Shimmying his trousers down a little, an Afghan father on the Taliban’s hit-list exposed a torso pitted with shrapnel scars to justify an agonising decision -- entrusting his sons to traffickers smuggling migrants to Europe. Young Afghan boys are pouring into Europe in unprecedented numbers.
“Suicide attacks, bombings and killings -- my children deserve a life away from this carnage,” said Mohamed, lifting up his tunic and loosening his drawstrings to reveal deep lacerations.
A public prosecutor in eastern Ghazni province distinguished for sending Taliban fighters to prison, Mohamed has been preparing for months to send two of his eight children with human smugglers to Germany. He narrowly survived two grenade attacks in recent years on his house in Kabul. One of several threat letters he has received bearing the Taliban’s crossed-sabres emblem warns: “Next time we will kill you.”
A letter from the Afghan intelligence bears another grave warning: his entire family, including his three daughters, are at risk of abduction. That threat amplified after a Taliban jailbreak in Ghazni last September which freed hundreds of inmates, erasing years of work Mohamed put in to get many of them convicted. “My kids may get killed en route to Europe, but if they stay they will get killed,” Mohamed said, requesting that his last name be withheld.
“Even if Europe seals its borders, trapping my sons in a no-man’s land, they will be in a safer place than Afghanistan.”
His predicament spotlights the anguished choices faced by Afghan civilians, increasingly caught in the crosshairs of a lethal insurgency. Markets and bus terminals are awash with people smugglers as Afghanistan witnesses an unprecedented exodus that appears unlikely to slow down despite an EU migration deal aimed at curbing the influx.
Unaccompanied minors -- believed to have a better chance of asylum -- are leading the outflow. Many Afghans are selling their properties and homes to send male children with smugglers, often in the hope that a successful asylum application could pave the way for other family members.
