UK's Afghan refugees dream of returning to a better homeland

From chocolates to football and new friends, those who settle in Britain still have hopes to return home one day

Afghan refugee Maryam, 27, says she dreams of returning to a country where there is equality across gender, race and religion. Photo: International Rescue Committee

Afghan refugees living in Britain have spoken of their dreams of a better future for their homeland, three years after the Taliban seized power.

More than 27,000 Afghans have been resettled in Britain since the Taliban's capture of Kabul on August 15, 2021. One of them, Maryam, 27, has settled into a new life as an urban planner and mentor for Afghan women after winning a scholarship.

But she hopes to return one day to an Afghanistan where “my voice is being heard”, as well as that of the women barred from studying under the Taliban.

“Hopefully one day, I and everyone else who had to flee their country will be able to return there,” she told The National. “I’m hoping for an inclusive Afghanistan for all genders, all ethnicities, all religions.”

Taliban mark third anniversary of fall of Kabul – in pictures

A convoy of Taliban security personnel moves along the streets as they celebrate the third anniversary of the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, in Herat. AFP

Taliban military vehicles are displayed during a military parade in Bagram Airbase in Parwan province, Afghanistan. AP

Members of Afghanistan's military 205 Al-Badr Corps sit on a military vehicle during a parade in Kandahar. AFP

Supporters of the Taliban government in Kabul. EPA

Taliban security personnel parade at the Bagram Airbase. AFP

Taliban military vehicles at Bagram Airbase. AP

A member of Afghanistan military's 205 Al-Badr Corps atop a military vehicle in Kandahar. AFP

Some Afghans were taken out of Kabul by plane in the frantic days after it fell, with others granted visas later under a resettlement scheme.

Thousands have been quietly flown into British military bases over the past 10 months. Others have claimed asylum after arriving on small boats. Their integration in Britain has been made harder by temporary housing, visa bureaucracy and problems applying for jobs, not to mention race riots.

Two twin boys who were separated after an ISIS bombing at Kabul airport, Irfanullah and Obaidullah Jabarkhyl, are still waiting in Britain to be reunited with their mother.

Twin boys Obaidullah and Irfanullah Jabarkhyl were separated in the aftermath of a Kabul bombing in 2021. Victoria Pertusa / The National

The boys, now 13, were reunited in 2022 after a year-long battle with the Home Office but “life has been hard for the twins due to their family being left behind,” said their cousin, Qamar Jabarkhyl.

Mr Jabarkhyl, an engineer in London who has UK citizenship, said Britain “has given me so much but I cannot wait to take my skills and help rebuild my country”.

“Once there is a stable government in Afghanistan I will return and be part of its future,” he said.

Settling in

Aspiring fashion designer Saghar, 27, was met with kindness when she first arrived at a hotel in Liverpool, where strangers brought flowers and chocolates for refugees.

She spent months living in a hotel and learning English, which she found hard but says Britain now “feels like home” where she has freedom and a busy life with a fashion diploma and volunteer work. “I’m a social person, I love to be with people and be outside,” she said. “I’m positive about my future because it’s getting better every day.”

Saghar, 27, is an aspiring fashion designer who settled in Britain as an Afghan refugee. Photo: International Rescue Committee

Some refugees worry they will have to “start university all over again”, or accept jobs they are overqualified for, said Genevieve Caston, the International Rescue Committee's director of resettlement, asylum and integration.

Maryam, a trained architect, said her months-long job hunt was “very difficult” because her qualifications were not treated as equivalent to British ones. However, a tutor helped her find work and she also volunteers with the International Rescue Committee and as a mentor for Afghan women who could not finish university under the Taliban.

Temporary housing

For some, finding work has been made harder by refugees spending months in temporary housing and moving from home to home, which also disrupted children's schooling.

“That created significant barriers for integration because people could not feel settled when they were in temporary accommodation,” Ms Caston said.

“Obviously, very short-term it was necessary but we do feel that should have been resolved much quicker. So there definitely was room for improvement.”

She said the same problem arises for people housed on military bases after more than 5,000 Afghans were secretly moved to the UK.

“They know that they're only in that military housing for a short period of time, so therefore they don't want to a look for a job if they know they're going to be moving to a geographic location.”

Some Afghan evacuees have been housed in Ministry of Defence accommodation in Britain. Getty Images

Family reunion

As thousands tried to flee Kabul in August 2021, the twins and their family were caught up in an ISIS suicide bombing at the airport, which killed 13 US troops and more than 170 Afghans.

Irfanullah and Obaidullah were split up from their parents and Irfanullah was placed on a flight to the UK to be reunited with his cousin, but a mistake during the confusion led to his brother Obaidullah being sent to France.

Three years on the twins are embracing life in London, having finished their first year at secondary school and sharing moments together from celebrating Ramadan to playing football with their new friends. Their cousin said there is hope that the family's three-year battle with the Home Office for a reunion is concluding.

“Life has been hard for the twins due to their family being left behind,” Mr Jabarkhyl said.

Afghan twins Irfanullah and Obaidullah Jabarkhyl are reunited at St Pancras station in London in 2022. Amy McConaghy / The National

“To arrive here separately was tough, they had been through such a traumatic ordeal and then they had the added heartbreak of Obaidullah being sent to France on his own. When Irfanullah arrived in the UK on his own we thought his brother had died.

“The year-long fight to bring him to the UK was hard on both the boys. When they were reunited it was hard for them to settle in at first to a new life without their parents. But I enrolled them at school and now they are at secondary school and seem a lot happier.”

Two refugee schemes were set up for Afghans, one for staff who had helped the British military, such as translators and another for vulnerable people and human rights campaigners. More than 17,500 Afghans have arrived illegally on small boats in recent years, the second-most common nationality after Syrians.

The government has said it cannot consider asylum claims from all of “the very large numbers of people overseas who may wish to come here”.

The twin boys' parents and siblings applied for visas after they could not be evacuated and were forced to move to a rural area of Afghanistan after Jalalabad was overtaken by the Taliban.

The family managed to escape from Afghanistan last year and are now living in Pakistan but have been living in a one-room shelter for over a year.

“We have put in yet another application for their mum and siblings and managed to secure them visas,” Mr Jabarkhyl said.

“The boys are really excited for when their mum can join them. They have had to just stay in touch by WhatsApp and miss her,” he said.

“It has been so hard but hopefully it will soon be over.”

Race riots

Britain's summer race riots, in which refugees and immigration centres were prime targets of violence, left some Afghans shaken and recounting bad memories.

Maryam, who came to Britain from a temporary home in Kazakhstan, said she had previously felt “very safe” living in the UK but “for the first time, in the past couple of weeks I was afraid, I was scared”.

“I didn’t leave my room for a week because I was very scared for my safety. I’m glad that it’s all much better now. I hope we never experience such a thing again in the UK.”

People attend a counter-demonstration against an anti-immigration protest called by far-right activists, outside the United Immigration Services offices at The Beacon in Newcastle. AFP

Saghar, who was off work during the unrest, said people were “allowed to have their opinion” but that it was “important how you express that”.

“It was wild and it hurt so many people,” she said. But after three years in Britain she is optimistic that nine in every 10 people mean well,” she said.

I didn’t leave my room for a week because I was very scared for my safety

Maryam,
27, Afghan refugee

“I’m positive,” she said. “I’m not going to say ‘they don’t like refugees, they are not nice to us’. I know these people.”

The twin boys' family witnessed neighbours being threatened for wearing hijabs to people shouting abuse in the street.

“It’s not our fault we had to leave our country,” said Mr Jabarkhyl, who arrived in Britain in 2003 after his family fled the last Afghan war.

“Migrants do not come here for the fun of it. They are escaping from terrible things that have happened. It is very sad that we have been forced to leave our homeland and then come here and be treated badly due to our religion. It has been sad to see in a place we now call home.”

Hopes of returning

Maryam says it is heartbreaking that half of Afghan society is “paralysed” by the Taliban's strict laws applying to women and girls.

She plans to “build myself here” in Britain while Afghanistan remains unsafe, but says that “whatever long-term plans I have, it includes Afghanistan”.

“The girls we work with, they’re very passionate about education, about work and everything. They’re willing to give back to society and it’s really depressing to think that we don’t have that chance.”

Saghar too plans to stay in Britain for the time being, but hopes things improve in Afghanistan “not for me, for all the people who live in my country”.

Supporters of the Taliban mark the third anniversary of the fall of Kabul, when women's rights have been heavily restricted. EPA

The situation is hard for both men and women, but her female friends especially are lacking “basic rights” and are accosted by the Taliban even if they go to the park alone, she said.

“All of them are depressed about this part of their life. Something is missing from them,” she said. “It’s also an effect on me. Sometimes I say to myself ‘stop thinking about that’ because it’s so hard for me to accept that in my country it’s not like one or two women, it’s millions of women living like this.”

And while his cousins concentrate on their studies and continue to flourish at school, Mr Jabarkhyl still hopes for the day he can return to Afghanistan.

“Every day the situation in Afghanistan deteriorates. Afghans are losing hope. We do not know what our future holds, we are in limbo,” he said.