Lithuania welcomes Afghan who reached out on social media

A 22-year-old Afghan man landed in Lithuania on Wednesday after reaching out to the president for help on YouTube and securing a temporary visa that paves the way for asylum.

"I heard Germany has a lot of money, but I want to be in Lithuania. I speak the language," said Abdul Basir Yoususi, a Catholic who once worked as an interpreter for the Lithuanian army in Afghanistan.

"I only need one thing: to stay here," he told reporters at the airport in the Baltic state's capital Vilnius, adding that he never wanted to return to Afghanistan.

After Lithuanian forces left the central Afghan province of Ghor in 2013, Yoususi received several threatening letters, prompting him to set out on a two-month journey to Greece that cost around $6,500 (5,700 euros).

Last week, he drew Lithuania's attention when he posted a video to YouTube saying, "I have a request for the president (Dalia Grybauskaite). I need help. I'm currently in Greece."

The social media appeal worked: on Tuesday officials granted him a five-day visa so that he could apply for asylum for himself, his wife and their two-year-old daughter.

Lithuanian soldier Jurgis Norvaisa, who was posted in Afghanistan in 2012, said he recognised Yoususi when he saw the video circulating on social media.

"He interpreted from Lithuanian to Dari Persian and vice versa. He helped us in our contact with the local people," Norvaisa told AFP.

Lithuania has agreed to welcome 1,105 migrants over two years under an EU plan to resettle asylum-seekers among the bloc's 28 members, as Europe battles its worst migration crisis since World War II.

More than a million people entered Europe last year, many of them fleeing war and poverty in Syria, Afghanistan and other parts of the Middle East and Africa.
Source: AFP