Afghan family seek UK help to reunite twin boys after one sent to France

Irfanullah arrived safely in the UK but twin Obaidullah is stranded in Strasbourg

An Afghan family are appealing for help after an 11 year old twin was mistakenly sent to France after the evacuation of Kabul while his brother safely arrived in the UK.

The twins, then aged 10, were separated from their parents during the Kabul Airport bombing last August as thousands of people tried to flee the Taliban.

It resulted in Obaidullah being sent to France on his own while his twin Irfanullah was sent to the UK to be reunited with his cousin Qamar Jabarkhyl's family as planned under the UK's Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy.

Now, Mr Jabarkhyl, 28, a British citizen, has told The National of the family's "heartbreak" and his "desperation" to reunite the boys following their year-long ordeal.

"He calls me 20 times a day asking where his mum and dad are and wanting to see his brother and cries," the engineer said.

"My heart just breaks. The boys should be together. We have begged the Home Office for help and just heard nothing. How can they leave an 11-year-old boy stranded in France without his family?

"The brothers should be reunited. He is a little boy who has been through a traumatic ordeal and is separated from his entire family."

Obaidullah and his parents, along with his twin brother and older sister, fled his home city of Jalalabad during the Taliban takeover last summer.

They wanted to catch a flight to the UK to stay with Mr Jabarkhyl, but were thrown apart as they waited to board a plane, when bombs detonated outside the airport on August 26.

“It sounded like complete chaos from what Obaidullah told me. He was holding hands with his twin brother and they ran one towards the airport gates and their family ran the other way," said Mr Jabarkhyl.

He believes the brothers were flown to Doha, where, exhausted from the journey, Obaidullah fell asleep and got lost when his twin went to the toilet.

The youngster was woken up and ushered in a different direction by strangers who promised him that he would be reunited with his brother on the plane, his cousin said.

But he was mistakenly put on a separate flight to France, where he has been stuck “unhappy and scared” ever since, in Strasbourg.

"When he didn't arrive in the UK with his brother we thought he had died," Mr Jabarkhyl said.

"My uncle, his dad, searched so many places in Kabul looking for him. Then he received a call from France from someone who recognised my cousin. I panicked and contacted my MP for help.

"A young refugee who had also been sent to France offered to look after him until we could sort out his return but it's now almost a year. Social services in France cannot send him to school as he is supposed to be coming to the UK. He is just living in a studio flat with the other refugee."

In March, a family reunion visa application was made for Obaidullah on the advice of the Home Office, which promised it would be dealt with swiftly, Mr Jabarkhyl said, but the family has heard nothing.

"It has taken months for the Home Office to respond to us. Finally in March they told us to apply for a family reunion application so he could come and join us," he said.

"I have been to France to see him and sort out the biometric tests but since then they have not responded. The application is supposed to be dealt with within 120 days but we have heard nothing from them, they are not willing to help at all.

He accused Home Secretary Priti Patel of failing to act on his case, and those of other Afghans.

"Priti Patel has made empty promises. What threat does he pose to the UK? I have not asked for anything, I will support him myself and give him a home, I just want him to be allowed to come here."

Mr Jabarkhyl arrived in the UK in 2003 after his family fled the last Afghanistan war and grew up in London obtaining a civil engineering degree from Kingston University and became an engineer.

Taliban troops stand guard as they block the road to Hamid Karzai Airport a day after deadly August 26, 2021 blasts, in Kabul. The Jabarkhyl family were thrown apart as they waited to board a plane that day, when the bombs detonated outside the airport. EPA

"No one chooses to be a refugee. It was hard for me to leave my beautiful home and life and have everything turned upside down," he said.

"People don't understand. The Home Office needs to understand my family's pain. We left everything.

"Now, it just breaks your heart when an 11-year-old boy is calling 20 times a day just to say ‘hello’ and ‘hi.’

“He’s not the same boy I would talk to on the phone in Afghanistan years ago, telling me hundreds of stories about his friends, what vegetables his family are growing in their garden. He needs to be safe with his family.

Obaidullah’s parents and sister could not be evacuated and have moved to a rural area of Afghanistan after Jalalabad was overtaken by the Taliban.

Their family had worked with Nato and Mr Jabarkhyls uncle is now in hiding.

“His mother thinks that she will never see them again. She thinks she will be killed or they will be killed,” he said.

The boy's case was raised by Mr Jabarkhyl’s constituency MP, Bob Blackman, in the House of Commons, who has described the bureaucracy surrounding biometric cards and applications as “a nightmare”.

Up to 20,000 refugees are expected to arrive under the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme, with individuals and families who were brought to safety under Operation Pitting — the initial British military rescue mission — prioritised in the first part of the scheme.

“We do not routinely comment on individual cases," the Home Office told The National.

"During Operation Pitting we evacuated 15,000 people from Kabul and we continue to do all we can to secure safe passage and enable British nationals and eligible Afghans to leave the country.”

A lawyer representing the family told The National he is very concerned for the boy's welfare.

"We are very concerned about Obaidullah," said Nick O’Loughnan, from London's Wilson Solicitors.

"He is extremely vulnerable in Strasbourg after having experienced significant trauma and now being left in limbo without his family.

"Obaidullah simply wants to be safely reunited with his twin-brother and family members in the UK. The Home Office has stated that this application would be dealt with “as a priority”, but Obaidullah is still waiting for a decision over four months after submission.

"We hope that the Home Office will deal with Obaidullah’s application straightforwardly and that he will be granted entry clearance to the UK to be reunited with his family urgently."