Afghan guard who worked with British Embassy calls for help to save family

AN Afghan who worked as a guard with the British Embassy in Kabul has said he will have to return to Afghanistan unless the UK is able to help save his family members, claiming the Taliban have tortured his father.

Faiz Mohammad Seddeqi, 30, was evacuated to the UK in August with his wife and son, but said he will have to return and surrender to the Taliban if the UK Government is unable to help his other family members.

“The Taliban asked my father, ‘Where is your son? He needs to come back and answer our questions’,” said Mr Seddeqi, speaking through an interpreter.

“After spending a night in a police station he finally got released, but after his release he went to hide somewhere and left his home.

“Unfortunately, it was a couple of weeks ago that [he] was captured by the Taliban again and was tortured.”

Mr Seddeqi said that during his work with the British Embassy he was targeted several times by the Taliban, receiving threatening messages and seeing his car set on fire.

Along with his father’s torture, the Taliban also fired guns through the windows of the family home according to Mr Seddeqi, while his sister is also missing.

“Firstly, I’m thankful to the Government that they got me here, and at least my life and my immediate family’s lives were saved from the Taliban,” he said.

“We helped British Embassy and British soldiers and diplomats in Afghanistan, we worked for them, we tried to serve them while they were in Afghanistan.

“What I want from Home Office or from Foreign Office is help [bringing] my family to the UK.”

Mr Seddeqi worked with the British Embassy for more than a year.

He described the moments after Kabul fell to the Taliban, including how he came to be separated from his other family members. He said: “We promised each other to meet at Kabul airport after three days, so after three days I and my immediate family went to Kabul airport and my other family members came to the airport as well.

“But due to the huge rush and firing of tear gas I lost my other family members.

“I only could get my [child] and wife to the airport for the evacuation.”

Mr Seddeqi is now staying with his wife and son in a hotel in Watford with, he estimates, around 200 other evacuated Afghans.

He said: “If my father and mother get tortured by Taliban and the UK Government didn’t do anything for them, then finally I have to go back to Afghanistan because it was me who worked for foreigners.

“I will have to go back to Afghanistan and surrender to the Taliban to at least save my father and mother.”

A Government spokesman said: “We undertook the UK’S biggest and fastest emergency evacuation in recent history, helping more than 15,000 people to safety from Afghanistan, who we are continuing to support.

“There is now a huge effort under way to get families into permanent homes so they can settle and rebuild their lives.”