Failed Afghan asylum seekers need to go back home, Sweden's migration minister urges

NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Sweden’s migration minister on Thursday urged the European Union to come up with a common procedure to issue ID and travel documents to Afghan nationals whose asylum applications have either been rejected or who have committed crimes in their host countries.

Minister Johan Forssell said it’s “more or less impossible” to deport Afghan nationals who don’t fulfill asylum criteria now because they don’t have either ID or travel documents.

He said even though there’s no EU interest to make “any political arrangements” with Afghanistan that would offer “legitimacy” to the Taliban regime, it’s possible for the 27-member bloc to agree at a technical level on issuing Afghan nationals documentation that would expedite their deportation.

“It is a major concern for us that we are seeing quite a few cases of people that have committed crimes, Afghan people that committed crimes in Sweden and it is more or less impossible to expel them today,” Forssell told The Associated Press on the sidelines of an informal meeting of EU Justice and Home Affairs ministers in the Cypriot capital.

“If you come to Europe and you commit crimes, you have chosen yourself not to be part of our society. And we need to do everything we can to make sure that you are expelled,” he said.

He also said the same applies for failed Syrian asylum seekers but that the priority remains Afghan nationals.

According to Forssell, it's impossible for Afghan nationals to get either ID or a passport from their homeland because most Afghan embassies in Europe aren’t acknowledged by the country’s Taliban rulers.

He said the EU’s executive arm recently had contacts in the Afghan capital on the issue which he called a “very positive first step.” But he said there’s “broad consensus” among many EU countries that face similar issues to do more to expedite the deportation of failed Afghan asylum seekers or those who’ve committed crimes.

Forssell said more than half of Afghan asylum seekers will have their applications rejected and “they need to go back home,” otherwise public support for admitting those who meet the asylum criteria will diminish.

The Swedish official also proposed that Afghan nationals slated for deportation in different EU countries could be grouped together and repatriated aboard chartered flights.

European Commissioner for Internal Affairs and Migration Magnus Brunner said EU member states are engaging on a technical level with Afghanistan’s “effective authorities” to better facilitate repatriations.

Sweden’s traditionally generous welcome of asylum seekers frayed over the last decade amid what Forssell said was the alarm felt by ordinary Swedes over the many “problems” that mass migration created in the country.

He said those concerns were a key reason why the current government was formed three years ago with support from the hard-right anti-immigration party the Sweden Democrats.

According to Forssell, asylum applications are the lowest they’ve been since 1985. “So I think we are doing very well and we are really delivering what the Swedish population wants to see from us,” he said.

Swedish Migration Minister Johan Forssell speaks during an interview with The Associated Press during a meeting of EU Justice and Home Affairs ministers at Filoxenia conference center in Nicosia, Cyprus, Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)

Swedish Migration Minister Johan Forssell speaks during an interview with The Associated Press during a meeting of EU Justice and Home Affairs ministers at Filoxenia conference center in Nicosia, Cyprus, Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)

Swedish Migration Minister Johan Forssell speaks during an interview with The Associated Press during a meeting of EU Justice and Home Affairs ministers at Filoxenia conference center in Nicosia, Cyprus, Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)

FILE - Johan Forssell, theSwedish Minister for International Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade, addresses a media conference at the European Council building in Brussels, June 27, 2023. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo, File)

BANGKOK (AP) — Myanmar’s parliament on Friday elected Min Aung Hlaing, a general who ousted Aung San Suu Kyi’s civilian government in 2021 and kept an iron grip on power for the past five years, as the country’s new president.

The move marks a nominal return to an elected government but is widely considered as an effort to keep the army in power after an election organized by the military that opponents and independent observers deemed neither free nor fair.

Transitioning to an elected government is also seen as a way to improve frosty relations with Asian neighbors following the military takeover. China and Russia have supported the military administration, while Western powers imposed sanctions.

Min Aung Hlaing was one of three nominees for the president’s post, but was virtually guaranteed the job as lawmakers from military-backed parties and appointed members from the army hold a commanding majority in parliament.

The vote was held in the newly renovated parliament building in the capital, Naypyitaw, which was damaged in last year’s earthquake.

Aung Lin Dwe, speaker of parliament’s combined upper and lower house, announced that Min Aung Hlaing won 429 out of the 584 votes.

The two runners-up become vice presidents. Nyo Saw, a former general, had served as an adviser to Min Aung Hlaing, and Nan Ni Ni Aye, an ethnic Karen politician from the pro-military Union Solidarity and Development Party, will be the country’s first female vice president. They are expected to be inaugurated next week.

Min Aung Hlaing, who holds the rank of senior general, had earlier relinquished his post of commander-in-chief because the constitution prohibits the president from simultaneously holding the top military position. A close aide, Gen. Ye Win Oo, took over the powerful job.

The 69-year-old Min Aung Hlaing had been the military chief since 2011. Under the military-imposed constitution, he held significant powers even before overthrowing Suu Kyi’s government.

Parliament members were elected in three phases in December and January. Major opposition parties, including Suu Kyi’s former ruling National League for Democracy, were either blocked from running or refused to compete under conditions they deemed unfair. Suu Kyi, 80, is serving a 27-year prison term on charges widely viewed as politically motivated.

Myanmar was under military rule from 1962 until 2016, when Suu Kyi’s party came to power, and won an even greater mandate in the 2020 general election. The army took seized control in 2021, before the new Parliament could convene.

Peaceful protests against military rule were put down with deadly force, pushing pro-democracy activists to turn to armed resistance and ally themselves with ethnic minority groups who have been battling for greater autonomy for decades.

Much of the country has been enmeshed in a bloody civil war. Security concerns meant voting in the recent election could be held in only 263 of the country’s 330 townships.

“If Min Aung Hlaing thinks that an official civilian title will shield him from prosecution for the many grave violations of international law that he is accused of overseeing as head of the military, that is not how international justice works," Amnesty International Myanmar researcher Joe Freeman said in statement.

In 2024, the International Criminal Court in The Hague began an investigation on charges of crimes against humanity after a prosecutor applied for an arrest warrant for Min Aung Hlaing over the military’s brutal persecution of the Rohingya minority.

Parliament chairman Aung Lin Dwe, center, arrives for a session of Union Parliament in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Friday, April 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Aung Shine Oo)

FILE - Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, head of Myanmar's military council, inspects officers during a parade to commemorate Myanmar's 78th Armed Forces Day in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, March 27, 2023. (AP Photo/Aung Shine Oo, File)

Myanmar's military representatives and lawmakers arrive to attend a session at Union parliament in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Friday, April 3, 2026.(AP Photo/Aung Shine Oo)

Myanmar's military representatives arrive for a session at Union parliament in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Thursday, April 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Aung Shine Oo)

Myanmar's military representatives arrive for a session at Union parliament in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Friday, April 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Aung Shine Oo)

Parliament chairman Aung Lin Dwe arrives for a session of Union Parliament in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Friday, April 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Aung Shine Oo)

Parliament chairman Aung Lin Dwe, center, arrives for a session of Union Parliament in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Friday, April 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Aung Shine Oo)