KABUL - German ambassador to Kabul Markus Potzel has urged Afghan citizens to not leave their home country as the European Union (EU) member nations battle to control the influx of refugees pouring into the continent from conflict zones.
According to Potzel, up to 1,500 new Afghan migrants have shown a willingness to return to Afghanistan amid fresh restrictions in various EU countries to curb the flow of migrants.
"125 migrants so far have been repatriated on volunteer basis. According to our information, another 1,500 migrants are also willing to repatriate voluntarily," he said.
Joining his German counterpart, French Ambassador to Afghanistan Jean Michel Marlaud also called on Afghan citizens to stay, suggesting that the refugees will not be able to find a better life in Europe.
Although the French diplomats admit that violence and an economic recession have overshadowed the lives of Afghans, they urge those on their way to Europe to return.
"Between the people who flee their country because they are threatened, because they need political asylum and the people who just go because they are looking for a better life and honestly I don't think that an Afghan migrant will have a better life living illegally in Europe than here in Afghanistan. By saying that I don't deny the fact that there is violence in Afghanistan, I don't deny the fact that there is also an economic crisis in Afghanistan, but to go through all those hardships with the danger of being exploited by ... people who are just human traffickers, who are ready to say anything to attract people and to get $5,000, $10,000; people have to sell all their belongings and once they arrive in Europe, they don't speak the language, they don't find the job and sometimes they just expelled back to Afghanistan," he said.
This comes after 150,000 Afghan asylum seekers reached Germany in 2015 with only a small number of them having been granted the status of a refugee. (Tolonews)