Councillor describes escape from Afghanistan as Kabul fell

Harrow councillor Peymana Assad, a British-Afghan, was visiting family when it became clear the city was going to fall and saw how people desperately rushed to Kabul airport.

She experienced the panic and fear among the local population, as traffic was brought to a standstill and people did all they could to secure a place on the evacuation planes being run by the British military. 

Cllr Assad said: “At 10am on August 15 the embassy told me they were going to evacuate me at 4pm so I thought I had a bit of time.

“Then my neighbour said ‘you need to get out now’ because the Taliban have already taken districts, the roads are blocked and they’re heading for the airport. 

“All these women were running past saying how the Taliban had gone into their work and told them to get out and not come back. Taliban flags were being put up everywhere.

“It was mayhem – hundreds of people were running towards the airport. A shopkeeper looked me in the eye and said ‘if the Taliban catch you, they’ll kill you, so you better run faster’. That set fear in my heart.”

Cllr Assad was shocked to discover she could not access the embassy meeting point when she arrived at around 2pm and, with little battery on her phone, was unsure what to do next. 

A nearby family allowed her to charge her mobile and after she made contact with officials in the UK, was told to return to the embassy meeting point at 4pm. 

She added: “I breathed a huge sigh of relief when they let me in. But we still had to wait for hours until the military thought it was safe to move us. 

“There were hundreds of civilians just waiting, they looked desperate, they looked scared. 

“People were looking at me directly in the eye and I was thinking ‘that could have been me’ if I didn’t have British citizenship.

“What failed leadership from the world that these people have to stand like this outside a military base and beg for their lives.”

Cllr Assad was full of praise for the RAF members who worked on her flight, describing them as “calm, caring and professional”, and said the whole plane “burst into applause” when it landed in Dubai.

She has now called on the Government to do more to support those still stranded in Afghanistan and, where possible, help them seek refuge in the UK. 

She explained this could include diverting aid intended for Afghanistan, which could be seized by the Taliban, and using it to fund support networks for refugees in Britain.

She said: “A lot of Afghans feel abandoned. The first thing we should be doing is evacuating vulnerable people who will be targeted by the Taliban. 

“These are people who have worked with the British government, our embassy, anything connected to us. 

“Those people are under threat, they are being hunted by the Taliban. They are going door to door. People are losing their lives. 

“The priority is getting these people out to safety and not being held back by bureaucracy. These people stood beside us in our pursuit of democracy and getting rid of the Taliban and now we’ve just kind of left them.”

She also said politicians should not be giving any leeway to the new set-up in Afghanistan. 

Cllr Assad explained: “Some are trying to legitimise the Taliban even when we have evidence of their atrocities over the past 20 years. 

“They came to power through force, through the power of the gun, not through the ballot. 

“How can I turn my back and say let’s just give them a chance? Why? Why shouldn’t others get to choose who governs them? The Taliban know they’d never win an election.”

If you’ve a story to tell about the crisis in Afghanistan get in touch at Adam.Shaw@Reachplc.com