16 November 2015•Update: 16 November 2015
KABUL, Afghanistan
Due to recent changes in Norwegian government policy, Oslo has warned that as many as 90 percent of the undocumented migrants seeking asylum in the Scandinavian country would likely have their applications turned down.
This was stated by top Norwegian officials at a Sunday press conference in Afghan capital Kabul following meetings with Afghan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani.
Visiting Norwegian officials included Tore Hattrem, state secretary at Norway’s Foreign Ministry, and Joran Kallmyr, state secretary at Norway’s Ministry of Justice and Public Security.
At the press conference, Hattrem expressed Oslo’s alarm over a recent influx of undocumented migrants -- including large numbers of Afghans -- into Norway.
"We are most concerned about families traveling to Norway through dangerous borders, including on the Russian side, which had been closed to the entry of illegal immigrants," said Hattrem.
He went on to voice concern over the fact that many asylum-seekers faced the possibility of sexual assault or enslavement while en route to Europe.
Nevertheless, Norwegian officials said priority would be given to Afghan asylum-seekers facing religious discrimination at home.
Kallmyr, for his part, said Norway’s border with Russia had been closed, stressing that “no one will be accepted into Norway [via the Russian border] because Russia is a peaceful country and it is not logical to accept migrants from there".
Visiting Norwegian officials said they had conveyed their concerns about Afghan refugees to President Ghani and other Afghan officials.
Afghan government policy regarding the fate of immigrants deported from Europe, meanwhile, remains unclear.
Afghanistan’s Ministry of Refugees and Repatriated Persons, for its part, has warned that the country would be unable to absorb repatriated nationals.
The presidency, however, in a statement issued last week, expressed its readiness to welcome deported Afghans back home.
On Monday, the Afghan parliament summonded Foreign Minister Salahuddin Rabbani to discuss the issue.
Rabbani told lawmakers that at least 146,000 Afghan asylum-seekers had reached Europe this year alone, going on to warn that this number would likely rise further in coming weeks.
Afghan politicians and civil society figures, meanwhile, have been actively campaigning to staunch the exodus.
Lawmakers, for their part, have urged the government to create new job opportunities for Afghan youth -- and to maintain a semblance of law and order -- in an effort to stop widespread immigration to Europe and elsewhere.
In a related development, the German embassy in Kabul on Sunday launched an initiative aimed at reducing the influx of Afghan migrants to Europe.
On Monday, posters appeared in several parts of the capital, warning -- in both the local Dari and Pashto languages -- against attempts at illegal immigration to Germany.
A Facebook page and website --RumoursAboutGermany.info -- have also been launched to warn Afghans against making the perilous journey without proper documentation.
"You are leaving Afghanistan," reads one billboard in Kabul. "Are you certain?"
Since the fall of the Taliban regime following the 2001 U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan, Norway has been one of the war-torn country’s biggest financial donors.
