN has begun making airdrops of food to refugees. 联合国已开始向难民空投食物。
• They claimed they were political refugees and not economic migrants. 他们宣称自己是政治难民，不是经济移民。

3 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。

4 withdrawal   

n.取回，提款；撤退，撤军；收回，撤销

参考例句：

• The police were forced to make a tactical withdrawal.警方被迫进行战术撤退。
• They insisted upon a withdrawal of the statement and a public apology.他们坚持要收回那些话并公开道歉。

5 allies   

联盟国，同盟者； 同盟国，同盟者( ally的名词复数 )； 支持者； 盟军

参考例句：

• The allies would fear that they were pawns in a superpower condominium. 这个联盟担心他们会成为超级大国共管的牺牲品。
• A number of the United States' allies had urged him not to take a hasty decision. 美国的一些盟友已力劝他不要急于作决定。

6 groom   

vt.给（马、狗等）梳毛，照料，使...整洁

参考例句：

• His father was a groom.他父亲曾是个马夫。
• George was already being groomed for the top job.为承担这份高级工作，乔治已在接受专门的培训。

7 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

8 deport   

vt.驱逐出境

参考例句：

• We deport aliens who slip across our borders.我们把偷渡入境的外国人驱逐出境。
• More than 240 England football fans are being deported from Italy following riots last night.昨晚的骚乱发生后有240多名英格兰球迷被驱逐出意大利。

9 belongings   

n.私人物品，私人财物

参考例句：

• I put a few personal belongings in a bag.我把几件私人物品装进包中。
• Your personal belongings are not dutiable.个人物品不用纳税。

10 migrate   

vi.（候鸟等）迁徙，移居（国外），迁移

参考例句：

• Many birds migrate south for the winter.冬天时，许多鸟类迁徙南方。
• The rich people often migrate in winter to Florida.有钱的人常在冬季搬迁到佛罗里达州去。

11 smuggler   

n.走私者

参考例句：

• The smuggler is in prison tonight, awaiting extradition to Britain. 这名走私犯今晚在监狱，等待引渡到英国。
• The smuggler was finally obliged to inform against his boss. 那个走私犯最后不得不告发他的首领。

12 militant   

adj.激进的，好斗的；n.激进分子，斗士

参考例句：

• Some militant leaders want to merge with white radicals.一些好斗的领导人要和白人中的激进派联合。
• He is a militant in the movement.他在那次运动中是个激进人物。

13 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

14 expel   

vt.把...开除，驱逐，放逐，排出，喷出

参考例句：

• They were told at first that they should simply expel the refugees.一开始有人告诉他们应该直接将那些难民驱逐出境。
• The headmaster may expel the boy from the school.校长可能要把那个男孩从学校开除。