Using his multiple Afghan languages and personal experience as a recent exile himself, former Kabul video journalist Ahmad Seir helped Brussels colleagues tell the story of Afghan asylum seekers sleeping on the streets of the EU's capital, in a flagrant example of the bloc's failures to manage migration humanely. Brussels news editor Raf Casert was looking for personal angles to pursue ahead of an EU migration summit, at which European leaders are expected to pursue ever-tougher measures against migrants.
Cassert had seen reports of Afghan asylum-seekers sleeping in a Brussels squat so disease-ridden that officials were afraid to enter, and others sleeping in freezing temperatures on the streets. He had the idea to bring in Seir from the Netherlands, where he recently received asylum after fleeing Kabul when the U.S. military pulled out. The result was a story that few could tell so genuinely.
Former Kabul AP staffer tells story of Afghan migrants on the streets of Brussels
Men organize their belongings at a makeshift tent camp outside the Petit Chateau reception center in Brussels, Jan. 17, 2023.
AP PHOTO/OLIVIER MATTHYS