17 from such a scale of financial debt is extremely challenging. Such debt has the potential to negatively impact a deportee’s life over the long-term. The majority of the Afghans who have attempted to reach Europe or other countries in the Global North have either sold their land and properties or have borrowed money from their families and friends. 1. The total cost of 45 Afghan deportees’ flight – 5 deportees either had not kept a record of their trip finances or preferred not to reveal their travel costs - amounted to over half a million USD (USD 500,400). The average cost of the journey per person stood at 11,120 USD, 17 times more than the per capita income of 642 USD estimated in 2018.The highest amount a deportee had paid for fleeing the country was 40,000 USD and the lowest 2,000 USD. These costs will bear far reaching consequences on economic and financial status of the deportees for years to come. 2. The Afghan deportees now constitute one of the most indebted social groups in Afghanistan. About 82% (41) of the interviewees said that they had become heavily indebted because of their migration attempt and being deported back to Afghanistan. The deportees’ recovery from such a significant debt and deep economic shock appears highly unlikely without state intervention. 3. In addition to being significantly indebted, as the research suggests, unemployment has also been a challenge for the deportees. About 84% (42) of the deportees interviewed remains unemployed. Only 16% (8) of them was formally employed or self-employed. Psychological, financial, traumatic and social pressures have cumulatively caused distress for 16% (8) of deportees. At some point since their deportation, the interviewees have thought of harming themselves physically. Afghan deportees: A challenge to state legitimacy and stability? Afghan President Ghani upholds and promotes a nationalist discourse of state-building. Within this framework, it is expected that every Afghan citizen acts patriotically. Escaping the country for whatever reason is considered an unpatriotic act, therefore reproachable in and of itself1. It is against this backdrop that President Ghani articulates that he holds no sympathy for Afghans for their migration to Europe and elsewhere and are then deported back to Afghanistan. The President is wary that constant migratory flows from Afghanistan may be seen as a sign of weakness of the Afghan government and as an indication of weakness of the political leadership of the state2. The President, on the other hand, seeks to portray Afghanistan as a strong state with a capable and determined leadership. As such, President Ashraf Ghani views people fleeing as both a destabilising and a discrediting factor. Afghan refugees in Pakistan, Iran and in the Arab states, in part have been, viewed as sources of instability,and have been recruited by regional governments, criminal networks and insurgent groups alike.3 When it comes to Afghans seeking refuge in countries beyond the region, particularly in Europe, the government fears that such flows may be a discrediting factor, which could tarnish the image of the 1. Interviews with civil society activists, Kabul, November 2018 2. Interviews with civil society and refugee experts, Kabul and Herat, September-November, 2018 3. Interview with a conflict analyst, Kabul, September 2018.