Abstract
This chapter tells the story of Akbar, a young Afghan man who left Kabul during the summer of 2015 to escape war and poverty. Three months later, after a torturous journey that included abuse by both smugglers and the authorities, Akbar arrived in Frankfurt, emotionally, physically, and financially broken. The authors frame a harrowing, first-person account of Akbar's journey across Western Asia and Central Europe: first, recounting his parents’ refugee experiences during the Soviet-Afghan War; later, describing the circumstances that convinced his family to support Akbar's journey; and finally, explaining his family's thoughts about Akbar's future in Germany. The chapter concludes with speculations about the potential political ramifications of the forced repatriation of (perhaps) tens of thousands of Afghans from Europe. This story of one young man and his family's history helps to humanize the confusing and often impersonal accounts of the global migration crisis and provides necessary historical context for grasping the contemporary Afghan refugee crisis.
Keywords: refugee, Afghanistan, migration crises, human smuggler, Germany, oral history
At 11 PM on a hot summer night in the first week of June 2015, after weeks of delay, the call finally came. ‘The game is on’, the smuggler announced. Akbar was told he had an hour to get across town to the Kabul central bus station. With US$250 hidden in the folds of his shalwar kameez and a knapsack containing two pairs of clothes, a sewing needle his mother had taught him to use in preparation for the journey, dried fruit, hard-boiled eggs, naan, and an old Samsung phone, Akbar set off to begin a new life anywhere far from Afghanistan.
Akbar rushed emotional goodbyes with his mom and two sisters. Then Omar, Akbar's older brother, accompanied him to the bus station. Akbar's father and eldest brother were at work, unable to say goodbye in person. The two brothers sat at the bus station into the early morning, waiting until it was time for Akbar to board. Akbar was to meet his smuggler in Nimroz, a remote desert province on the Iran-Pakistan border, a lawless region notorious for smuggling and banditry.