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One year on, Afghan family still divided after daughter fled, mother stayed
Although there are no accurate estimates, thousands of Afghans fled the country in the chaotic days that followed the hardline Islamist Taliban's military conquest on Aug. 15, 2021.
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Afghan refugee Massouda Kohistani, 41, speaks with Reuters in Salamanca, Spain, August 9, 2022. (Reuters /Susana Vera)
A
s thousands of Afghans crowded outside Kabul airport a year ago desperately trying to escape the Taliban, Massouda Kohistani managed to fight her way on to a foreign military flight bound for the Gulf and ended up in Spain.
Her mother and more than a dozen other family members did not make it. They were left behind on the tarmac, Kohistani recalled, so as well as dealing with the pain of separation from her family and home, the 41-year-old rights activist is coping with a crushing sense of guilt.
"I feel terrible having left behind my family, my sick mother," Kohistani, who is single, told Reuters from Salamanca, a city west of Madrid, shortly after finishing another emotionally draining video call with her family back in Kabul.
"They don't have enough money to manage expenses...earlier I managed to pay all the bills."
Although there are no accurate estimates, thousands of Afghans fled the country in the chaotic days that followed the hardline Islamist Taliban's military conquest on Aug. 15, 2021.
Reuters spoke with 13 prominent Afghan activists who escaped and who are now living as refugees abroad with no clear idea of when, if ever, they will be able to go home.
The men and women are wary of returning to a country ruled by a government that has restricted basic freedoms since returning to power.
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