‘Our hopes and dreams have been crushed’: Afghan students in India fear for their future

‘My parents were earlier counting days till I get back home. Now they tell me to stay here. They say there’s nothing for us in Afghanistan anymore.’ Stuti Mishra reports

Students shout slogans against the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan as they take part in a demonstration held in Kolkata (AFP/Getty)

Since last Sunday, Rashida has been deprived of any sleep as she constantly tries to check up on her parents and five siblings back home in Afghanistan’s Mazar-i-Sharif. She says they have been locked inside the house since the Taliban took control of their city.

Living in Pune, a city in the west of India’s Maharashtra state, as she pursues her master’s degree in politics, Rashida may be far away from gunshots and explosions, but the series of events that have taken place over the last few days have left thousands of Afghan students in India grappling with fear and anxiety.

There’s no women on the streets of my city. What I hear from my parents on the phone is much worse than what the media is reporting

Rashida, 22-year-old Afghan student in Pune

“My mother cries on the phone every time we speak,” the 22-year-old student, who is about to complete her degree, tells The Independent. “My father has locked the house, my siblings have not stepped out in days, they fear for their lives.

“There’s no women on the streets of my city. What I hear from my parents on the phone is much worse than what the media is reporting,” says Rashida.

Rashida says that when she came to India on a scholarship, she was hopeful about her future. “I wanted to pursue my master’s here and go back to Afghanistan,” she says. “But now everything looks black in front of me.

“My parents were earlier counting days till I get back home. Now they tell me to stay here. They say there’s nothing for us in Afghanistan anymore,” she says, as she controls her tears. “Our hopes and dreams have been crushed.”

Struggling to get another scholarship or a job to continue living in India, Rashida is continually preoccupied with thoughts of her hometown. She longs to be able to see her parents and hug her mother. Her parents are not able to visit her in India. Since the Taliban seized power, most airports have been shut, and the only one that is still operating – Kabul international airport – has been overrun by enormous mobs as thousands try to get onto any available flight.

“I want to continue living here and find a job, but I also cannot leave my family alone,” she says.

Afghan people gather along a road as they wait to board a US military aircraft to leave the country (AFP/Getty)

Thousands of Afghan students come to India each year on scholarships and exchange programmes offered by the Indian government as part of the friendly relations the two governments maintained. However, the dramatic Taliban offensive and takeover of Afghanistan over recent weeks has affected the lives and plans of all those living hundreds of miles away from home.

Another student, who is studying civil engineering in a government institute in Odisha and wishes to remain anonymous, tells The Independent that his father has been living in the basement of their home in Kabul, in fear for his life as a government employee.

“My parents say the Taliban goes around looking for government servants door to door,” he says, as he recounts the trauma of being away from his family in their hour of need.

I chose civil engineering because I wanted to contribute to the infrastructure of my country, and I wanted a better future for myself. Now I don’t know what I can do with this degree

An Afghan civil engineering student living in India

Like many other students, the would-be civil engineer had great plans for his future and wanted to serve his country back home after completing his degree.

“I chose civil engineering because I wanted to contribute to the infrastructure of my country, and I wanted a better future for myself. Now I don’t know what I can do with this degree; they probably don’t even accept Indian degrees any more in Afghanistan,” he says.

He says he still cannot believe this could happen to Kabul, a city his family believed to be the safest in the country. “We had relatives coming to stay in our house in Kabul when their cities were seized by the Taliban. A total of 11 people were in our house because they believed it is safe. Suddenly I found out one day that even Kabul has been seized.”

“I could not reach out to my parents for 2-3 days and it was traumatic,” he adds. “Then I found out how fearful they are, everyone is locked inside. Banks are closed, shops are closed.”

He reiterates that the Taliban aren’t native to their country, hence they have no love for the land. While several Afghan students gathered on the streets of Mumbai and Pune on Friday to protest against the atrocities committed by the Taliban, there’s also a sense of fear in speaking up about the Taliban rule.

Students of an art school paint messages of solidarity with the people of Afghanistan on a pavement in Mumbai (AP)

“My friend spoke to a media channel in India against the Taliban, and they reached her house back in Afghanistan,” an Afghan activist who doesn’t want to be named tells The Independent.

Several students mention that they have been asked not to speak to the media about what’s going on in Afghanistan, either by their college administration or by worried parents who fear the consequences will be faced by their family back home.

“We may be a thousand kilometres away, but we are as scared as our family in Afghanistan,” says one student based in south Delhi who doesn’t want to be named. “We have become directionless now, we had a plan, we came to build a better future for ourselves. But now all is lost.

“I don’t know when I’ll be able to see my family again,” he says.