Little Kabul: Bay Area Afghans fearful for friends, family in Afghanistan
FREMONT » As Americans scrambled to flee Afghanistan amid the Taliban’s swift takeover, many in the Bay Area’s Afghan American community watched the drama unfold with horror and fear for their families, friends and former neighbors left behind.
Some are terrified that their family members will be executed by the Taliban, while others fear all the advances made for the rights of women and girls since the United States invaded the
country two decades ago to dismantle al-Qaida will be wiped out.
“It was the worst decision in the history of the U.S.,” Najib Kohistani, 35, of Fremont, said Monday of the U.S. plan to leave Afghanistan.
“I voted for President Joe Biden to do something for Afghanistan. But he did the worst thing, leaving. He sold out everybody,” he added.
Speaking outside a food market near a neighborhood known as Little Kabul because thousands of Afghan Americans and several Afghan-owned businesses are there, Kohistani said his mother, brother, sister and many other extended family members still live in Afghanistan.
They tried to get out but were turned away at the airport in Kabul because they don’t have visas, Kohistani said, adding that he has hardly slept in the past two days and has spent a lot of time watching the news and crying.
His brother, a former police officer, is in hiding with several of his family members in the Kapisa province, fearing he will be targeted and killed by the Taliban because he worked with U.S. forces.
“They’re not safe,” he said of his family. “They‘re going to kill them. After a week, they’re going to take out everyone.”
The owner of the store Kohistani was shopping at, Khorasan Market, didn’t want to be named out of fear for his family’s safety. He said his brother was an Afghan special forces member who was killed by a rocket-propelled grenade that hit his truck a few months ago.
“Why invite us to work with you guys, just to leave, and let us be killed?” he said.
Ghezal Omar, who owns the Afghan Bazaar clothing store in Fremont, said she and her family have been watching news and social media channels for updates every day.
“We’re all full of emotions right now. We’re all sitting at the edge of our seats.
“It’s just really heartbreaking to see the fear and despair of the Afghan people now that the Taliban have returned,” she said.
“Let’s not kid ourselves, the Taliban is an oppressive regime, and we’re concerned for our Afghan folks back home that are going to be deprived of their human rights, particularly women,” Omar said.
She last lived in Afghanistan for about three years until 2013, and seeing women get an education, join the workforce and win more and more freedoms was inspiring. But now she’s concerned those gains will be lost under Taliban rule.
“They may say one thing, but their actions are going to be different,” she said, referring to Taliban spokespeople who contend they have softened their stance on women’s rights. “I would love to be proven wrong.”
Sher Jan Ahmadzai, director of the Center for Afghanistan Studies at the University of Nebraska Omaha, said what’s unfolded in Afghanistan over the past several days was the unfortunate culmination of events put in motion when the U.S. agreed last fall to draw down troops byMay.
Ahmadzai said this crisis could have easily been avoided if the U.S. negotiated directly with the Afghan government instead of the Taliban.
“We were tired of the war, there is no doubt. But if we wanted to get out, we could have just had a deal with the Afghan government itself, which is a legitimate government and is recognized internationally,” he said.
“We promised to support them technically and financially, and we could have done that, rather than undermine its legitimacy, which we did,” he said.
“There is no incentive for your enemy when you tell them you’re leaving tomorrow, for them to negotiate with you,” he said of the Taliban. “They’ll just wait you out.”
President Donald Trump’s administration negotiated a deal with the Taliban to end the U.S. military mission by May 1 and Biden, after taking office, announced U.S. troops would be out by by the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attack.
Biden defended his decision to uphold the deal negotiated under the Trump administration in a Monday afternoon address, saying he wasn’t prepared to put any more American lives on the line.
While it’s still too early to predict what the Taliban will do with their newfound power, Ahmadzai said he’s pessimistic about the country’s future and the rights of women there. “It’s bleak, so far,” he said.
Omar, the Fremont clothing store owner, is similarly cynical.
“We’ve seen what (the Taliban) have done while they were ruling (Afghanistan). We’ve seen what chaos they’ve caused over the last 20 years, and they’ve been the common enemy. So now we are letting the enemy return to the country,” she said.
“They’ve killed thousands of Afghans. They’ve killed thousands of Americans and international service members, so for them to return with authority and be recognized on the world stage, it’s honestly despicable,” Omar said.
“We can’t let the Afghan people be forgotten. The lives that were lost, the money that was spent. We were building an amazing country. It takes time,” she said. “But now, it seems like it was all futile.”