‘The Taliban were going to kill me’: Terrified evacuees start their new lives in the ‘hopeful zone’

Published

4 years ago

August 23, 2021

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It’s calmer outside the camp.

The people, thousands of them, know that the processing that might get them on a flight to the UK can’t happen if there is a return to the chaos of the past few days.

In the morning sun, people call to us as we walk, pleading for a pair of eyes to glance at their applications, passports, visa, letters of recommendation, and – more importantly – to listen to their stories.

We stop often and give advice but in reality there is little or nothing we can do.

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All the time we are shuffled to the side as convoys of people carriers, led by armoured cars, depart the camp gates, turn right, and head towards the airport, winding their way through crowds of would-be evacuees and hundreds of soldiers.

The people stare in envy.

Those cars are full of the people who have been designated fit to fly.

The convoys are the reason for the chaos, the despair and the deaths that have engulfed this tiny part of Kabul.

Nobody but the people who are on board know what the process is like.

So we asked to see the journey.

The people have been sleeping rough for days. When their number is called they stand, brush away the dirt and pick up a single bag – that is all they are allowed.

They are loaded up and begin, arguably, the most important drive they will ever take.

They pass through the heavily-guarded gates of the compound, where their status has been checked and confirmed, back into the territory of the Taliban and the wilderness of the thousands waiting for news.

To the right there’s a sewage canal where the Americans are in charge, a holding pen for people who might have the right paperwork.

This isn’t the hopeless line, it’s the hopeful zone, but it’s utterly awful.

The convoy moves through the soldiers of multiple countries looking for people with a right to enter – and then beyond – away from the queues.

We passed those who have been successful but are still waiting for a flight, temporarily living in what looked like refugee camps.

Suddenly it’s left behind.

Inside the wire we watched as the Royal Air Force started processing evacuees before boarding, with airport-style bag checks and security.

All the UK forces are trying to make it feel like an ordinary flight, conscious how much trauma every single person has endured.

Squadron leader Di Bird, in charge of all movements, is a tough, no-nonsense, commander.

Meeting her for just a few minutes, it was clear to me that she would have zero tolerance for nonsense.

She was checking that the men and women in her command were following explicit orders.

The order was to not wear body armour, to greet the evacuees cordially and to process them quickly.

Behind her tough forces exterior, her sentiment was warm and she was kind to the evacuees.

“This isn’t about getting masses of people, herding them together and getting on to planes – everything is about making sure we remember these our are friends, these are people that have worked with us for many years and we treat them that way,” she told me.

“So it’s about being dressed like this as much as possible [without body armour], it’s about showing them that we’re not scared, it’s about making sure that children are fed, that babies are looked after, that anything we do to reduce their stress levels and show them that they’re safe is at the heart of everything we do here.”

Amongst the evacuees I met five-year-old twins Asna and Sana in their party dresses. They were with their mum and dad and younger brother – the first twins spotted by the RAF in this airlift.

This is the start of their new life, although everything is clearly very strange, especially being checked with a handheld metal detector while they spun around.

Their father Nooragha Hashimi was a UK military translator in Helmand, working with the Royal Engineers.

This flight will save his and his family’s life for certain, but getting to this point had been terrifying.

I asked him if he thought he was at risk: “Yes – they [the Taliban] were gonna kill me.

“It was like everybody was scared [about] what they’re going to do, and the first time they’re saying we’re gonna do nothing [to] anybody, but nobody knows if it will be the same as 1996.”

The runway and apron are now full flow, this evacuation effort has to be because even though thousands have been moved, more need to be processed.

Behind the enormous transporter planes, rows of people wait to board, buffeted by the backwash of jet engines and propellers.

Lines of people are brought through and positioned, awaiting instructions from the loaders.

This is a huge operation but it’s still probably not enough – there simply may not be enough time.

We watched on as the latest British flight boarded, the passengers, including the twins, were guided up the loading ramps.

They were seated along the sides before being directed into rows and secured for the flight using cargo straps – this is only the second time in the RAF’s history they’ve had to do this. The last time was in South Sudan.

As we waved goodbye to Asna, Sana and their family on board, their dad told me they had no plans yet, other than to move to southern England where they believe the weather is better.

After what has happened to their lives in a week, just worrying about the weather has to feel great.

World

Drones and salami: How Putin is testing the West with Poland airspace violation

Published

5 hours ago

September 10, 2025

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Drones and salami: How Putin is testing the West with Poland airspace violation

The unprecedented Russian drone attacks on Poland are both a test and a warning. How Europe and NATO respond could be crucial to security on this continent.

The Russians are past masters at what’s called “salami slicing”. Tactics that use a series of smaller actions to produce a much bigger outcome that otherwise would have been far more provocative.

The Kremlin is probing the West with gradual but steady escalation. A British Council building and an EU installation are bombed in Kyiv; a senior EU official’s plane’s GPS is jammed.

On their own each provocation produces nothing more than rhetoric from the West – but new lines are crossed and Russia is emboldened.

Ukraine war latest: NATO chief sends message to Putin

Putin is good at this.

He used salami slicing tactics masterfully in 2014 with his “little green men” invasion of Crimea, a range of ambiguous military and diplomatic tactics to take control. The West’s confused delay in responding sealed Crimea’s fate.

He has just taken a larger slice of salami with his drone attacks on Poland.

They are of course a test of NATO’s readiness to deploy its Article 5 obligations. Russia has attacked a member state, allies believe deliberately.

Will NATO trigger the all for one, one for all mechanism in Poland’s defence and attack Russia? Not very likely.

But failing to respond projects weakness. Putin will see the results of his test and plot the next one.

Expect lots of talk of sanctions but remember they failed to avert this invasion and have failed to persuade Russia to reverse it. The only sanctions likely to bite are the ones the US president refuses to approve, on Russia’s oil trade.

So how are the drones also a warning? Well, they pose a question.

Vladimir Putin is asking the West if it really wants to become more involved in this conflict with its own forces. Europeans are considering putting boots on the ground inside Ukraine after any potential ceasefire.

If this latest attack is awkward and complicated and hard to respond to now, what happens if Russia uses hybrid tactics then?

Deniable, ambiguous methods that the Russians excel in could make life very difficult for the alliance if it is embroiled in Ukraine.

Think twice before committing your troops there, Russia is warning the West.

There is more Europe could do.

It could stop buying Russian energy, which it is still astonishingly importing – more than 20 billion euros a year at the last count.

It could use its massive economic advantage (20 times that of Russia’s, and that was before the war) to do more to fund Ukraine’s defence.

While it continues to do neither, expect more excruciating slices of the salami to come.

World

Riot police clash with ‘Block Everything’ protesters in Paris

Published

9 hours ago

September 10, 2025

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Riot police clash with 'Block Everything' protesters in Paris

Riot police have clashed with protesters in Paris after they took to the streets in response to calls to ‘Block Everything’ over discontent with the French government.

Tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets of the French capital and other cities, including Marseille and Montpellier, in response to the online ‘Bloquons Tout’ campaign, which is urging people to strike, block roads, and other public services.

The government has deployed more than 80,000 officers to respond to the unrest, which has seen 200 arrested nationwide so far, according to police, and comes on the same day the new prime minister is being sworn in.

Demonstrators were seen rolling bins into the middle of roads to stop cars, while police rushed to remove the makeshift blockades as quickly as possible.

Tear gas was used by police outside Paris‘s Gare du Nord train station, where around 1,000 gathered, clutching signs declaring Wednesday a public holiday.

Others in the city blocked the entrance to a high school where firefighters were forced to remove burnt objects from a barricade.

Elsewhere in the country, traffic disruptions were reported on major roads in Marseille, Montpellier, Nantes, and Lyon.

Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau told reporters a group of protesters had torched a bus in the Breton city of Rennes.

Fourth prime minister in a year

The ‘Block Everything’ rallies come amid spiralling national debt and are similar to the Yellow Vest movement that broke out over tax increases during President Emmanuel Macron’s first term.

‘Bloquons tout’ was first spearheaded online by right-wing groups in May but has since been embraced by the left and far left, experts say.

On Monday, former Prime Minister Francois Bayrou lost a vote of no confidence, and was replaced by Sebastien Lecornu at the Hotel Matignon on Wednesday afternoon, becoming the fourth person in the job in just 12 months.

A teacher, Christophe Lalande, taking part in the Paris protests, told reporters at the scene: “Bayrou was ousted, [now] his policies must be eliminated.”

Elsewhere, union member Amar Lagha said: “This day is a message to all the workers of this country: that there is no resignation, the fight continues, and a message to this government that we won’t back down, and if we have to die, we’ll die standing.”

World

Israel has crossed a huge diplomatic red line with Qatar strike

Published

10 hours ago

September 10, 2025

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Israel has crossed a huge diplomatic red line with Qatar strike

A lot has changed in Qatar in just 24 hours.

Israel brought its war with Hamas to the streets of Doha and people can’t quite believe it.

The sound of explosions on Tuesday afternoon in a residential neighbourhood has shattered the sense of peace and security that defines life here.

Israel-Hamas latest – Qatar attack puts talks in doubt

It’s also shattered the critical sense of trust needed in these fragile ceasefire talks.

Qatar has played a critical role as an intermediary between Israel and Hamas for the last two years and those diplomatic efforts have been blown apart by this unprecedented attack.

Qatar has reacted with absolute fury and it has shocked and angered other Gulf neighbours, who, like Qatar, stake their reputation on being hubs of regional peace and stability.

Donald Trump is clearly unhappy, too. A strike on Qatar – a key American ally and home to Al Udeid Air Base, the largest US military hub in the Middle East – is seen as a dangerous escalation.

There’s no suggestion that permission was sought by Israel from its own closest ally in Washington.

And there’s little clarity if they were even forewarned by the IDF, as the White House said it learned of the attack from its own military.

Donald Trump’s envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, was then tasked with alerting Qatar immediately, but by this point, it was too late.

According to Qatar’s foreign ministry, that call came 10 minutes after the first explosion was heard in Doha.

It’s clear Israel has crossed a huge diplomatic red line here.

Qatar plays a pivotal role on the international stage, punching well above its diplomatic weight for a country of its size.

For decades, it has hosted negotiations in a number of conflicts, providing a safe haven for warring parties to hold talks.

Arguably, far more is achieved in Doha’s many five-star hotels than on any battlefield.

But there was never any sense that you were in danger here.

During the chaotic evacuation of Afghanistan in August 2021, I interviewed the Taliban in Doha.

It was a constructive and civil interview where their international leader presented their position to the world on Sky News.

It was vital information and there was never any sense we were at risk in meeting to talk here.

There is so much at stake in the Israel-Hamas war.

More than 60,000 Palestinians have been killed, children are starving in Gaza and 48 Israeli hostages have not been returned home.

What was Israel thinking, carrying out this attack? And was it worth it?

They claim it was a “precise strike”, but none of the Hamas leadership were taken out as they claimed was their objective.

Five lower-ranking officials were killed along with a member of Qatar’s security forces. What it has done is left any hope of ceasefire talks in tatters.

For many, this was a huge miscalculation by Benjamin Netanyahu.