On Lithuania's border, a former Afghan soldier is caught between war and politics

Record ID: 1631933

  • Title: On Lithuania's border, a former Afghan soldier is caught between war and politics
  • Date: 13th August 2021
  • Summary: KAZITISKIS, LITHUANIA (AUGUST 12, 2021) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF TEMPORARY DETENTION CENTRE AT SCHOOL MIGRANTS IN DETENTION CENTRE WOMAN LOOKING OUT OF WINDOW MIGRANTS SITTING INSIDE DETENTION CENTRE MIGRANT HOLDING MOBILE PHONE IN BED MIGRANT FROM AFGHANISTAN AND FORMER SOLDIER FAZEL RAHMAN ORYAKHEL LOOKING OUT OF WINDOW (SOUNDBITE) (Pashto) AFGHAN MIGRANT AND FORMER SOLDIER, FAZEL RAHMAN ORYAKHEL, SAYING: "The situation in our country has got worse. The Taliban killed my cousin. That's why we fled." MIGRANTS TALKING (SOUNDBITE) (Pashto) AFGHAN MIGRANT AND FORMER SOLDIER, FAZEL RAHMAN ORYAKHEL, SAYING: "I fled with my kids because they threatened me, warning me to leave my duty. I don't have a threat-letter, but I was informed that my life is in danger. They killed my cousin and other family members, that's why I fled my home." WOMAN GIVING MIGRANTS FOOD CRATES MIGRANTS CARRYING BOXES WITH FOOD MIGRANTS TAKING BREAD FROM CRATES BREAD VARIOUS OF GROUP OF MIGRANTS STANDING AROUND CRATES WITH BREAD (SOUNDBITE) (English) AFGHAN MIGRANT, FAROOQ KHAN, SAYING: "Why did I leave Afghanistan? You know the situation in Afghanistan, for last 30-40 years the war keeps going on. And for five years when coming peace and then starting again, different agencies involved in there. You know how it is, the condition. So, life threat." MIGRANTS EATING MIGRANT SITTING BY FENCE WITH FOOD IN FRONT OF HIM MIGRANT LOOKING BEHIND FENCE EXTERIOR OF DETENTION CENTRE, CLOTHES HANGING ON FENCE
  • Embargoed: 27th August 2021 20:56
  • Keywords: Afghan migrants Afghan soldier Afghanistan Belarus Lithuania migrants crossing to Lithuania from Belarus
  • Location: KAZITISKIS, LITHUANIA
  • City: KAZITISKIS, LITHUANIA
  • Country: Afghanistan
  • Topics: Asia / Pacific,Asylum/Immigration/Refugees,Government/Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA001EQ46DZB
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text:As Taliban fighters seized a series of provincial cities across Afghanistan, thousands of kilometers away in a makeshift refugee camp in eastern Lithuania, former Afghan soldier Fazel Rahman looked back on a war he abandoned two months ago.
    He said he had been warned by Taliban sympathizers in his home village that his life would be in danger unless he joined them, but he didn't see that as an option so he decided to follow the path that tens of thousands of other Afghans have already taken and make his way to Europe.
    "The situation in our country has got worse. The Taliban killed my cousin," said Fazel Rahman, who served for 15 years in the Afghan army. "I fled with my kids because they threatened me, warning me to leave my duty."
    Now waiting in a former school building in the village of Kazitiskis in the Ignalina region of Lithuania, he has found himself in the middle of a standoff between Belarus and the European Union.
    The EU accuses Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko of using the refugee crisis to pressure the bloc to reverse sanctions it placed on the country over a disputed presidential election last August and its treatment of political opposition.
    With the Afghan capital Kabul now close to being besieged by the Taliban after a lightning campaign that followed the withdrawal of most U.S. forces last month, politicians in Europe are becoming increasingly concerned that more irregular migrants like Fazel Rahman may come.
    The European Union border agency Frontex has already noted an increase in people coming from Afghanistan and Syria through the Western Balkans.
    Hanging around with about 130 others in a metal enclosure outside the former school building, Fazel Rahman waits, chatting with others as laundry dries on the fence and children play in the dust and mud.
    The camp is fitted with foldout beds and showers, and it provides a temporary haven from the harsh journey, during which he said he was beaten severely by border guards.
    (Production: Janis Laizans, Karolina Bohacova)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2021. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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