Feature: Afghans lose everything in quest for better life in Europe

Countless numbers of Afghans leave their militancy-plagued and economically impoverished country for developed countries in Europe annually to settle there and embrace a more prosperous life, but fortune sides with few.

"This was my dream to reach Europe and establish a peaceful and successful life there. To change my dream into reality I had sold whatever I had here three years ago and handed over the money to a human trafficker to take me to Europe. But the dream quickly became a nightmare involving forcible deportation," Mohammad Haidar, 32 told Xinhua.

A resident of Wardak's provincial capital Maidan Shahr, just 35 km west of Kabul, Haidar sold his house and farmland in 2012 and left for Europe without legal travel documents and with only the support of a human trafficker.

Exhausted from protracted instability in his homeland and long for an affluent life in Europe, Haidar, after months of hard traveling via land and sea and having crossed several countries including Iran, Turkey, Greece and Italy, reached his dream destination, the wealthy country in northern Europe, Norway.

"At last, I reached Norway in 2012 and was staying in a camp of migrants there for more than two years," a dejected Haidar said.

"Unfortunately, my application for asylum in Norway after processing was rejected and they sent me back to Afghanistan some six months ago."

Continued instability, a high rate of unemployment and poverty have driven many Afghans to migrate to other countries to escape the difficult circumstances.

Long queues of visa seekers amass almost every day outside the gates of the Iranian, Pakistani and Turkish embassies here in Kabul in a bid to escape from their strife-torn country and live a new life abroad.

"I am back home but have nothing to eat, no job and no regular income to support my family," Haidar exclaimed.

Recalling his ordeal, Haidar said that in addition to having days and nights traveling on foot he along with dozens of others had risky journeys in overloaded boats to reach Italy.

Like Haidar, another returnee is Hamza from the northern Baghlan province who was stopped by the police at the Iran-Turkey border and deported to Kabul three months ago.

"I dealt with a smuggler to take me to Germany at a cost of 7,000 U.S. dollars but the Iranian police stopped us at the Iran-Turkey border and sent us back in September," Hamza told Xinhua.

Thousands of Afghans, mostly young, educated, university graduates leave for European countries every month to seek jobs there and escape insecurity and poverty in their homeland.

Putting their lives at risk, some Afghans after selling their property and possessions at home, take treacherous routes to reach their dreamlands, but some are killed on the way, others are lost at sea when the packed boast capsize.

"A total of 146,000 Afghans have applied for asylum in European countries and 80,000 of them in Germany,"Afghan Minister for Refugees and Repatriation Affairs, Sayed Hussain Alemi Balkhi told Xinhua, admitting an increase in the number of Afghan asylum seekers in the current year.

Balkhi, also said that more than 2.5 million registered and unregistered Afghan refugees are presently living in Pakistan and more than 2 million others in Iran.

According to Nadir Farhad, the spokesman for the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) in Kabul, many of Afghan asylum seekers are economic migrants.

"Essentially, the continued instability, security problems and extreme poverty are the driving reason for Afghans to leave their country for safer places," political analyst Khan Mohammad Daneshjo told Xinhua.

Daneshjo who is editor-in-chief of the publication the "Weekly Abadi" , also maintained the feeling of insecurity caused by irresponsible people carrying arms and bleakness about the future of the country would drive more Afghans choosing to escape to fulfill their dreams abroad.

"Two innocent citizens were gunned down in daylight on Wednesday but the government has yet to identify and punish the culprits," Daneshjo said, adding that an average Afghan doesn't have a mud house during his life in Afghanistan but months after reaching Europe, might be provided with shelter and a social welfare to live in relative comfort.

The government here, however, the analyst opined, does not have the "capacity to provide jobs and ensure security to returnees." Endit