Rafi (22) left Afghanistan due to deteriorating security conditions and direct threat to his life. 

A young man was even kidnapped by Taliban, but fortunately managed to escape. It was clear that staying in Afghanistan was no longer a solution and Rafi decided to leave his home country and settle down in Europe.

Rafi‘s first European destination was Lithuania, where he arrived in 2010 and applied for asylum.  The application was refused due to lack of evidence about direct threats to his life. After a number of tries to appeal the negative decision, Rafi was still not allowed to remain in Lithuania. Never ending waiting for the better and fear to be sent back to Afghanistan made Rafi extremely scared and he made a decision to escape to the Netherlands. After being deported back to Lithuania , Rafi applied for asylum once again. 

During the uncertainty times Rafi kept a close contact with his brother still residing in Afghanistan. As soon as he was informed about improving security situation in his home town of Herat, Rafi started catching himself thinking about returning to Afghanistan and re-starting his life there.  He decided to apply for IOM Vilnius Assisted voluntary return and reintegration assistance.  

Rafi returned to his home country in June 2012. After finding a respectable business partner, he opened a gas station. As Rafi is based in the western Afghanistan next to Iran border, active gas trade market gave him a chance to find a profitable business niche. Currently, Rafi is busy with his successful business and is planning to expand.

Rafi is immensely happy with his return as he managed to reunite with his family and has an opportunity to be engaged in a business activity he really likes. According to Rafi, when you have everything you need to be happy, there are no more plans to leave your country.