The Afghan community in Australia has stepped up to provide significant support their compatriots suffering under the increasingly authoritarian Taliban regime, a new study shows.

A survey by the Australian national University’s Migration Hub found that since the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021, the Afghan diaspora in Australia has mobilised to provide material, economic, social and political assistance.

Since the Taliban’s takeover, Afghanistan has suffered an economic crisis, drought and crop failure.

More than 28 million people, or two-thirds of the population, is in need of humanitarian assistance with the United Nations reporting that four million people are acutely malnourished.

The nation’s health system is in crisis and women’s rights have been eroded by the Taliban, including a recent ban on women even speaking in public.   

The ANU’s survey of Afghan migrants in Australia found 72 per cent of respondents provided financial aid and 70 per cent volunteered or were employed as part of aid efforts.

Also, 57 per cent engaged in advocacy in response to the crisis; and 50 per cent sponsored migration to Australia.

“Providing direct financial aid was the most common way to engage with the crisis, with 72% of respondents taking this action,” the report said.

“Thirty per cent identified a major contribution, and 42 per cent identified a minor contribution. Volunteer or paid work relating to the crisis was also common. 70 per cent of respondents took this action: 22 per cent indicated major engagement and 48 per cent reported minor engagement.

“Fifty-seven per cent of respondents carried out advocacy work or engaged with media following the crisis and 38 per cent of respondents indicated significant engagement, and 19% indicated minor engagement.

The report said Afghans have also been helping their compatriots come to Australia.

“Respondents provided information about migration pathways to Australia unevenly. Forty-four per cent of respondents indicated major engagement. Some members of the diaspora provided information or emotional support over the phone.

“In total, 39 per cent of respondents indicated they had done so – with 24 per cent indicating major engagement and 15 per cent indicating minor engagement with this avenue of support,” the report said.

Former Afghan refugee Jalal Ahmadzai, who arrived in Australia in 2021 after fall of Kabul, said many Afghans were still invested in their homeland.

“Afghans in Australia know what many people, and especially women, still living in Afghanistan are going through and they want to support them. And many still have friends or family there,” Mr Ahmadzai said.

“Afghans see their country as a motherland and that we need to respect and try to nurture it.

“And many of us hope that one day the Talban will be gone, and we can go home and wander through the streets of our youth again,” he said.   

 In 2021, Afghanistan received US$320 million in migrant remittances, a significant decrease from the US$779 million received in 2020.

Afghanistan’s government does not currently engage with the country’s diaspora through formal institutions.

The Afghanistan-born population in Australia is the fifth largest migrant group from Southern and Central Asia. In 2022, an estimated 71,950 migrants born in Afghanistan resided in Australia, up from 2,543 Afghanistan-born residents in 2001.

Migration from Afghanistan to Australia began in the 1980s. Until 2000, the rate of male and female migration to Australia was gender-balanced, the report said.

“Since then, a greater number of men have migrated to Australia. In 2021, 56.7 per cent of the Afghanistan-born population in Australia were male and 43.3 per cent were female.”