As the Obama administration escalates the military presence in Afghanistan, the future of 30,000 Afghan asylum seekers has become increasingly uncertain. As they face repeated displacement from their country of origin and continual rejection of political asylum, more and more Afghan immigrants find themselves stuck between a rock and a hard place.

Despite the withdrawal of troops in Iraq and the supposed stability of Afghanistan, the Secretary General of the Security Council of United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) released a report in June, 2010, with some alarming facts. According to the World Press, the report stated that the number of security incidences in Afghanistan have markedly increased since 2005.

According to the report, “The overall security situation has not improved. Indiscriminate anti-government element attacks against civilian targets, government representatives and international military forces continued. The alarming trend of increased improvised explosive device incidents and the occurrence of complex suicide attacks persisted.”

According to the BBC, thousands of Afghans seek safety through political asylum every day. In a country where the Taliban target civilians and government employees who are perceived to be supportive of the United States, it’s very difficult to differentiate between friends and enemies, and many Afghans seek refuge from the dangerous situation that faces them at home.

Now, Afghani civilians face concerns regarding not only the unsupportive social infrastructure, but their own personal safety as well. According to The Washington Post, recent years have seen the number of Afghani refugees increase dramatically, due in part to military operation and in part to the volatile social situation.

“What’s driving this sharp increase is an uncertainty among the population about the future,” said Ahmad Nader Nadery, a commissioner at the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission to The Washington Post. “As the discussions about troop withdrawal become much more serious, this is a question of survival. They don’t see the current fragility in this government allowing it to make a smooth transition to prevent the Taliban from coming back.”

People who call Afghanistan home now live in constant fear; fear of the threat of random violence, fear of both internal and external enemies, and fear of the future of their country. In addition, many asylum seekers risk rejection, humiliation, and even death in their attempts to gain asylum.

“People are coming into the office absolutely destitute and under threat of deportation, and saying that they would rather kill themselves here than go back to their countries and face imprisonment, torture or death,” said Mohammed Asif, director of the Scottish Afghan Society to The Independent. “We want a full inquiry.”

It’s not uncommon to hear horror stories of immigrants and refugees forced to leave their homes and faced with the harsh reality of being able to call nothing familiar – stories about good-hearted and ambitious immigrants dying a tragic death in a country thousands of miles from home.

Perhaps more inescapable, however, is the reality of cruel immigration policy and the threat of deportation from the countries in which they are seeking asylum.

“Men and women are being forcibly removed from the UK back to Afghanistan under the pretext that it is safe for us to go back,” said Asif to The Independent. “In fact, Afghanistan has never been more unstable or dangerous.”

Unable to integrate and succeed in a society fundamentally opposed to their success, asylum seekers too often become victims of circumstance.

In 2004, after escaping extreme hardship in Afghan, a promising young refugee committed suicide in Glasgow, Scotland, The Independent reports.

In a tale that reflects the struggle of asylum seekers around the world, the young man faced bitter persecution both at home in Afghanistan and abroad.

“He couldn’t understand why he was considered so low,” said Ali Mohammed, a close friend of his, to The Independent. “Every day was the same. There were threatening letters from the Home Office, and racial abuse from gangs of teenagers in the street.”

With no support group, unreliable housing, inconsistent employment, and racial intolerance, this is no isolated incident. Despite their intention to escape the violence in their home country, many asylum seekers find themselves in an alternative milieu of destitution.

“His family hadn’t seen him for such a long time and they wanted him home whatever the cost,” said Asif. “They can’t understand how he could escape the trouble in Afghanistan and die like this in Britain.”

Asylum seekers endure immense misfortune, and often in their attempts to escape, they find persecution and cruel indifference abroad. They escape only to find themselves the victim of a new situation.

Philip Ruddock, who was the Immigration Minister at the time, showcased his callous approach to the situation, in an interview with The Times.

“The fact that somebody (a refugee) might tragically die may well be as tragic as a road accident in Sydney,” Ruddock stated in reference to the plight of asylum seekers.

The reality remains that many asylum seekers turn to the global community for a helping hand in a time of dire need, but, instead, they often receive the apathy of bureaucracy.