An Afghan family’s harrowing account of getting to Kabul’s airport

One Afghan family’s harrowing account of getting to Kabul’s airport.

On his third attempt to evacuate, ‘Khan’ made it out of Kabul on Wednesday and detailed the troubles of getting his family to the airport as Taliban patrol the streets.

US evacuates Americans from Afghanistan as Taliban tightens control The United States is planning to launch one flight per hour to hopefully evacuate up to 9,000 people each day, as the Taliban assumes control of the country. It was on the third attempt that”Khan,” his pregnant wife and their 3-year old son made to get to Kabul’s international airport — the most harrowing yet — when they were finally successful.

Khan, whose real name ABC News is not using for his security, made it on a U.S. military flight out of Afghanistan on Wednesday, according to his U.S. lawyer, fleeing the Taliban takeover and the threats its fighters had made against him for years because of his service to the U.S.

Tens of thousands of Afghans remain behind in anguish and fear. The Biden administration has promised to evacuate”as many Afghans as we possibly can for as long as we can,” in the words of State Department spokesperson Ned Price, but the task remains immense and chaotic — not least because Taliban fighters continue to block access to the airport.

People try to get into Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Aug. 16, 2021.It’s unclear how many Afghans the administration is committed to evacuating, where they will be brought to safety and who qualifies for a coveted seat on military and chartered flights.

Khan, a computer scientist by training who worked for a U.S. defense contractor alongside his brother”Mohammad,” had spent years waiting for a special immigrant visa.After waiting 10 years for a visa, Mohammad finally learned last December that he was granted approval. Less than a month later, he was gunned down on his way to work, his 10-year old son by his side in the car.

Khan was supposed to travel with them but had to run errands that morning in January. He has spent recent months in hiding, receiving death threats by phone and text message and waiting for his family’s special immigrant visas to be finalized. On Saturday, hours before the U.S. Embassy in Kabul closed its doors, he and his family were able to pick up their visas.

The State Department has informed a all American citizens and some Afghan visa holders to travel to the airport, warning in capital letters that they”cannot guarantee your security as you make this trip,” according to the embassy email notice obtained by ABC News.

Khan and his family made their first attempt on Sunday and tried again Tuesday, but there were too many Taliban fighters pushing back crowds to even get close.On Wednesday, they tried a different approach, nearing a gate on the north side. But there, they encountered U.S. troops trying to disperse crowds by shooting into the air and using tear gas, according to Khan’s U.S. lawyer Julie Kornfeld from the International Refugee Assistance Project, or IRAP, who was FaceTiming with him during the episode.

Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby confirmed Wednesday that American troops providing security at the perimeter fired their weapons in the air as part of”crowd control measures.”Kornfeld and IRAP have filed several petitions to order the State Department to evacuate all Afghans who have applied for special immigrant visas and their families — some 100,000 Afghans in total, the legal advocacy group estimates.

Heller called on the U.S. government to secure safe passage to Kabul’s airport for Americans and Afghans like Khan. National security adviser Jake Sullivan said Tuesday that the U.S. had an agreement with the Taliban to ensure safe passage, but several Afghans on the ground have told ABC News they have been blocked. In some cases, Taliban fighters beat back crowds with chains or by firing sporadic gunfire into the air.

In the hours when it seemed like it wouldn’t happen, Kornfeld said they considered other options, including Khan leaving his pregnant wife and son behind to see if he could push ahead and come back to get them — an agonizing decision, she said.”It’s a dynamic situation. Things are rapidly changing on the ground, and one client’s success story of where the access points are is not going to hold up,” Kornfeld added.

The Taliban declared an”amnesty” across Afghanistan and urged women to join their government, seeking to convince a wary population that they have changed a day after deadly chaos gripped the main airport as desperate crowds tried to flee the country.

Once inside, the process was more efficient, she added, with two of her clients and their families on flights within 30 minutes of entering the airport and being processed. Sullivan said Tuesday that since the U.S. military was able to secure the airport late Monday, more evacuation flights have been flowing in”one after another, hot unloading and hot offloading,” he told reporters.

But outside the airport, chaos continues to reign.An alert from the U.S. embassy late Wednesday advised U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents, or green card holders, they”should consider” travelling to the airport — sparking crowds of people rushing there again.

Kabul evacuations resume after hours-long delay

Oh Yes! I’m The Great Pretender!

So! Are the Taliban Pretending or is it time for change?

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I’m eighteen, with a bullet. Got my finger on the trigger – gonna pull it! – (Pete Wingfield 1975).

A British incursion into Afghanistan ended in disaster in 1842 when an entire British army of 4,500 British and Indian troops and 12,000 camp followers while retreating back to India, were massacred. Only a single survivor made it back to British-held territory. 

So! How do you control young male illiterate fighters drunk on the power of the gun, fuelled by religious fervour, from being over zealous with their bullets, from taking whatever they want, including your very young much loved daughter who a month ago laughed her way to school!

Personally I don’t consider that soldiers and foreign people who have died there in the last twenty years have died in vain. They have opened a window to the Afghan people as to what life could be like without the terrible yoke of archaic oppression. That freedom has flown out of the window and dances on the eternal wind.

And relax!

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Love and peace – John

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