Home Sweet Home?

Radio journalist Hamida Aman said Afghanistan was always on her mind during her 27 years of exile in Switzerland, and when she returned last year she was so happy that she wanted to hug everyone when she first set foot on Afghan soil. "My country is sweet and I will never leave again," she said wiping back tears as she recalled her homecoming.

Since the fall of the Taleban, a steady trickle of Afghans who settled in the West over the past thirty year of turmoil have returned to the country of their birth – but they’ve not always been welcomed back with open arms.

For while there are many here who are pleased that professionals from America and Europe have come back to help rebuild the country, there’s also some ill-feeling from those who stayed behind during the years of civil war. And many younger returnees - especially women - are finding the conservative culture difficult to adapt to after years in the West.

Baqi, who’d been living in the Netherlands for eight years, was drawn home by the new economic opportunities emerging in Afghanistan. With savings from his job in a department store, he has bought two cars, a tractor and a grocery store – and though concerned about the power of the warlords can’t imagine leaving the country again. “My life is good and I am happy that I have been able to employ ten people in my businesses,” he said.

President Hamid Karzai has attracted a number of highly qualified people back home, notably US exiles such as the former World Bank official Ashraf Ghani, now the country’s finance minister, Ali Ahmad Jalali, the interior minister, and Dr Anwar-ul-Haq Ahadi, the director of the central bank.

By and large, locals are impressed that such experienced people are prepared to come back to help in the reconstruction process. "The Afghans who have returned from abroad are experts, they have good work experience and a feeling of responsibility," Mohammad Khan Farhad, who heads the Da Sole Ghorzang (Peace Movement) political party in the Baghlan province, told IWPR.

But there is also some resentment among those who stayed behind to fight it out in Afghanistan.

Abdul Rahman, who used to be a mujahedin commander in Yahya Khel, a district of Paktika province, said, "We don't want them here because they sold out.”

Returning exiles are sometimes called dog-washers (sagshoi), reflecting a widely held view here that Afghans who sought sanctuary in the West ended up doing the most menial of jobs.

And while, for some, this may be true, there are plenty of examples of returnees who gave up high-flying careers abroad.

Qamar Warkili Asakzai was happy to swap a comfortable life in Germany for a monthly wage of 40 US dollars as a deputy minister in the social affairs and labour ministry. “The affection for my country obliged me to leave my children behind in Germany to come home and serve the people,” she said.

Mohammad Issa Rizaie left a 4,500 euro a month job in Germany to take a much lower paying one as a consultant to the higher education ministry in Kabul.

Rumours that those with dual citizenship may be banned from high office - or even denied the right to vote - have upset some of the returnees.

For those used to life in the West, attitudes towards women in Afghanistan have also proved hard to take. "When I go outside men and boys stare at me, some of them even stop to stare. I get nudged and a few even pinch me," said Aman, emphasising that hers was a common experience.

Yama Torabi, who settled in France, is currently visiting Kabul but was put off returning for good by the continuing violence and the state of the local education system.

“When a person enters Afghanistan the problems begin. Every discussion turns into a fight,” he said. “People are caught up with mental problems…their minds have been destroyed more than anything else. Those who have any power are thieves, and there is no security.”

For the most part, it is the younger generation of exiles who find it hard to adjust to life here. For older people - many of whom spent the majority of their lives in Afghanistan before being driven abroad - both the decision to move back and the resettlement process seem to have been easier.

Mohammad Yunus says his heart always lay in Afghanistan, despite 15 years of exile in Canada. Today, the pensioner can barely contain his joy at being back in his country of birth. “I entered Afghanistan with the help of a walking stick but after a few days I threw it because my life had improved so much,” he said.

Hafizullah Gardesh is an IWPR reporter and Danish Karokhel is an IWPR editor/reporter, both based in Kabul.