It’s plain spineless
i cAn’T understand why the police are being so spineless with the insulate Britain jokers (who, as some wag on the radio pointed out, sounds awfully like a breakaway Brexit faction). After all, only a few months ago, officers were trampling over flowers and candles and dragging away women at a perfectly peaceful — and non-obstructive — vigil for Sarah everard. now they’re kow-towing to a group whose actions are far more disruptive. what rights do these nutters have that hundreds of ordinary people gathered to mourn the murder of an innocent woman don’t?
stampede’. ‘I stayed on my feet in the enormous crowd from 10pm to 3am. At 2.30am the British soldiers came out and started calling out names and the crowd surged. I was struggling to breathe and stay on my feet. It was horrible. I got to within five metres of the British soldiers who had linked arms to form a barrier. They were also struggling to cope.’
He could not bear it any longer and left. ‘My wife and baby were further back out of the crush. But it was still bad for a baby; flies and mosquitoes and dirt. We went back to Kabul.’
With the long-distance encouragement of his former British Army mentor ‘Captain Alex’ they returned to the airport.
Again the crowds made it impossible to get in.
There would be one last chance. Abdul had been given the contact details of a female army major in the UK who was coordinating the evacuation of local employees. It was August 26. On WhatsApp she instructed us and four other ARAP families to meet in Kabul. Then we got a message from her saying that if we got to the Abbey Gate at the airport in 15 minutes we would be able to get through. British soldiers were waiting there for us.
‘It was a straight road to the airport and I was sure we could do it. But we had to pass a Taliban checkpoint. And they would not let us through. So we went round another route but we arrived at the gate 30 minutes after the message and not 15. By that time the British had gone and the Taliban were in control.
‘I tried to convince them to let us in. But they were swearing at me and hitting me and calling me a ‘slave of the infidels’.
‘The major in Britain told me to offer them money. I knew it was not a good idea, but I was desperate. When I offered one of them money “for the jihad” he threatened to murder me on the spot.’
A message then came through from the major in London warning him to leave the area immediately. ‘Twenty minutes after we left I heard the first (Isis) suicide bomb blast. At least we escaped with our lives.’
Now he and his family live in limbo, sheltered by friends. ‘Not many people know me in Kabul. I keep my documents hidden. The Taliban have announced an amnesty but we hear they are looking for people like me.’
He cannot help but feel bitter towards the UK Government. ‘They made it intentionally hard for us. Would you have gone into that crush with your wife and baby daughter? During my time there I saw four or five children die and many women fall unconscious because of the pressure of the crowd. It was hell.
‘I took a bullet for them but still they leave me and my family behind to face the consequences of my service. We see they (the British) even got out dogs and cats. But the Taliban do not care about the dogs. At least, the British should treat us in the same way as these animals.’