since the beginning of the
Russian invasion, almost four
million Ukrainian refugees have
fled their homes into
neighboring Poland.
The country has welcomed them
warmly, and the government
provides access to all social
services.
But at the same time, Poland has
pulled the welcome mat from
thousands of Middle Eastern
migrants.
Ali rogin has the story of one
Afghan refugee whose journey
shows not all migrants are
treated equally.
Ali: Khaled mohebi never wanted
to leave Afghanistan.
He had a good life, as a
software developer and coach of
a computer programming team.
A life made possible by peace.
Khaled: We were developing, you
know?
Nobody think about it that one
day Taliban will come back
because nobody support them.
Ali: But they did come back as
the United States withdrew last
August.
Khaled worked for an American
company.
He knew he had to flee.
He had a U.S. Visa, but like so
many Afghans, was turned away at
the kabul airport.
So he began an almost three
thousand mile journey, by car.
He made it to Iran, and from
there, flew to Moscow in
mid-september, where his
programming team was set to
compete a few months later.
But after the games, Russia
wanted to send them back.
Khaled's Russian contacts
suggested he travel to Poland on
foot, through Belarus.
Khaled: They asked us to go
there illegally.
We said, well why?
We are educated, we are from
national team.
We can go anywhere legally, why
we do it and why we play a game
with our life?
Ali: But he realized Russia was
willing to play that game, so
khaled and his friends devised a
plan.
Khaled: Two days before our
Visas expired, we bought some
jackets and we traveled there
and we were, we thought, that's
ok.
When we arrive to the Polish
border, we will show our
documents and everything, and
they will help us.
Ali: But khaled didn't know that
Belarusian president Alexander
lukashenko, an ally of Russia's
Vladimir Putin, was playing his
own dangerous game -- luring
migrants from the Middle East
and south Asia, then pushing
them to the borders of his
western neighbors.
The group arrived at the Polish
border in mid-october, walking
straight into the no-man's land
of a hybrid war, facing barbed
wire and armed guards.
They hid in the wilderness for
four days, then tried to escape
back to Belarus, but were
caught.
Khaled: They shocked me by
electric shock and hunter dog,
by a hunter dog.
Dog cut, destroyed this part of
my jacket and my face and hand.
And finally, the soldier fired
10 or five centimeter distance
with my head by gun.
They said, ok, now we don't, we
didn't kill you.
So you have another chance, you
can go to the Poland.
Don't come back.
And we said how?
Because we didn't have food,
water, we didn't eat anything
for four days.
Ali: But he still had his
smartphone, with a little bit of
power left.
So he posted an sos on Facebook,
writing, "There is a cold war
between Belarus and Europe and
we are the cannon fodder."
Khaled: I received messages from
all around the world.
Ali: One message was from Polish
journalist andrzej muller, who
had lived for years in
Afghanistan, but recently moved
back to a small town on the
polish-belarus border.
Andrezj: I got a message from
herat, from a friend who wrote
to me that few of his Afghan
friends, I.T. Engineers, they
are somewhere in the middle of
the jungle at the border between
Poland and Belarus.
So he asked me, I think you live
there.
There is a kind of a war there.
Could you help them?
Ali: Muller also called
fundacja, a Polish volunteer
group dedicated to helping
migrants.
Andrezj: We decided that we will
call, we will do it officially,
legally.
We will call the border guard
and they will ask for asylum in
Poland.
At the same time, local
television and other media radio
will come to the spot.
Ali: By the time the volunteers
and cameras reached khaled and
his friends, they had been in
the woods eight days, all
near-death.
Khaled: Taliban is better than
them, I think.
We ask them to kill us, please,
the soldiers.
Please kill us.
Finish this story.
But, they didn't.
Marianna: He was really brave.
It looked like he was taking
responsibility for the whole
group on some level.
Ali: Marianna wartecka was among
the volunteers who met khaled.
Khaled: They give us food, water
and clothes and everything, and
I can't forget that and I swore
there, ok, I will help other
guys like them one day because,
you know, they were like angel,
they arrived there and they
saved us.
Ali: Marianna told khaled he'd
have to go with the Polish
border guards, to apply for
protection.
Marianna: He asked me if I
could, him that it was going to
be ok.
I remember his face and his eyes
when I had to tell him that I
could not promise him that it
was going to be okay because I
didn't know that.
Ali: But the guards' behavior
towards khaled changed, when
they had an audience.
Khaled: This time it was
different.
You know, they didn't push us
back to the Belarus, and they
act very normal and a standard
like we are a good police and we
will not send you back.
Ali: Once khaled applied for
international protection, he
spent a few weeks in a refugee
camp.
And a few weeks later, he moved
in with a family in Warsaw, and
applied for a work permit.
When we spoke, he had recently
moved into his own apartment.
But khaled's journey is not
over.
Just a few weeks after our
interview, he learned he
wouldn't get an update on his
work permit until October, due
to the influx of Ukrainian
refugees.
He was running out of money, so
he left for Germany, where he
has a job offer and better
prospects for a work permit.
And he lives in a refugee camp
he says is much nicer than the
one in Poland.
Marianna wartecka says Poland is
still treating non-europeans at
the border harshly, while
Ukrainians receive a warm
welcome.
Marianna: I am very, very happy
that they are getting the help
they needed.
I think that's how it should
look like in a situation like
this.
But it is very frustrating when
you when you compare it to how
badly the asylum seekers on the
Belarusian border are treated.
Ali: But that hasn't stopped
khaled from trying to pay his
good fortune forward.
When he was in Poland, he
volunteered at a shelter for
Ukrainian refugees.
After erything you have been
through, where do you find the
ability and the desire to help
Ukrainian refugees?
Khaled: When you help somebody,
a refugee, when you see he's
happy and smiling, it will, you
know, he will send you a
positive energy and it will help
me too.
Ali: Even while his own future
in Europe is on center, he is
already making good on his
pledge to help others like him.
For pbs news Reagan -- news
weekend, I Ali rogin.