The rapid Russian-Pakistani rapprochement of recent years has seen these two former rivals synchronize their positions on key issues, notably Afghanistan. Not only have they closely cooperated on the Afghan peace process through the Extended Troika, but they also share the same stance towards Afghan refugees.
Pakistan said that it cannot take any more after already hosting approximately 3 million of them and has also fenced off most of its border with Afghanistan. Additionally, Islamabad is concerned that terrorists might try to infiltrate the country under the guise of Afghan refugees.
Interestingly, Russia has an identical position towards this issue. President Putin said on Sunday that he is very concerned about terrorists infiltrating Russia or its Central Asian allies under the cover of being refugees. He also criticized the West’s efforts to pressure those countries to accept refugees that they themselves will not.
Read more: FM Qureshi says Pakistan can’t afford anymore Afghan refugees
The very fact that two civilizationally dissimilar countries like Russia and Pakistan independently reached the same conclusions on this sensitive issue shows that they are genuinely motivated by security considerations and not any form of discrimination like their critics allege.
We are not accepting refugees from Afghanistan as we don't want Afghan militants in Russia under the cover of refugees — Putin pic.twitter.com/cOVwKbVtI1
— Naija (@Naija_PR) August 22, 2021
Most Western societies (with the recent exception being some in Central & Eastern Europe like Poland and Hungary) never tire of preaching their liberal-democratic dogma. They oftentimes aggressively pressure others to emulate their socio-political models, sometimes under the threat of sanctions or even force.
It is therefore incredibly ironic that they are now balking at receiving potentially countless Afghan refugees and instead want to share the burden with regional countries. Quite clearly, these same Western countries are not being all that sincere, which deserves some further elaboration.
It could very well be that they have learned their lesson from the 2015 Muslim Migrant Crisis and realize how domestically destabilizing it would once again be to accept over a million civilizationally, dissimilar migrants. Should that be the case, then they should simply state their concerns instead of pretending that they do not exist.
They would probably never do that though since it would risk discrediting the liberal-democratic dogma that they have worked so hard to indoctrinate others into believing. Rather, some might want to share this burden with others on the pretext of “everyone doing their part” with the unstated expectation of destabilizing them instead.
Read more: Afghan peace: Why Pakistan should no more “do more”
Not “racist”, just concerned
It’s not a so-called “conspiracy theory” to acknowledge that migrant flows can destabilize recipient states since Ivy League scholar Kelly M. Greenhill convincingly proved that this is the case in her 2010 book provocatively titled “Weapons of Mass Migration: Forced Displacement, Coercion, And Foreign Policy”.
Nevertheless, the Western Mainstream Media suppressed any discussion of her observations (which aren’t unique to her but were most comprehensively proven through her academic work) by criticizing anyone who dared to even suggest that migration could be weaponized as “racist”, “Islamophobic”, and/or “fascist”.
It is false though to claim that either President Putin or Prime Minister Khan are any of those three terrible things since they proudly preside over multicultural societies. Furthermore, the USSR (Russia’s predecessor state) lost around 26 million of its citizens to fascism and Russia has more Muslims than any European country.
Read more: Is Pakistan sending Afghan Refugees back? Answers NSA Dr Mooed Yusuf
These facts should inspire those with integrity who might be critical of these two countries’ refusal to accept Afghan refugees to reconsider their views. The Russian and Pakistani leaderships aren’t “racist”, “Islamophobic”, and/or “fascist”, they just have genuine security concerns related to “Weapons of Mass Migration”.
Andrew Korybko is a Moscow-based American political analyst, radio host, and regular contributor to several online outlets. He specializes in Russian affairs and geopolitics, specifically the US strategy in Eurasia. The article has been republished and the views expressed in the article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Global Village Space.