Afghans Deported From Europe Arrive Home, to War And Unemployment

Kabul: Two more planes carrying Afghans deported from Europe landed in Kabul this week, failed asylum seekers sent back under an agreement between the European Union and Afghan government.

The arrivals mean 248 people have been deported from Europe to Afghanistan this year, compared with 580 throughout 2016, said Hafiz Ahmad Miakhel, spokesman for the Ministry of Refugees and Repatriations.

Fifteen deportees arrived by chartered flight from Germany on Tuesday, while 19 landed on Wednesday from Austria and 10 from Sweden. Another flight, from Finland, is scheduled to arrive on Tuesday.

European governments say those deported back have failed rigorous asylum tests, and that major cities like Kabul are sufficiently safe.

"We are committed to the agreements but we need more assistance from the international community to help these people," Miakhel told Reuters, referring to an October agreement between the EU and the Afghan government.

"There is a war against the Taliban, against Daesh (Islamic State), against Al Qaeda and this year we will have more forced deportees than last year," he said.

FAILED APPLICATIONS

Shams Ahmadi, a 24-year old ex-policeman, said he landed in Kabul on Jan. 24 after his asylum application, pending in Germany since 2011, failed a second time and police arrested him.

He said he had left Afghanistan after the Taliban blew up his house in the province of Ghazni, killing his father, and that his family had fled to Iran.

He plans to go to Europe again.

"I cannot live in Afghanistan. If I leave Kabul I will be shot by the Taliban," he told Reuters at a non-governmental organisation office in western Kabul helping him with cash for lodgings and medicine to deal with mental health problems.

Another recent returnee, Reza Alizada, said he had lived in Norway for about 18 months before police raided his hostel and detained him. He said he was 17 years old but Norwegian authorities had found him to be in his early twenties.

"I have nobody here to help me, and I have no networks to help me find a job," he said, reflecting broader worries among returnees in a country with an unemployment rate of 40 percent.

Reuters could not verify their stories. The German and Norwegian embassies in Kabul did not respond to requests for comment.