Whitey Ford
12-15-2019, 03:30 AM
Some 7,000 Afghan migrants in Sweden face an uncertain future after authorities handed them formal deportation orders requiring them to return to Afghanistan.
But many Afghans who undertook the often perilous journey to Sweden years ago are reluctant to return to their restive homeland, where thousands have been killed in fighting and insurgent attacks this year alone.
Now living in Stockholm, Afghan asylum seeker Laila Siddiqi, 43, said the fate of her family hangs in the balance after Swedish authorities rejected their asylum application for a third time.
Siddiqi’s looming deportation is part of a 2016 agreement between Sweden and Afghanistan. Under the arrangement, Stockholm can deport Afghans to Kabul voluntarily or involuntarily after their asylum cases are rejected.
Since the beginning of this year, the authorities have deported 384 people to Afghanistan, according to the Swedish Migration Agency.
"Afghanistan's future is not good. There is a constant war and frequent suicide attacks,” says Imam Shah Qaderi, a 38-year-old baker who returned to Kabul after spending two years in Austria. “Now when you go out into the city, you do not know whether you will return home alive.”
https://gandhara.rferl.org/a/afghan-migrants-in-sweden-say-deportation-is-a-death-warrant-/30305032.html
But many Afghans who undertook the often perilous journey to Sweden years ago are reluctant to return to their restive homeland, where thousands have been killed in fighting and insurgent attacks this year alone.
Now living in Stockholm, Afghan asylum seeker Laila Siddiqi, 43, said the fate of her family hangs in the balance after Swedish authorities rejected their asylum application for a third time.
Siddiqi’s looming deportation is part of a 2016 agreement between Sweden and Afghanistan. Under the arrangement, Stockholm can deport Afghans to Kabul voluntarily or involuntarily after their asylum cases are rejected.
Since the beginning of this year, the authorities have deported 384 people to Afghanistan, according to the Swedish Migration Agency.
"Afghanistan's future is not good. There is a constant war and frequent suicide attacks,” says Imam Shah Qaderi, a 38-year-old baker who returned to Kabul after spending two years in Austria. “Now when you go out into the city, you do not know whether you will return home alive.”
https://gandhara.rferl.org/a/afghan-migrants-in-sweden-say-deportation-is-a-death-warrant-/30305032.html