2/09/2018

AFGHANISTAN'S KYRGYZ AFTERMATH


WAKHAN : For centuries, the nomadic Kyrgyz people traveled freely across Central and South Asia, fording rivers and cutting across snow-capped mountains with their herds of livestock.

TODAY, they are stuck on the ''roof of the world'' -caught in Afgnaistan's remote and mountainous   Wakhan Corridor with little hope of a way out.

Political upheaval and violence has boxed them in. There are no roads and, and one by one the nearest borders have closed, condemning the Kyrgyz to a terrible treacherous life.

A Communist coup in Kabul in 1978 spurred them to flee, led by their leader Haji Rehman Gul over  16,3000 Irshad pass into Pakistan.

But after several hundrd died to the water-borne diseases, most of the group returned to Wakhan.

After the disastrous exodus, Rehman begged the US government to resettle the group in ''yak friendly'' Alaska, but their requests were denied by Washington.

A small-group of Kyrgyz was later given asylum in Turkey, but the rest still battle for survival in Wakhan.

''Finally the government of Kyrgyzstan has started repatriation and some families moved this year,''  says a handout.

The Kyrgyzstan embassy in Kabul, however, denied any efforts to repatriate the community, insisting that the small number taken to Kyrgyzstan were sent for educational purposes only.

Securing a future for them in Kyrgyzstan is these people best hope for survival :

''Who would like to live here, but there is no other way......... We never become old because we die young.''

AFP.

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