Mir Fakhruddin walks briskly, still holding the phone in his hand. A year has passed since the Taliban came to power, but this former employee of the Spanish Agency for Cooperation and Development (AECID) between 2009 and 2012 does not trust and leaves his home as little as possible. After the anniversary of what the Islamists call the “liberation” of Kabul, no one in the capital forgets the chaotic scenes experienced then at the international airport.
Fakhruddin was all set to leave with his family for Spain on August 26, but that was the day of a brutal attack by the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group that killed at least 170 people, including thirteen US Marines. do not fulfill their purpose. They returned home and did not receive any communication from Spain for up to four months. They were informed by email that there had been a change in the evacuation system and that the departure would be from Islamabad or Tehran, where they must first arrange an interview at the respective embassies, and not from Kabul.
Last week, a plane carrying 294 Afghans from the Pakistani capital landed in Torrejon, including about 80 defense and foreign ministry officials. According to the latter, since the first flight that took off from Kabul on August 15, 2021, 2,900 Afghans have already taken refuge. To them you need to add those who managed to get on their own. There will still be at least 800 to 1,000 people in Afghanistan, former AECID employees and relatives, as well as defense-related personnel.
Fakhruddin, 60, keeps on his phone all the documents sent from Madrid that prove he is a former collaborator with an asylum opportunity along with his wife and eight children. “There are ten of us in total, and according to the new Spanish regulations, the only way to get out is to go to Iran or Pakistan, which is currently not feasible for many families like mine, because it means a fortune.” laments a former AECID worker.
The only way to get a passport in the Emirate is on the black market and it doesn’t go below 2,000 euros, an Iranian or Pakistani visa costs about 1,000 euros and you need to add travel and stay expenses in Tehran or Islamabad. Families like Fakhruddin’s are surviving on their savings and running out of money because prices have skyrocketed in a country that has gone through an unprecedented humanitarian and economic crisis. “No one should be left behind and I hope that Spain will help us, but time goes by and they no longer respond to our messages,” says the engineer. During these twelve months, he received no direct threats, “but I know that my life is in danger because I worked for a foreign country, so I want to leave Afghanistan as soon as possible.”
Iran and Pakistan are now gateways for the Afghans, who have collaborated with Spain to flee the emirate. “The biggest downside is the high economic cost to families, which has led some to give up and resign themselves to living under Taliban rule,” says Ignacio Alvaro Benito, a former AECID officer in Afghanistan who supported all local staff. who worked for the agency. “The Iranian route is by far the most efficient, besides charter planes to Islamabad, it would be more practical to provide more resources to the embassy in Tehran to help the refugees pay for their stay in Iran and their tickets,” Alvaro says. Of the 294 Afghans evacuated to Spain last week, two families belonged to AECID employees.
“What Spain has done in Afghanistan is unprecedented and we must recognize the commitment and great effort to give asylum to all these Afghans, but the government must be more transparent about which groups are being evacuated and pay more attention to those who have been direct employees who gave their best in difficult conditions and took huge personal risks working side by side with Spain,” says Alvaro. People like Fakhruddin live glued to the phone, waiting for a message or a rescue call from Madrid.
Source: El Correo
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