Afghanistan is now the most dangerous place in the world to be a Christian, according to figures released in the 2022 World Watch List (WWL).

Afghanistan replaces North Korea at the top of the list after 20 years – this despite persecution also rising there this year.

The WWL, which records levels of persecution and discrimination across the globe, found that more than 360 million Christians suffer high levels of persecution and discrimination for their faith – a rise of 20 million from last year.

The number represents one in seven Christians worldwide. This year records the highest levels of persecution since the first list was published 29 years ago, and in recent years has plotted a steady increase.

The report paints a shocking picture of life for Afghanistan’s small, deeply hidden, Christian population, suggesting that:

• Christian men are facing almost certain death if their faith is discovered.
• Women and girls may escape death but may be married to young Taliban fighters who want “spoils of war”. When women and girls are raped, they will be trafficked.
• The incoming Taliban government gained access to recordings and reports that helped to identify Christians inside the country. When located, they were often detained, to identify further networks of Christians, before finally being killed.
• Taliban fighters are tracking down Christians from existing intelligence, even going door-to-door to find them.
• Much of the Christian population has fled to rural regions or refugee camps in neighbouring nations – all of which feature in the WWL as countries hostile to Christians.

Emboldened: the ‘Talibanisation’ of West Africa and beyond

Meanwhile, the fall of Kabul has fuelled a new mood of invulnerability among other jihadist groups worldwide. The groups believe that they will not face serious opposition from the West for their expansionist agendas and are exploiting nations with weak or corrupt governments. Its effects are not yet fully felt in the WWL 2022 reporting period (1 October 2020 until 30 September 2021) but there are strong signs it is set to further boost violence in countries such as Nigeria (#7), Mali (#24), CAR (#31), Burkina Faso (#32), Niger (#33) and DRC (#40) – countries already with high levels of violence.

The current jihadist expansion has moved Nigeria’s former Head of Naval Intelligence, Commodore Kunli Olawunmi, to describe a concerted strategy of ‘Talibanisation’ in Nigeria by the jihadist groups – a deliberate, religiously-motivated degrading of security and order in which state actors and tribal groups are complicit [1]. In Nigeria a total of 4,650 Christians has been recorded as killed – 79 per cent of the worldwide total.

We can see a similar strategy by jihadist groups and their supporters elsewhere in the region.

• Sub-Saharan Africa, already the place where violence against Christians is highest, has faced further steep rises in jihadist violence, with fears that a significant part of the region faces destabilisation.
• Social order in Mali (#24 on the WWL) is deteriorating fast, with fears it could become the ‘next Afghanistan’ with insurgency spilling into neighbouring countries Niger and Burkina Faso.
• Both the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), plagued by the Alliance of Democratic Forces, and the Central African Republic (CAR) have joined Nigeria in the top ten list for levels of violence.

The continuing violence and destabilisation in these areas look set to have serious consequences as hundreds of thousands more around the world flee their homes for safety.

“The rise of Afghanistan to the top of the World Watch List is deeply troubling,” says Henrietta Blyth, CEO of Open Doors UK and Ireland.

“Apart from the incalculable suffering it represents, it sends out a very clear message to Islamic extremists everywhere: ‘You can continue your brutal fight for influence, unchecked.’ Factions like Islamic State and Alliance of Democratic Forces (ADF) now see their goal of an Islamic caliphate – once thwarted in Iraq and Syria – as, once again, achievable. The cost in human lives and misery this new-found sense of invincibility is causing, and will continue to cause, is hard to overstate.”

Open Doors’ 2022 World Watch List (2021 rankings in brackets)

1 Afghanistan (2)

2 North Korea (1)

3 Somalia (3)

4 Libya (4)

5 Yemen (7)

6 Eritrea (6)

7 Nigeria (9)

8 Pakistan (5)

9 Iran (8)

10 India (10)

11 Saudi Arabia (14)

12 Myanmar (18)

13 Sudan (13)

14 Iraq (11)

15 Syria (12)

16 Maldives (15)

17 China (17)

18 Qatar (29)

19 Vietnam (19)

20 Egypt (16)

21 Uzbekistan (21)

22 Algeria (24)

23 Mauritania (20)

24 Mali (28)

25 Turkmenistan (23)

26 Laos (22)

27 Morocco (27)

28 Indonesia (47)

29 Bangladesh (31)

30 Colombia (30)

31 Central African Republic (35)

32 Burkina Faso (32)

33 Niger (54)

34 Bhutan (43)

35 Tunisia (26)

36 Oman (44)

37 Cuba (51)

38 Ethiopia (36)

39 Jordan (38)

40 Congo DR (DRC) (40)

41 Mozambique (45)

42 Turkey (25)

43 Mexico (37)

44 Cameroon (42)

45 Tajikistan (33)

46 Brunei (39)

47 Kazakhstan (41)

48 Nepal (34)

49 Kuwait (48)

50 Malaysia (46)