Afghans seek ‘Taliban threat letters’ in bid to win asylum in Europe

KABUL // Threatening letters from the Taliban, once tantamount to a death sentence, are now being forged and sold to Afghans who want to start a new life in Europe.

The handwritten notes on the stationery of the so-called “Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan” were traditionally sent to those alleged to have worked with Afghan security forces or US-led troops, listing their “crimes” and warning that a “military commission” would decide on their punishment.

They would close with the mafia-style caveat that insurgents “will take no further responsibility for what happens in the future”.

But nowadays the Taliban say they have mostly ceased the practice, while those selling forged threat letters are doing a brisk business as tens of thousands of Afghans flee to Europe, hoping to claim asylum. Forgers say a convincing threat letter can go for up to US$1,000 (Dh3,670).

“Of the threat letters now being presented to European authorities by Afghans, I’d say only one per cent are real and 99 per cent are phony,” said Mukhamil, 35, who has forged and sold 20 such letters. He sticks to a simple formula – accusing the buyer of working for Afghan or US forces – and adds a Taliban logo copied from their website.

“To this day I have only ever known one guy who genuinely got a threat letter from the Taliban. All the rest are fake,” he said.

There is no shortage of customers. With unemployment at 24 per cent and the insurgency raging across much of the country, the government expects that 160,000 Afghans will have left by the end of the year – four times the number of departures in 2013.

Germany is struggling to accommodate hundreds of thousands of refugees, but has said economic migrants must return to their home countries. Last month, Germany’s top security official complained of an “unacceptable” influx of Afghans from relatively safe areas of the country. Germany’s federal office for migration and refugees said it was aware of the letters but that no statistics are kept on them. Since such letters are not official documents, the weight granted to them is generally limited, said spokeswoman Susanne Eikemeier.

“While they can be drawn on as evidence of a threat by the Taliban, the applicant’s entire account has to be coherent, comprehensible and credible,” said Ms Eikemeier.

Even the Taliban, who have stepped up their 14-year insurgency in recent months and spread to new areas, say most of the threatening letters are forgeries.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said that when fighters suspect someone is working with the government or security forces, they contact the person’s relatives to request that he stop. “We don’t send threat letters, that’s not our style,” he said.

“All these so-called Taliban threat letters are fake,” he added, reeling off a list of people who he says falsely claimed to have received threatening letters from the Taliban. An official at Afghanistan’s intelligence agency, the national directorate of security, also dismissed the letters, saying it was clear many people were buying them to strengthen their case for asylum. No one has been arrested in connection with the forgeries.

Hazrat Gul, 25, made it to Italy more than three years ago with a fake Taliban threat letter, saying it helped him to successfully claim asylum along with his wife and their three children. But while it worked for him, Mr Gul said it is becoming well-known in Europe that most letters are fake.

“It is rare these days for European courts to accept these letters, as the word is out that you can buy them in shops in Afghanistan,” he said.

* Associated Press