KABUL: Azizi, a 57-year-old former NATO interpreter, his wife, and their teenage son bid farewell to Afghanistan last week for a European country with long faces, leaving behind two sons who still require parental care.
Thousands of Afghans have left their homeland since the Taliban seized power in mid-August, forcing former President Ashraf Ghani and his cabinet members to flee the country that has been at war for the past 20 years as a result of the US invasion over the allegation that al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, the prime suspect in the 9/11 attacks in 2001, was not handed over.
Azizi, a native of the northern Panjshir Valley, told Anadolu Agency before his departure from Kabul airport that his last employment was as an interpreter for NATO forces.
He received three visas, including those for his wife and 16-year-old, and the European country, whose name he did not reveal, refused the visas of his two older boys, he said, adding that the visa-issuing officials stated that family meant children under the age of 18.
With tears in their eyes, their two boys were at Kabul airport to see them leave. “I had initially decided not to leave the country since my two sons, both of whom are barely over 18 years old, will stay with me,” Aziz remarked, his eyes welling up with sorrow.
“Since the Taliban took power, I’ve never received a threat or had anyone come to my house,” he added, “but my younger son insisted on applying for asylum because he wished to move abroad.”
“I’m leaving my country in much pain.” He said, “I’m not sure when we’ll meet again.”
Most Afghans who worked with foreign forces during the two-decade conflict are now trying to obtain asylum in any Western country with the prospect of a better life for themselves and their families.
Since the Taliban took control of Kabul, the US and its allies had already evacuated tens of thousands of people. While, thousands more are seeking asylum in western countries despite the Taliban’s general amnesty, which they promised shortly after seizing power in the country for all opposition figures and citizens who worked with foreign forces.
The Taliban claim that this is economic migration since the US held over $9 billion of the country’s central bank reserves after leaving the war-torn country, and several donors and organizations, like the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, have suspended payments.
Several countries, including China, Russia, Pakistan, and Qatar, have urged the US to provide Afghanistan access to its foreign reserves, but no concrete steps have been taken thus far.
Brain drain
Thousands of Afghans, including qualified professionals, doctors, engineers, and lawyers, have been evacuated from Afghanistan by US and European countries during the last four months.
Local geopolitical analysts say, the new Taliban interim administration’s ability to handle its official affairs, which require professionals, has been harmed by the brain drain.
“Western governments are removing educated Afghans in order to make difficulties for the Taliban, who will require experts to run their government. Most of them have already departed,” a Kabul University professor told Anadolu Agency, requesting anonymity due to security concerns.
He described the move as an injustice to the Afghan people.
The Taliban, however, are optimistic that their new interim administration will run smoothly now as many employees in different departments have returned to work.
“In our research academy, we have over 200 academics and researchers, and just seven or eight have left,” Maulvi Fariduddin, a top Taliban official and head of the Academy of Sciences of Afghanistan, told Anadolu Agency.
He added that there are still thousands of Afghans here who want to serve their country, and the Taliban are treating them with respect and decency as they return to their duties.
However, the country’s protracted economic crisis has put every individual in a bad financial situation.
“We want to serve our country and do not want to leave,” said another Kabul university professor, “but the prolonged economic situation puts our families at risk.”
Threats from opponents
Several officials from the previous government have been murdered in the last four months, placing others in terror and claiming their lives are in danger.
Since the Taliban assumed power, Human Rights Watch said over 100 former security forces members have been killed or forcibly disappeared in four provinces, including Ghazni, Helmand, Kunduz, and Kandahar.
The Taliban, on the other hand, have denied the report, claiming that after announcing general amnesty, they did not kill any former security personnel, including those who worked for previous governments and military officials.
“It’s anti-Taliban propaganda. After the war ended and we announced the general amnesty, Islam forbids us from killing anyone,” Fariduddin said, adding that Taliban security has arrested some criminals and former intelligence agency personnel, the National Defense Services (NDS), who were involved in killing their opponents due to personal animosity.
A former Kabul police chief also confirmed that drug smugglers, not the Taliban, are posing a threat to him.
“I’m afraid of them, not the Taliban,” he stated emphatically. They are still in the country, and the former police chief, speaking on the condition of anonymity owing to his personal protection, stated, “I fear their retaliation for my tough action against them.”
“These drug traffickers were so powerful that they forced the government to fire me,” he alleged, adding, “I was fired from the service because of my actions against drug smugglers.”
“I cannot leave my home to go out in the city because I am afraid that any member of the drug mafia, whom I arrested during my time as Kabul’s police chief, will target me,” he claimed.
During a recent interview with Anadolu Agency, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid confirmed that the security and intelligence apparatus in Kabul is not completely operational, but that most criminals have fled the city and that the Taliban have detained many of them.
