The Phenomenon of Brain Drains in Afghanistan

Abstract:
This paper studies the phenomenon of brain drains, defined as a movement of skilled or specialized labor force from their home country to another, in Afghanistan as an issue concerning public policy and of immediate urgency. It addresses a brief account of the situation with an analysis of the problem from the perspective of security, political and economic stability of the country. It furthermore recommends desirable and viable solutions to the problem includes a fundamental change in the educational and economic system of the country and the establishment of bilateral treaties with foreign countries and industries as an approach of confronting the problem.  
 
Introduction to the topic:
Brain drain is a phenomenon defined as a movement of skilled or specialized people from their home country to another. It could further be explained as a reduction of intellectual or professional resources of a country or region, especially through emigration. The phenomenon is the migration of the vast numbers of scientists, professors, engineers, innovators doctors, and other specialists with a professional point of developing countries to migrate to the developed countries. In Afghanistan brain drain is not a new phenomenon nonetheless; it took a very encouraging turn during the civil war and after 2001 which affected all the spheres of the country and daily life. The government has not only failed to address the issue, but it also has not taken minimum effective steps to overcome the crisis. Thus, this paper will provide a brief account of the situation, the engaged sides and factors to the problem and will suggest desirable and viable solutions.
 
Problem Statement:
Immigration from Afghanistan, in general, has been attributed to many factors within the society, nonathletes, the main factors seem to be insecurity, unstable economic situation, the lake of job opportunities and unstable political situation that led to a brain drain within the country. 
 
The long-term political instability, since the collapse of the monarchy in 1973 and the subsequent Soviet intervention, caused inter-ethnic tensions that led to a civil war in the country. Following that, the brutal rule of the Taliban in the country and the consequent war on terrorism has impacted the educated generation of Afghans the most. It caused them to flee the country in pursuit of better opportunities and basic security. Currently, due to insecurity and instability in the country, a large sum of educated and professionals Afghans have left the country, predominately, to Europe, the United States, and Canada. Though the exact data on educated Afghans who fled the country and their destination since the 1980s is not available; but predominantly these Afghans have taken refuge in the United States of America, Canada, the United Kingdom, and some other European countries. The second factor that masks these numbers is the citizenship rates these Afghans have received in these counties. Though the data that is currently available is due to the recent refugee flow to Europe in which Afghans were ranked the second most national group to have sought refuge in Europe following Syria. (Eurostat, 2016) Similarly, according to the American Community Survey (ACS), a total of 94,726 Afghan foreign-born immigrants resided in the United States as of 2016, which shows a 30% increase since 2006 (The American Community Survey, 2016). Similarly, In the 2016 Canadian Census, about 83,995 Canadians were from Afghanistan (Canada Census, 2016). Even though the above numbers are general about migration and there is no date specifically on brain drain, this process caused Afghanistan to lose the well-skilled youth and workers and affected all the spheres of the community. Afghanistan lost its potential future entrepreneurs, innovators that could have stabilized and improved the country’s investment in education, critical health service, confidence in the economy, tax revenue, short of important and professional workers, lack of professionals at the armed and security forces, and so on. 
 
Problem Analysis:
Security problems and unstable political situation:
Afghanistan, for a long time, has not experienced a stable political situation and the feeble governments had taken the country on an unstable and lengthy political path that both undermined the socio-cultural and political affairs of the country and caused internal instability. Thus, leading to a long-term political decay that challenges the very notion of citizen-state relationship and the basic security that the state has to provide. These political instabilities and the absence of political will and stable ideologies led to the decades of complex and protracted conflicts, specifically, the ongoing war on terror since 2001 that has become one of the main factors to almost all the problems in the country. It teched all the spheres of life and has been the focal obstacle to stabilization efforts. The insecurity in the country pushed people to leave their homes and cities and both migrate to foreign countries or become internally displaced. During the conflict, Afghan citizens have lost their lives, families, and property. Eighteen years on, still the future of the country is unknown to the people. The rising power of terrorist groups like the Taliban than ever before, the unstable relation of the Afghan government with its international partners, and the political conflicts within the unitary government of Afghanistan itself are the main reasons which make Afghan citizens abandon their country. According to UNHCR commissioner to Afghanistan “withdrawal of foreign forces, decrease in the international aid, political uncertainty and deteriorating security situation are the reasons ordinary Afghans are suffering from various problems including economical and losing trust in the government” (Ariana News, 2015). Thus, this has become an important factor in the labor and professional force migration to foreign territories. 
 
Unsustainable economic situation and unemployment:
Similar to the security situation, the political situation of the country affected the economy the most. Though, the relationship between unsustainable economic situations, the absence of employment opportunities and the brain drain necessarily co-exist in every developing country. In the case of Afghanistan, it has become unique and turned into one of the main factors that result in the brain drain phenomenon. After the collapse of the Taliban regime in 2001, millions of Afghans started getting the education and received training hoping to get employed and find well-paying careers.
 
According to Out Look Afghanistan, 400,000 Afghans enter the huge labor force market each year (Out Look Afghanistan, 2017), however, the public and private sectors and the market are unable to provide jobs for this vast number of people. According to the same newspaper, 40 % of Afghan citizens who are able, skilled and willing to work, cannot find jobs. Consequently, while Afghan youth are getting an education, they are unaware of their future jobs and employment prospects. In a post-conflict country like Afghanistan, unsustainable economic situation and unemployment have devastating consequences. Therefore, causing hundreds of thousands of skilled labor force to leave their country in pursuit of work opportunities to provide for their families; elsewhere than Afghanistan. 
 
Policy Recommendations:
This paper attempts to look at the brain drain phenomenon from a different perspective. By ignoring these main aforementioned factors of the phenomenon, it attempts to address the situation from a bottom-up view; meaning that it will focus on three slightest factors that some might ignore as the main causes of this problem. The first in this is considered to be the low or ineffective quality of education, followed by a transition from the economic model that the Afghan government follows. Lastly, by a more likely and short-term solutions to negotiate contracts with countries they are in dire need of skilled labor force.
 

• Bilateral treaties with foreign countries and industries:

Another important; however, the short-term solution to the issue of brain drain in Afghanistan is the negotiation of treaties and contracts with other governments and foreign industries that are in dire need of professional labor force. Though, it may seem not to directly address the issue of brain drain from Afghanistan; it has long-term effects on the issue. This is to the fact that the majority of the educated Afghans that leave the country in pursuit of better opportunities that cause a brain drain in the country are due to economic needs and the security conditions in the country. The government, if it wants to attempt to find a solution that is immediately feasible, is the negotiation of bilateral treaties and labor agreements with foreign countries and industries. Labor agreements in a sense are the primary drivers through which the governing of the labor movement and its legal frameworks are established (Smith, 2017).  Thus, countries from the middle eastern region; e.g. Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates; can be the best partners in such agreements. Some of these states have attempted to negotiate with the Afghan government to supply the labor force of which the United Arab Emirates is a great example of such an agreement (Arabian Business).  The proper management of these agreements would not only prevent brain drain from the country but would help establish regional partners that would support the economy and prosperity of the country. As these countries are the immediate recipients and are in dire need of the foreign workforce; the government would not only be able to properly manage the outflow of the professionals that leave Afghanistan but as well create a source of income source for their families. Therefore, the government will be able to address the following issues related to brain drain from Afghanistan. 
 
a)     This would give the assurance that the professional labor force sent abroad to work will be back to Afghanistan after the end of their contract term. As well they will possess the very needed experience and skillset from a developed and growing economic market that in turn would help the Afghan economy and labor market.
b)     As well it would help to improve the economy in the short-term by the income wages from these laborers; thus, by which the long-term concern of employment opportunities would be met within the country for the professional labor force. 
 
 

• Education:

The current Afghan education system has a fundamental flaw; that is the lack of a comprehensive curriculum that meets the needs of the twenty-first century (Amin, 2016). Under the current system, the choices given to the students are very limited and the career perspectives are too broad. The system encourages the students to look into professional careers, for example, in engineering, politics, medicine, and other general sciences; that perhaps met the needs of the 20th century when it was designed; however, it fails in addressing the needs of the twenty-first century. 
 
The Ministry of Education of Afghanistan (MoE), as one of the key ministries of the Afghan government, should initiate a revision of the general education curriculum, with the objective of aligning the curriculum more closely to employment priorities and better preparation of Afghan youth for work. The current educational curriculum of Afghanistan, both in schools and universities, has been created years ago with the aim of improving literacy and basic education in the country and cannot address the needs of an improving Afghanistan. MoE should approach a curriculum that is deeply rooted in the behaviorism school of psychology placing emphasis on learners’ achievable narrow and broad skills ability. Interrelated skills should be based on society’s or learners’ needs to bear a clear result. Adopting a new curriculum will affect the level of learning and change students’ behaviors accordingly and will certainly fulfill the learners’ expectations. Likewise, it will motivate students and youth of the country to develop modern skills and will encourage innovations in the country. Having more innovative ideas in the country will not merely allow organizations and companies to stay relevant in the competitive market, but it will also play an important role in economic growth. The ability to resolve critical problems depends on new innovations and especially developing countries need it more than ever. This fact finally led to a society where people will have more opportunities for work, education, health, and a prosperous life and will reduce brain drain and migration on a huge level.
 
Following up, MoE should adopt various other faculties and majors in universities that train students for the current market and industry requirements; i.e. technical engineering, physics, computer and software engineering, and finance that encourages innovations. The higher educational system of Afghanistan with its historical background is focused only on a few faculties and majors that train youth for a year. This issue led to a situation where a vast majority of youth are only educated in a few fields that are not in direct need of the community. Adopting new faculties to the higher education system of Afghanistan will not merely train youth in fields that can answer the needs of the society but will also give them innovative ideas that can be implemented inside the country and will lead to more job opportunities and a comparative market. Thus, an updated educational curriculum with various faculties and fields of studies will prepare a generation of Afghans that will successfully take part in the development and prosperity of the country and would train them to be innovative and have the job opportunities that they need at home.
 

• Economy:

The current economic model that the Afghan government adopted hugely relies on the import of most technological products and the export of some dry fruit and raw materials. This beside affecting the economy, affects Afghan professionals the most. It is to the fact that such an economic model discourages innovations within the country and prevents small businesses to grow and compete with multinational business conglomerates and their products. Therefore, it creates a vacuum in the labor force market for professionals and encourages professional labor migration from the country which causes the phenomenon of brain drain in the country. So, for the Afghan government to effectively address the issue of brain drain and to have a long-term solution to the problem, it needs to focus on small scale industries and to promote small business and innovative projects within the country.  Thus, a transition from an import-based economy to an export-based one, not in the traditional sense of exporting dry fruit but rather supporting manufacturing products and factories that would create job opportunism within the country is the very needed approach. The model that this paper attempts to recommend is based on a technologically advanced and innovative industry that, perhaps, can be one of the main sources for the growth of the economy. Thus, creating a long-term solution to the problem of brain drain and professional labor force migration from the country. 
 
Conclusion:
To sum up, brain drain is a phenomenon defined as a movement of skilled or specialized people from their home country to another. It could further be explained as a reduction of intellectual or professional resources of a country or region, especially through emigration. The phenomenon is the migration of the vast numbers of scientists, professors, engineers, innovators, doctors, and other specialists with a professional point of developing countries to migrate to the developed countries. The issue of brain drain for a developing country such as Afghanistan disastrously hindered development and led to a never-ending dependency of Afghanistan on the international community. Considering the causes of the matter, the Afghan government needs to prioritize certain policies that can address the issue fundamentally. Such policies include but are not limited to providing security and political stability. Changes in the educational sector is a fundamental area that the government needs to work on. An updated educational curriculum can prepare Afghan youth to respond to the needs of the skills and education that Afghanistan and other developed countries need. This will be a win-win strategy for both Afghanistan and the countries that need the labor force. Besides, changing the current export-based economic system to an import-based which will focus on small scale industries and will promote small business and innovative projects within the country, is likewise a better, however, long-term solution to the issue. Moreover, in order to prevent permanent migration of the skilled citizens, the Afghan government needs to enter into bilateral treaties with states that are in dire need of labor force.
 
 
References: 

• "2016 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates Afghan". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved February 9, 2018
• Amin, Shamsuddin (2016). Developmental Policy for the Education System of Afghanistan, Ketabton, https://www.ketabton.com/bookfile/876.
• Ariana News. “Insecurity Main Reason of Migration in Afghanistan.” Ariana News, 8 Dec. 2015, https://ariananews.af/insecurity-main-reason-of-migration-in-afghanistan/.
• Asylum applicants in the EU". Eurostat. Retrieved 13 June 2018.
• Bahrami, Ewaz Ali. “Tackling Unemployment in Afghanistan.” Daily Outlook Afghanistan, the Leading Independent Newspaper., 8 July 2017, http://outlookafghanistan.net/topics.php?post_id=12546#ixzz64J1z541y.
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• Bridge, Sam. “UAE Signs Agreement with Afghanistan to Provide Workers.” ArabianBusiness.com, ArabianBusiness.com, 30 May 2018, https://www.arabianbusiness.com/politics-economics/397893-uae-signs-agreement-with-afghanistan-to-provide-workers.
• Smith, Rebekah Lee. 2017. Institutional requirements and policy processes for establishing managed migration with and in Afghanistan (English). Washington, DC : World Bank Group. http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/509851530137762693/Institutional-Requirements-and-Policy-Processes-for-Establishing-Managed-Migration-with-and-in-Afghanistan