- who is living in the United States & sent a link to this article.

Dear friend,

I am surprised how anyone would be afraid of the small number of asylum seekers entering Europe - small in comparison to the actual number of citizens: We (in Germany) had about 450,000 registered asylum seekers up to now, with about 600,000 people inside the country registered as refugees but not yet registered as asylants. These are the largest group in all of the European countries.

Compared to our population of 83,000,000 this is a very small proportion, in fact it's 1,27% of incoming new citizens - and this number is going to shrink because not all here now will be accepted to stay.

As to the link you sent:

Iran
was a close ally of the U.S.A., backed because of the interest of your country in the oil surfaced there. Since the Shah (Rheza Pahlewi) turned away from the Americans and started to seek alternatives in the former USSR and emerging China he was no longer backed and the opposition to his dictatory rule, supported by the clerics, came to power.

Afghanistan
had been attacked by the former USSR and the Americans backed the Taliban to keep the Russians busy & occupy their troops so that they would not be a threat elsewhere.

Finally,
in recent years the U.S.A. started a series of wars [direct: Kuwait, Irak, Afghanistan; indirect: Lebanon, Syria, Tunesia.] in the Middle East to stabilize the steady flow of oil from this region.
Wherever the US intervened - driven by the assumption that all countries should embrace the same principles as they do themselves - it ended in disaster.

The reason we have so many asylum seekers - to conclude from the above - is the US action in the Middle East, displacing Millions that are fleeing from war & destruction in their countries [Afghanistan, North Africa, Syria].

Today's United States thrive from two factors:
Selling arms & computer technology - and doing ALL neccessary to make this possible. Even at the cost of human suffering & starvation, with more and more reckless means, keeping a military force that eats up the majority of the budget, while neglecting infrastructure and education.

Treaties like TPP / TTIP and the like and enforcing a copyright law beneficial only to the big US players are used to withstand any desired changes by the rest of the world, while keeping a tight grip on information by spying on every citizen in every country on this planet via NSA.

Maybe you haven't realized:
The United States is a high security prison in itself. With tight controls [body scan, fingerprinting, iris scan] & the decision who is let in and out at the border assigned to mediocre servants who don't have the personality needed when handed over power like this - it's almost like "The Truman Show" at a somewhat different level.

To sum up:
The US actions around the globe are destabilizing many countries whose citizens then seek a better life elsewhere - like in Europe.

It's not the expansion of Islam, it's the narrow mindset of fundamental christian believers in the U.S.A. causing this mass migration by trying to defend the United States against a threat that doesn't really exist - except in their minds. And it's the action of big corporations keeping their business of selling weapons rolling by stirring up conflict all around the world by steering the US gouvernment(s) & secret services to initiate turmoil and destruction of elected entities elsewhere.

Sorry if this isn't what you may have expected as an answer.
Let's keep friends anyway ....

The Unites States previous & current administrations have been misjudging the situation in Syria for almost a decade - with the consequences being more & more visible in recent years, especially since the focus was shifted on the region when the refugees started to move West ....
 

source
 

The role of the Turkish side is kind of 'shadowy' - nobody really knows what Erduan is up to. In addition the U.S.A. is now quite surprised to see China enter the conflict. Elite troops, just like Moscow sent in:
 

source
 

At the beginning of 2016 the situation in Syria has a potential to either lead to a world-wide alliance against terror - or blow this planet apart in World War III.