When Staying Is No Longer Possible; Afghan Youth Seek Survival

A video posted by a citizen journalist captures the hardships of smuggling routes along the Iranian-Pakistani borders and the dangers migrants face along the way.

Increased restrictions, economic crisis, unemployment, and lack of job opportunities following Taliban policies have driven many Afghan youth to take risky migration routes; routes that are sometimes accompanied by injury, detention, loss of property, and even death.

But the fundamental question is: What compels young people to risk their lives on such routes in order to find a better future?

Is risky migration their choice, or the result of conditions that have deprived them of the opportunity to stay and build a future inside Afghanistan? And ultimately, who is responsible for this situation?