IN hiding in a house in Kabul, five brothers and their families are trying to work out what comes next.
All five of these men worked for the British Embassy and HMRC. All five are Afghans who believe their identities are known to the Taliban.
Their bank accounts have been stopped – they don’t know why – and they’re scared to go out. They’ve burned most of the evidence of their time as bodyguards and officials and while the house hasn’t been searched yet, they know of former colleagues who’ve had to open their doors to the Taliban.
Yet they’re scared to flee because the confiscation of cars has become a common occurrence, and anyway, where would they go?
“We’re sitting at home helpless and hopeless,” they told the Sunday National. “We are finally left behind.
READ MORE: Army chief tells of ‘distressing’ messages as evacuation draws to a close
“There is nothing we could do. We have to face whatever our fates are, this is the cruel world we live in, no one cares [about] you. You would be used as a machine as long as they need you.”
We’ve decided not to name these men, who were rejected for removal to the UK because they were employed by major contractors – they’re already in enough danger. It’s transpired that documents revealing the personal details of some workers were left behind in the hurry to quit premises used by the UK and US.
Friends in Scotland tried to help the brothers. It was hoped that at least one would make it out. He’d assisted in the return of abducted Gurkhas, personally attending the handover, but that didn’t count for a place in the MoD’s Afghan Relocation and Protection (Arap) scheme.
READ MORE: David Pratt: Kabul Airport attack was reminder other dangerous forces exist in Afghanistan
In another case, a former interpreter – we’ll call him Adam – had the revocation of Arap places for himself, his wife and their five children overturned on Monday. The Home Office had decided he was a national security threat before reconsidering and asking him to get to the Baron Hotel for removal. He’d been hiding in bushes close to the family home before that as he’d learned the Taliban was searching premises nearby.
The reason for the shifts is not known, but the change of heart came too late for the 32-year-old and his loved ones to make it on to a plane. “I tried several times to go to the airport from the last few days but it was not possible due to a huge rush at the entrances,” he said. “My wife and children are exhausted in the rush. My wife was about to die where we were stuck.”
That was on Thursday. They left before the bombings killing 73 people, a decision that may have saved their lives. But now there’s no likelihood of removal to the UK, where Adam, who survived a shooting by the Taliban in 2016, already has family. “I guess the best option is to go to a third country and from there to the UK,” he said on Friday evening, “but I am still waiting on UK MoD further advice.”
While those on the ground keep looking for answers, MPs have been too. Those with Afghan constituents have been under immense pressure this week dealing with pleas for help. “We are all getting a lot of cases – any Afghan constituent will almost certainly have relatives and friends in the country who they are fearful for and want to be reunited with,” one Scottish MP told the Sunday National late on Thursday, revealing the scale of the work and indicating just how big the impact of the crisis is across the UK.
“In each of the ministerial briefings in recent days there have been at least 200 MPs on the calls each reporting multiple cases,” he said in confidence. All of the stories are harrowing and everyone is doing the best they can to get details to the Home Office, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office or MoD, but as events in Afghanistan are showing, it seems there’s little chance everyone who wants out will get out before this phase of the airlift and evacuation ends. Which makes for very difficult conversations with constituents. It means waiting for the resettlement scheme details to be announced and whatever the logistics of that will be, and what will exist in terms of safe routes out.
“If the UK Government had been more generous earlier, for example in resettling Afghans who had worked for subcontractors rather than just the army or had allowed family reunion more easily in recent years, lots of people would already be out which would have made space for other priority cases,” the MP said.
But among the suffering, there are some successes.
Last week, the Sunday National revealed the story of Tabasum Rasoli, caught in a visa processing net that threatened to prevent her from joining her husband Zabidullah in Glasgow. The pair had begun formal immigration applications after their March wedding in Kabul. They’d met in Afghanistan after Zabidullah, who was born there, travelled to attend another ceremony and he proposed after their WhatsApp friendship turned to romance.
READ MORE: Trapped in Kabul: New Scot tells of fears for wife caught in Taliban regime
He’d told us how he’d “promised her a good life” but now feared they wouldn’t be reunited as the Taliban takeover coincided with her in-person appointment at the official visa centre. On Thursday, the 24-year-old boarded a plane out with eight members of her family. “I waited for this moment,” Zabidullah (below) told the Sunday National. “Now they will be safe.”
The family touched down at Birmingham Airport on Friday evening, having travelled via Dubai. They will now spend 10 days in hotel quarantine before being allowed to travel on again.
“I’m so excited to see them, I just want to go and see them,” said Zabidullah (below), a self-employed taxi driver who has lived in Scotland since childhood.
“These 10 days will be like a year. I just want them all together in my house – my house is only a single bedroom but I want them all here together.
“My friends all are having difficulties,” he went on. “They say I am the only one who succeeded. I don’t know what I can do to say thank you.”
His solicitor Lisa McGuigan, of Glasgow practice McGlashan MacKay, is thrilled by the outcome. “We were delighted to hear that Tabasum’s visa had been granted through the week, but to then receive confirmation that her family members were also granted permission to travel to the UK was the icing on the cake.
“This week has been a rollercoaster of emotions and we were relieved to get confirmation that they had landed in the UK.
“Our thoughts go out to everyone who has been affected by the situation in Afghanistan.”
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