Paul Goble
Staunton, Oct. 28 – Since 1991, Kazakhstan has taken in some 1.15 million ethnic Kazakhs from Afghanistan as part of its repatriation program. Now, a group of Kazakhs there which numbers about 300 is appealing to Astana to evacuate them from Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.
Before the Taliban assumed control, such repatriation was relatively easy; but now it faces many obstacles, including both disputes in Afghanistan over who is a Kazakh and who is assimilated to one of the other indigenous Afghan nationalities and both concerns about the values that the Afghan Kazakhs may bring with them.
As a result, a dispute has broken out in Kazakh media as to whether Astana should work to bring home the remaining Kazakhs of Afghanistan, with supporters and opponents changing charges that the other is ignoring an important reality (orda.kz/afganskie-kazahi-prosjat-tokaeva-spasti-ih-i-vernut-na-istoricheskuju-rodinu-408404/ and timesca.com/kazakhstan-responds-to-claims-it-has-abandoned-ethnic-kazakhs-in-afghanistan/).
This dispute is likely to continue for some time but with the most likely end being the eventual evacuation and then absorption of Afghanistan’s Kazakhs into Kazakhstan. Indeed, there is precedent both for how long this will take and the way that this issue will likely become intertwined with others.
That comes from the long-running story of the Wakhan Kyrgyz who wanted to return home but succeeded in doing so only after many fits and starts. (On this history, see windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2023/02/are-wakhan-kyrgyz-finally-going-to-get.html and the sources cited therein.
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