‘I’m desperate’: British national who fears for his life trapped in Afghanistan with wife and seven children
After being involved in the evacuations of hundreds of civilians and government officials in the country over the years, man in hiding tells Chiara Giordano he is now pleading for help
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Your support makes all the difference.A British father in hiding in Afghanistan could face the agonising decision of choosing between flying to safety with his seven children or staying put with his wife and in-laws.
The man, who asked not to be identified, said he feared his British citizenship and the work he had previously done helping members of the US, UK and Afghanistan governments made him a target for the Taliban.
He told The Independent he was in hiding in Kabul with his wife, children and wife’s family and was too scared to speak English or walk in the street.
“I don’t know how to explain the desperation and situation I’m in,” he said.
The man, who has also worked as an interpreter in the country, said he attempted to reach Kabul’s airport with his family earlier this week but turned back when shots began ringing out.
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“With small kids it’s very difficult to push through people, so they started firing and I got a call from my friend who knows I’m a British citizen and he said, ‘Get out of here, just turn back now’,” he said.
“I came back with my family to the house and as soon as we arrived there were four Taliban, all armed, on another floor.
“This is the second time the Taliban have come to this building. I don’t know what they’re looking for but I’ve been hiding inside a cupboard and I have my brothers-in-law answering the door if anyone knocks.
“When I heard they [the Taliban] were hunting people down I thought it was rumours but then they’ve come here two times in one day.”
“It’s very stressful,” he said. “I’ve been here since they first started shooting at the airport, roughly 10 minutes from my house. My kids were screaming.
“Even last night there were two or three jets flying out; can you imagine a two-year-old and three-month-old, with that supersonic sound when it goes over your head, can you imagine the state of that room? We actually started thinking they were going to start bombing.”
The father said he had spent the last week repeatedly contacting the British embassy in Kabul to see if he could arrange for himself and his family to be evacuated to the UK, but either received no response or was told to wait for them to get back to him.
He said his children were entitled to British citizenship by birth owing to his British citizenship, but they don’t have British passports and his wife and her family are from Afghanistan, so it is unclear whether they would be allowed on an evacuation flight to the UK.
The man was born in Afghanistan but came to the UK in 1996 with his parents and siblings, where they ultimately claimed citizenship.
He said he returned to the country in 2011 for a visit “to get to know where I’m from and who I am” but ended up staying after he found himself a job and later got married.
During his time in Afghanistan, part of his work has involved helping evacuate hundreds of people – both civilians and government personnel – within the country.
“Now I need evacuating myself,” he said. “I need my own government to do that for me.”
He told The Independent his “last resort” would be to flee to Panjshir – the last Afghanistan province to hold out against the Taliban – if his wife and her family were not able to leave the country with him.
“I can’t leave my family,” he said. “I’d rather take my chances.”
The office of the UK’s ambassador in Afghanistan told The Independent the case would be raised with the consulate as a matter of urgency on Thursday.
A spokesperson for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office added in a statement: “We are working hard to contact all the British nationals we are aware of who remain in Afghanistan, to help them leave the country.
“The safety of them is our top priority, which is why we have been urging British nationals to leave Afghanistan by commercial means since 21 April.
“On 6 August we updated our advice to urge British nationals to leave immediately and to update us on their plans for departure.”
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