{"id":30295,"date":"2026-07-12T11:29:23","date_gmt":"2026-07-12T11:29:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/?p=30295"},"modified":"2026-07-12T11:29:23","modified_gmt":"2026-07-12T11:29:23","slug":"afghan-youth-born-abroad-between-homeland-ties-and-concerns-over-returning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/2026\/07\/afghan-youth-born-abroad-between-homeland-ties-and-concerns-over-returning\/","title":{"rendered":"Afghan youth born abroad; between homeland ties and concerns over returning"},"content":{"rendered":"

Salam Watandar interviewed 32 Afghan youth (20 girls and 12 boys) who were born in different countries around the world and have never visited Afghanistan, to examine their sense of attachment to their homeland and the conditions under which they would consider returning.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The findings show that although all of the young participants have a strong sense of affinity for Afghanistan and hope to visit the country one day, most say their return would be conditional.<\/p>\n

Among the interviewees, 24 youth (17 girls and seven boys) say that their decision to travel to Afghanistan depends on factors such as security, equal access to education, employment opportunities, and equal rights for women and men. The remaining eight youth (three girls and five boys) cite economic hardship as the main reason for not returning to Afghanistan.<\/p>\n

Of the 32 youth, 14 were born in Iran, six in Germany, three in Turkiye, two in the United States, and one each in Pakistan, Norway, Belgium, Canada, France, the Netherlands, and Saudi Arabia. Most of them continue to live in the countries where they were born.<\/p>\n

Marziya, a 25-year-old who was born in Iran, says she would like to visit Afghanistan, but the country’s current conditions have prevented her from putting that decision into action.<\/p>\n

“I always dreamed of returning to Afghanistan after completing my studies to work and build my life there. However, the situation in the country over the past four years has made that dream impossible. If I were forced to return to Afghanistan, the existing restrictions would prevent me from working in the field I studied,” she says.<\/p>\n

Zohor, a 22-year-old who was born in Belgium, also says, “Although we were not born in Afghanistan, Afghan blood truly runs through my veins. If there were peace, security, unity, and access to education\u2014especially for girls\u2014I would love to go to Afghanistan.”<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, 20 youth (12 girls and eight boys) have expressed a desire to use the knowledge and experience they have gained abroad to contribute to Afghanistan’s development. The remaining 12 youth have not expressed a clear opinion on the matter.<\/p>\n

Shaheer Kohestani, a 25-year-old from Norway and a graduate in child psychology, says,<\/p>\n

“Afghans who have acquired education, experience, and skills abroad can contribute to Afghanistan’s development and progress. Through their technical expertise, as well as cultural and social support, they can play an important role in building a better future for their country.”<\/p>\n

Setayesh, a 19-year-old who was born in Iran and moved to Germany after living there for five years, also says,<\/p>\n

“Afghan youth living abroad can help Afghanistan through their education, knowledge, and experience. I myself want to do something good for Afghan children in the future.”<\/p>\n

Among the 32 families represented in the interviews, 26 have cited insecurity as a reason for migration, four have cited the search for better living conditions, and two have cited unemployment and economic hardship as reasons for migration.<\/p>\n

Ali Reza, a 24-year-old who was born in Iran, explains why his family migrated, “My family migrated to Iran years before I was born because of war, insecurity, and economic hardship. I was born in Iran.”<\/p>\n

Zahra, a 26-year-old who was also born in Iran, says, “The only reason my family migrated was to secure a better future for their children and provide them with a better life.”<\/p>\n

Sociologists believe that a country’s social and political conditions affect not only its citizens but also the perspectives and even the identities of generations born abroad.<\/p>\n

Hakim Joya, a sociologist, considers a sense of attachment to one’s homeland a key element of self-awareness and culture, and believes that neglecting it can lead to a loss of identity and social isolation.<\/p>\n

“The social significance of a sense of belonging to one’s homeland lies in its ability to help develop self-awareness and an understanding of one’s culture, history, language, and patterns of intergenerational relationships. Neglecting this can lead to identity loss, social confusion, weakened social cohesion, diminished social connectedness, isolation, humiliation and social exclusion,” he adds.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, family counselors emphasize that the family serves as the first bridge connecting children to their cultural roots and that a sense of attachment to one’s homeland is first shaped within the family.<\/p>\n

Amjad Khan Danish, a family counselor, emphasizes the importance of preserving cultural identity among children born abroad. He explains,<\/p>\n

“When a child has no connection to their culture, language, or roots, they may later experience identity confusion, feeling that they belong neither to their family’s culture nor fully to the culture of the host country. This can harm their self-confidence, sense of belonging, family relationships, and mental well-being.”<\/p>\n

However, Afghanistan remains one of the world’s six largest countries of origin for refugees. According to the UNHCR’s \u00abGlobal Refugee Resettlement Needs Report 2026\u00bb, although the global need for resettlement has declined from 2.9 million to 2.5 million people, the need for resettling Afghan refugees has increased, in contrast to the global trend. Afghans now make up the largest group of refugees in need of resettlement worldwide.<\/p>\n

Reporter:\u00a0Hosai Afghan<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Salam Watandar interviewed 32 Afghan youth (20 girls and 12 boys) who were born in different countries around the world and have never visited Afghanistan, to examine their sense of attachment to their homeland and the conditions under which they would consider returning.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":30296,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[990,9,186,31],"tags":[1436,1530,2017,2018,2019],"class_list":["post-30295","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest","category-soceity","category-investigative-reports","category-migration","tag-afghan-youth","tag-abroad","tag-born-abroad","tag-homeland","tag-returning"],"views":13,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30295","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30295"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30295\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30297,"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30295\/revisions\/30297"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30296"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30295"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30295"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30295"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}