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Return to Kabul: Afghan deportees 1 year on

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August 13, 2018

Shams Ahmadi was deported from Bavaria to Kabul in January 2017. One year later, he has apparently disappeared. Nobody knows his whereabouts. What happened to him — and other young Afghans — after deportation?

When reporters met him in March last year, Shams Ahmadi was wandering the streets of the Afghan capital without orientation and wanted only one thing: to get back to Germany. The search for him begins in Kabul. Against the background of the current debate, with calls for more deportations to Afghanistan despite the precarious security situation, the report tries to find out what has become of Ahmadi and the other young Afghans whom they accompanied a good year ago. Some are already on their way back to Europe, some even back to Germany. Others decided to stay in Afghanistan and start over. Mirwais Arya invested his money in a burger shop and a pizzeria instead of giving it to a smuggler. It turned out to be a good decision, the young man says.