CCPR/C/123/D/2328/2014 asylum grounds combined with its background knowledge on the general situation in Afghanistan and the specific details of the case. Therefore, there are no grounds for doubting the Board’s assessment that the author has failed to substantiate his grounds for asylum and that the author’s statement about such grounds was fabricated for the occasion. The State party further submits that the author’s communication to the Committee failed to produce new concrete facts about his situation, and that the author is thus in fact trying to use the Committee as an appellate body to have the factual circumstances advocated in support of his claim for asylum reassessed by the Committee. It adds in this regard that the Committee must give considerable weight to the Board’s findings of fact, which is better placed to assess such facts in the author’s case. 4.9 The State party observes in relation to the author’s claim that he is at risk of being forcibly recruited by the Taliban that, according to the report of the Immigration Service, 9 nothing indicates that the Taliban is forcibly recruiting young people since many volunteers join the Taliban. It is equally unlikely that the Taliban will attempt to forcibly recruit ethnic Hazaras, considering that these two groups do not trust each other, and that the Taliban will therefore not trust Hazaras as soldiers.10 The State party submits, therefore, that the author has failed to substantiate that the Taliban will attempt to forcibly recruit him upon his return to Afghanistan. 4.10 The State party finds that the fact that the author is an ethnic Hazara from the Wardak Province cannot in itself justify his entitlement to international protection. In this connection, the State party submits that, according to the information available, 11 there is a large minority of ethnic Hazaras in the Wardak Province and that they are not at risk of being subjected to abuse falling within article 7 of the Covenant solely due to their ethnic affiliations. Nor does the State party find any specific basis for assuming that the fact that the author, like many other Afghan nationals, has stayed for a period of time in the West would result in him attracting particular attention upon return to Afghanistan. It observes that, since the author does not appear to have been conspicuous in any way, he should be able to take up residence in other areas of Afghanistan, including big cities like Kabul. The author’s references to the Eligibility Guidelines (see paras. 3.2–3.3 above), which is included in the general background material of the Board as item No. 497, cannot lead to a different assessment. 4.11 In the light of the foregoing, the State party concludes that there is no basis for doubting, let alone setting aside the assessment made by the Board, that the author has failed to substantiate that his return to Afghanistan would put him at risk of being subjected to persecution or abuse justifying asylum, and thus that returning the author would not constitute a violation of either article 6 or article 7 of the Covenant. Author’s comments on the State party’s observations 5.1 On 24 September 2014, counsel informed the Committee that, on an unspecified date, the author had disappeared. Counsel was in contact with the Danish Red Cross Refuge Centre in the hope that the author would reappear. In the meantime, since the power of attorney given by the author to counsel remained in force, counsel submitted that he would continue to represent the author before the Committee. 5.2 Counsel submits that, in addition to the claims under articles 6, 7 and 14 of the Covenant made in the initial submission, he wishes to add a separate claim under article 13 that was not invoked earlier by mistake. He adds that, since the author was unable to appeal the decision of the Board of 23 January 2012 to a judicial body, his risk of persecution and suffering irreparable harm upon return to Afghanistan has not been assessed in accordance with the procedural guarantees of article 13 of the Covenant. 9 10 11 Reference is made to Danish Immigration Service, Afghanistan: Country of Origin Information for Use in the Asylum Determination Process, Report from Danish Immigration Service’s fact-finding mission to Kabul, Afghanistan, 25 February to 4 March 2012 (Copenhagen, 2012), pp. 26–28. Ibid., p. 28. In addition, according to the report, the Taliban mainly recruit ethnic Pashtuns. Ibid. 5