Guarulhos Airport has 122 Afghans waiting to be welcomed

One hundred and twenty-two people, coming from Afghanistan, are awaiting reception at Guarulhos International Airport, in the metropolitan region of São Paulo. According to Guarulhos city hall, two cases of scabies were identified among the refugees.

The municipal administration reported that it provides emergency assistance to Afghans who arrive in the country on a humanitarian visa. “At the airport, Guarulhos city hall offers refugees breakfast, lunch and dinner, in addition to delivering water and blankets. The station's teams are available to meet any emergency needs that arise, including health needs, with vaccines and medical care”, says the statement released by the city hall.

There are also 207 reception spaces made available by the city hall and 50 by the São Paulo state government. However, according to the city hall, they are all occupied.

Medical care is offered by basic health units in the region. There is also help with obtaining documents, such as the CPF, and Portuguese courses.

Refugee flow

Guarulhos Airport has been receiving flows of refugees from Afghanistan since 2021, when the United States (USA) withdrew troops from the country after 20 years of occupation. At the time, the fundamentalist group Taliban took power again.

The Taliban became known as a fundamentalist religious group in the first half of the 1990s. It was organized by rebels who had received support from the United States and Pakistan to combat the Soviet presence in Afghanistan, which lasted from 1979 to 1989, in the midst of the War Cold.

The rise to power was consolidated in 1996, with the seizure of the capital, Kabul.

Once in control of the government, the Taliban carried out executions of opponents and applied their interpretation of Sharia, Islamic law. A violent judicial system was implemented: people accused of adultery could be sentenced to death and suspected theft suffered physical punishment and even mutilation. Beards became mandatory for men, and women could not be seen publicly without their husbands. In addition, they needed to wear a burqa, covering the entire body. Television, music and cinema were banned, and girls were not allowed to attend school.

The occupation of the United States was a reaction to the attacks on the twin towers of the World Trade Center, skyscrapers located in New York. Two planes hit the buildings on September 11, 2001, bringing them to the ground and causing nearly 3,000 deaths. The US accused the Taliban of harboring the terrorist group Al Qaeda, which claimed responsibility for the attack.

In October 2001, military operations began in Afghanistan.

The radicals, however, managed to regain control of the country in 2021, implementing a new fundamentalist government.