KABUL: (Middle East Press) Afghanistan and Sweden have agreed to open talks on return of asylum seekers who receive their application rejected.
The agreement came during President Ghani’s 6-day tour to Europe which also included that to Sweden.
At a joint press conference in Stockholm, Swedish Prime Minister said: “Many refugees coming to Sweden are from Afghanistan or Afghans, many are unaccompanied minors.”
“This year about 20,000 minors, primarily young men, have come to Sweden, and this is of course a serious challenge for both our countries,” Stefan Lofven said.
Emphasizing Afghanistan was first country to seriously consider refugee issue; President Ghani promised to address push factors as he mentioned provision of education, employment and shelter.
“Migration is a human tragedy and a human phenomenon,” Ghani said. “As partners we have agreed there is a common problem.”
“Our people have to feel that they have a home country, a safe home country,” he added.
The Swedish PM said that the process of registering Afghan asylum seekers will begin in March next year and that those who get their cases rejected will be sent back to their home country.
According to Lofven, Sweden received 80,000 asylum applications over the past two months, same number it received for the whole of 2014.
Furthermore, Ghani who had met with Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on the sidelines of climate change summit in Paris earlier this week, stressed on sovereignty of Afghanistan as he mentioned peace.
He also suggested that the talks should not question Afghanistan’s relations with other countries.
Sweden pledged to spend 8.5 billion SEK (1 billion U.S. dollars) on various fields in Afghanistan over the next 10 years.
