The Afghan community in Australia

Australia is home to a vibrant and diverse Afghan community. This is reflected in the community’s rich cultural activities, languages and cuisines in Australia. However, Afghan migrants also face various challenges in settling in Australia. This article, prepared by our Community Engagement Officer, Dr Nargis Zakokhail, introduces us to the Afghan community in Australia and explores their journey of strength and resilience.

Introduction

This article looks at the demographics of the Afghan community in Australia and challenges Afghan immigrants face. Afghanistan, a landlocked and ethnically diverse country in Central Asia, has endured over 40 years of political conflict, civil war and invasions. These struggles have forced millions to flee, with over 2.6 million registered Afghan refugees worldwide. Many have settled in countries like the USA, Germany, Canada, the UK as well as Australia. Afghanistan remains one of the top three countries producing refugees due to its long history of instability.

About Afghanistan

Source: National Geographic

Afghanistan is a landlocked country defined by the Hindu Kush Mountain range in the heart of southern Central Asia. The mountain passes in Afghanistan allow travellers passage across Asia. The country was a busy section of the Silk Road, a route that merchants used to travel across between China, India and Europe for over 2,000 years.

Afghanistan was settled around 7000 B.C. but its borders kept being redefined for most of its history. Alexander the Great conquered Afghanistan in 330 B.C. and brought the Greek language and culture to the region. The Mongols, led by Genghis Khan, invaded in the 13^th century. In 1747, Pashtun elders held a council meeting called a Loya Jirga and created the kingdom of the Afghans. The British and Afghans fought in three wars in the 19^th and 20^th centuries, but the Afghans finally defeated the British in 1919 and formed an independent monarchy in 1921.

Due to many years of war, the countryside is littered with unexploded mines and children who herd animals are often killed by stepping on mines. Many schools have been destroyed but children, including girls, still go to school in ruins or wherever possible. Decades of war, hunting and years of drought have reduced the wildlife population in Afghanistan. Tigers used to roam the hills but they are now extinct. Bears and wolves have been hunted nearly to extinction. Endangered snow leopards live in the cold Hindu Kush. The rhesus macaque and the red flying squirrel are found in southern areas of the country. The country is rich in the vibrant blue stone, lapis lazuli, turquoise, ruby, emerald, agate and many other kinds of natural and precious stones.

Linguistic diversity

Afghanistan is linguistically diverse, with many regional dialects spoken. For example, varieties of the Dari language include Hazaragi and Aimaq but they’re sometimes classified as standalone languages. Hazaragi is spoken by the Hazara people in Afghanistan, as well as by many people in Pakistan (Quetta). It is also spoken in Iran (Mashhad), eastern Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.

Afghans in Australia

Moving to Australia – a journey of strength and resilience

Cameleers were the first Afghans who came to Western Australia in 1838. These men helped the British explore Australia’s deserts. However, they were not allowed to bring their wives, so most were single men. From 1901 to the 1970s, the White Australia Policy stopped more Afghans from coming. Later, in the 1970s and 1980s, some Afghans arrived after the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979.

Many Afghans fled their country due to war, poverty and disasters. More came after 9/11 and during the Taliban regime struggles. For people who seek asylum and refuge, this process is even more difficult due to the circumstances under which they depart their home country. Afghan refugees may experience ongoing difficulty due to post-migration stressors such as unemployment, limited English proficiency, discrimination, news reports of continuing violence in Afghanistan and anxiety for the safety of family members still in Afghanistan.

A study found that 89% of Afghan migrants faced trauma before coming to Australia, and 40% experienced stress. Still, 84% feel good about living in Australia. Challenges like finding housing (75%) and learning English (69%) are common. Many attend English classes to improve their English language and literacy skills.

By June 2022, 71,950 Afghan-born people lived in Australia – double the number from 2012. Afghans now make up 0.9% of all migrants in Australia. Most came through Skilled, Family or Temporary visas.

Demographic snapshot

This table shows whether a person has Australian citizenship. The data is used to understand the tendency of different migrant groups to take up citizenship and to measure the size of the groups eligible to vote.

This table was created based on the response to the country of birth of person question during this data was collected. The high number of males born in Afghanistan may show the needs to earn money and support their family in home country, however in total females are more persecuted by the recent regime and they must seek asylum.

Afghan languages spoken in Australia

Languages spoken by the Afghan community in Australia are Dari, Pashto, Hazaragi, Tajiki, Uzbeki, Aimaq, Baloche, Urdu, Persian and English as well.

The Afghan community in Australia has been resilient. As of 2021, roughly 28% of people born in Afghanistan were attending educational institutions and 49% of people aged 15 years and over were employed. Support for the Afghan community continues to grow with more cultural societies, increasing in size and making an impact

Religion and Events in Australia

Islam is the second-largest religion in the world after Christianity, with about 1.8 billion Muslims worldwide. It is one of the three Abrahamic religions – the others being Judaism and Christianity. It is a monotheistic faith that worships one God, called Allah.

Ramadan is one of the five pillars of Islam and Eid al-Fitr is significant in celebrating the end of an intense month of fasting, prayer, self-reflection and charity. It is a time for families and friends to come together and rejoice with food and drink, gift each other presents and dress up in new clothes. It popularly involves special festivities for children and the youngest members of families

Wealthy Muslims usually slaughter lambs, goats, cows or camels on the day of Eid Al-Adha (also known as Eid-e Qurban). Each family consumes one third of the meat of the slaughtered animal they offer, distribute one third among family and friends, and one third among the poor. The holiday is inspired by a story from the Quran that is also known to Christians and Jews.

Although Nowruz has Persian and religious Zoroastrian origins, the festival has been celebrated by a diverse array of communities for thousands of years. Today, 300 million people celebrate the festival worldwide, including most in Afghanistan, to promote the values of peace and solidarity both within families, among friends and across communities.

Yalda is the beginning of winter and the last night of autumn and the longest night of the year. It is a Persian festival celebrated in Afghanistan and other countries. This night symbolises togetherness, poetry, and hope as Afghans worldwide welcome the symbolic victory of light over darkness.

English language proficiency

Source: Department of Home Affairs

This table classifies a person’s self-assessed proficiency in spoken English if they have indicated that they speak a main language other than English at home. While individuals who speak only English at home are included as a separate category, they are not part of the self-assessed spoken English proficiency classification. As English is a second language in many schools, overall English language proficiency is generally high.

Permanent additions 2022–23 (%)

Source: ABS

This table shows the high percentage of additions of Afghan refugees in each state, especially through the skill stream visas, which were lower in previous years. Further migration is expected to continue, as the political situation remains fragile. Terrorist attacks continue to indicate that it is unsafe for many Afghans living in Australia or other countries to return.

Challenges faced by Afghan refugees in Australia

Though facing various challenges, the Afghan Australian community has been very resilient. As of 2021, roughly 28% of people born in Afghanistan were attending educational institutions and 49% of people aged 15 years and over were employed. Support for the Afghan community continues to grow, and cultural societies are increasing in size. A study (2021) in Melbourne showed that more than 62% of Victoria’s Afghan community members are illiterate which provided challenges in understanding their basic human rights and accessing services. Afghans in Australia are eager to study and train, making up for lost opportunities. However, learning English is a major challenge, especially while adjusting to a new education system and coping with past trauma. Many balance these struggles with settling into a new country, but young refugees remain highly motivated to succeed despite the difficulties:

• Transitioning from life in refugee camps or a lengthy limbo
• Being placed in classes by age, rather than their educational level
• Adjusting to formal education for the first time
• Pressure to start working to support themselves or their family
• Under-resourced public schools that find it difficult to meet their needs
• Difficult home environments where the process of settlement means family members cannot support them as much
• Pressure to support older family members because of their better English
• Discrimination and racism in and outside school.

The critical barriers to English language learning for Afghan refugee women in Australia were pedagogical and sociocultural, and included issues of self-esteem and motivation. Recent studies in 2022 show Afghan society is male dominated, with women often confined to household roles. In Australia, Afghan women gain skills but face community disapproval when challenging gender norms, this may affect using translators in health sector. Families struggled to find interpreters during labour, especially in their dialect. Translated info was inconsistent, and health professionals used pictures. People were unsure about health professionals’ roles beyond pregnancy and infant care. A study (2020) looked at how interpreters (in Dari, Arabic and Italian) help in health communication. It found that interpreters follow professional standards but face challenges like patient education and time limits. They often go beyond just translating to help communication. Recommendations made for better communication and training for health professionals, interpreters and patients.

This is highlighted in the experience of an Afghan with disability, who mentioned “when [I was] in hospital the interpreter isn’t available any time, so [it was] very hard to communicate with [the] doctor”, and that [I] do not know how to find out, how to contact, how to talk”, even when interpreters are used.

Former Afghan refugees have been facing several challenges in the context of socio-economic aspects of their lives in Australia, one of which is the problem of revealing their identity as Muslim-Afghans in Australia. Due to negative feedback that most of participants received from Australian society about Afghanistan, mainly after 11 September 2001, they were uncomfortable with expressing their Afghan identity while communicating with people outside of the Afghan community. Ali and Saeed told their stories about hiding their Afghan background since they had experienced discrimination. They shared:

“At first, sometimes people would ask me: where are you from? And I would say: I am from Afghanistan. Then they would say: Oh, Taliban. Or they’d say do you know Osama Bin laden? So, I realised that I don’t have to tell them the truth. Since then, whenever somebody asks me where are you from? I say Tajikistan or Uzbekistan.” – Ali, 39 years old.

“My younger brother is a student at […] University. One day I was working with him in a construction project and the man that we were working for asked my brother what do you study? My brother replied: piloting. Then the man said: “oh. Okay, you plan for hijacking”. It really made me sad and for a couple of days and decided not to tell people my nationality anymore.” – Saeed, 41 years old.

As a result, after the tragic events of 11 September, Muslim immigrants have been targets of discrimination in Western countries and this has led them to hide their identities. This particularly makes them feel that they are seen as “others” in these societies. This was the experience of Mr. A, a former refugee:

“I was a psychologist in Afghanistan and had worked in hospital to support my people for many years, but due to recent changes in country, I had to fled and save my family. Upon arrival on Australia, I no longer had an identity. I was only known as “Name” who struggled to even put two English words in a sentence, but I did not give up. I started fresh and began my new life in Australia by taking the first step of learning English. However, I understand not only sociocultural, emotional and educational support required for refugee women, but they need for provisions such as childcare to facilitate their participation in language learning classes. I learned a lot of new skills but still I working as a cleaner as I don’t have previous experience in many other casual jobs.

On my arrival to Australia, I knew English, but still worried about the transport, school enrolment, shopping, and how to settle here, as I was not eligible for case worker. I didn’t know how will help me in these cases. Finally, I met people from my country in a playground and they guided me how to register in community and where can ask for help. I found my way by beating challenges.”

Conclusion

Afghanistan is a key source of migrants to Australia, with 71,950 Afghan-born residents by 2022. Most live in NSW (32%) and Victoria (26%) and speak Dari (43.5%) or Hazaragi (33.9%). Many face challenges like low English skills, housing problems, and mental health issues, but 84% say their experience in Australia is positive.

The government plans to provide 15,000 humanitarian and family visas from 2021 to 2025. Afghan migrants show resilience and strong cultural ties. Targeted policies to improve language skills, housing, and mental health are essential. With continued support, Afghan migrants can fully integrate, contributing to Australia’s multicultural society.

Afghan migrants face barriers like language proficiency, housing affordability, racism, and trauma-related mental health challenges. Geographic concentration fosters cultural connections but risks social isolation. Children endure disrupted education and identity struggles. Government programs, including English classes and visa provisions, aim to support integration. Improved employment opportunities and tailored community-based initiatives remain critical to addressing persistent challenges.