Trapped cabbie’s Taliban fears for family
Jan tells of hell after failing to get on flight out of Kabul
A CABBIE left stranded in Pakistan after Afghanistan fell to the Taliban is desperate to get his family back to Scotland.
Jan Mohammed Ahmadzai, who has lived and worked in Glasgow for 16 years, was visiting his wife and children in Kabul, where they live, when the coup took place.
Despite the 42-year-old’s best efforts, he wasn’t able to make it on any of the evacuation flights home.
Jan and his family witnessed the horrific suicide bombing at Kabul Airport on August 26. At least 183 people were killed in the blast.
His wife Wakeela had also given birth to his fifth child Ishaq just days before the attack. The couple fear for their other children Wajid, 12, Yousaf, 10, Leena, seven, and Sammi, five.
Jan, now in Pakistan with his family, is desperate to get everyone back to Glasgow under the Afghan Citizen
Resettlement Scheme. He is only one of his family to hold a British passport.
He said: “We had been trying to get evacuated but couldn’t get on any evacuation flights. We had a seven-dayold baby and it was hard to get there.
“We were just yards away from that bomb explosion at the airport. I saw so many bodies. My family are still carrying that picture in their heads.
“I went to the Baron Hotel. I was told I would get by the gate with a British passport but the gate was shut and I was told there were no more evacuations.
“There were thousands of us trying to escape. I couldn’t put my kids in that risk – they would have been crushed.”
Jan feared being executed by the Taliban for holding a British passport and was terrified his familywould come to harm so they went into hiding. Just days ago, Jan and his family managed to cross the border to Pakistan illegally but he claims he’s struggled to get help from the Home Office or Pakistan officials.
The dad of five has racked up debt while trying to feed his family while still paying for his flat and car in Glasgow.
He is now pinning his hopes on the Afghan Citizen Resettlement Scheme.
The government scheme will see 20,000 Afghans resettled in the UK in the next few years. Anyone resettled under the scheme will be able to apply for British Citizenship after five years.
Jan added: “We have shelter but I cannot leave my wife and kids in Pakistan in case they get sent back.”
The Home Office said: “We continue to do all we can to enable British nationals and eligible Afghans to leave the country.”
A fundraiser has been set up to try to ease Jan’s financial burden. Donations can be made at: gofundme.com/f/ british-family-stuck-in-afghanistan