Afghans in Poland mobilise to help Ukrainian refugees

Once displaced themselves, Afghans are volunteering to help refugees escaping the Russian invasion

Sabur Dawod Zai’s journey to freedom after the fall of Kabul to the Taliban last August helped him realise what it means for Ukrainian refugees to escape the Russian onslaught. Photo: Sabur Dawod Zai

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A group of Afghans were war weary after fleeing a 20-year conflict in their home country, yet despite their own traumas, they were horrified by a single photograph of four people, including two children, lying dead on the ground in Kyiv.

Now in Poland, they were spurred into action by helping Ukrainian refugees with whom they identify.

Sabur Dawod Zai, 27, is drawing on a wealth of experience after two decades of invasion, occupation, civil war and displacement.

“We had the same situation. I escaped from Afghanistan with a single bag and left behind everything: education, stability, career and families. The photo of four [victims] and other scenes of destruction should make everyone think like a human. That’s why I decided to help,” Mr Sabur told The National from his new home in the Polish capital city of Warsaw.

The image was taken by American photojournalist Lynsey Addario for The New York Times and shows a woman, a man and two children in Kyiv after being killed in a mortar attack.

The American newspaper decided to publish the photo on its front page last week to illustrate the brutal reality of war.

In Warsaw, Mr Sabur is spending three to four hours on weekdays at the Zachodnia bus station – one of the main meeting points for long lines of exhausted refugees who escaped Ukraine while Russian troops attacked their country.

He and his Afghan teammates, who sought political asylum in Poland, knew from social media groups – organised over the past few weeks to support the refugees – what they needed most.

They communicated in English and used Google translate with others.

“We are preparing dinners at home, buying bus tickets and sim cards with internet data with our own money, providing clothes. We have met some refugees who have eaten only biscuits for many days,” the young Afghan man said.

He was granted asylum with his wife in October. They have not yet found jobs and are making ends meet through their savings, community support and a monthly allowance of about $280 for both of them.

Mr Sabur’s journey to freedom after the fall of Kabul to the Taliban last August helped him realise what it means for Ukrainian refugees to flee the Russian onslaughts by any means possible.

The former government employee escaped death when Taliban fighters hunted down Afghans like him who had worked with the previous government, the US and Nato. His last position was an adviser to the deputy interior minister.

“We were on the top list of people wanted by Taliban. In 2019, they bombed an event organised in [the eastern city of] Jalalabad. People were protesting against the rise of attacks on journalists and social activists. I was badly injured in my feet and had to undergo 14 operations before I was able to walk again. I lost eight of my friends in the shooting that followed the explosion of the improvised device and I faked death to escape Taliban militants.”

Mr Sabur left Kabul on August 23 thanks to a lifeline to the outside world provided by Polish member of parliament and former education minister Joanna Kluzik-Rostkowska.

Mrs Kluzik-Rostkowska has helped 200 Afghans to leave the country and start new lives in Poland after the Taliban takeover. There are approximately 1,200 Afghans in Poland today, most housed in refugee camps.

She helped connect all decision makers involved from the ministries of interior and defence to the private sector and resettlement organisations. And she has an affinity with Afghanistan.

“I’m interested in the history of Afghanistan because it fought against the former Soviet Union, which established a communist rule in my country, although it has never been part of it. The Afghans led by late hero [Ahmad] Shah Masssoud fought the Soviets and resisted the Taliban too,” Mrs Kluzik-Rostkowska told The National.

Humanity should not be selective

Mrs Kluzik-Rostkowska says humanity should not be selective in treating refugees. Some western news organisations and politicians are being accused of double standards – calling for support for Ukrainian refugees after taking a tough line on the Syrian and Afghan refugee crises.

“I was a journalist myself and covered several wars like the first and second wars between Russia and Chechnya as well as the Lebanese civil war. I know what the war is. It’s the same cruelty and suffering. Refugees are the same and anyone who escapes the horrors of war shouldn’t be treated on the basis of the colour of their skin, religion or race. Everyone should know that there’s a thin line between peace and war. It could happen to any one of us,” she said.

“But one has to put in mind that there’s a political aspect of this as well, which is the right-wing governments in some European countries. I myself am on the opposition side in my country. Also, Poland has been a member of the European Union since 2004 and its borders are EU borders.”

The invasion of Ukraine and the ensuing flow of refugees into Poland and other neighbouring countries has triggered disbelief among some reporters that this could happen to “civilised people with blonde hair and blue eyes” and who look like “any European family that you would live next door to”.

Such comments were widely condemned on social media as racist.

‘We can feel their pain’

Nearly 84 million people around the world have been displaced from their homes because of war, conflict or persecution since 2000, according to UNHCR. Syrians account for about 11 million of them.

The figure does not include the Ukrainian refugees. But since the start of the Russian assault in February, more than three million Ukrainians – and counting – have fled their country with nearly two million pouring into neighbouring Poland and hundreds of thousands going to other nearby countries.

While xenophobia and racism are not new topics, the frank discussion on the subject caused by the Ukraine crisis startled Muneezzha Kakar, an Afghan woman who sought refuge in Poland with the help of Mrs Kluzik-Rostkowska and who now works with Mr Sabur.

“We can feel their pain,” she told The National. “Like us, they are starting from zero. It isn’t easy. My Afghan colleagues and I tell them we are equal in pain and understand you. We are here to help you.”

Ms Kakar, 29, was a human resources officer with international organisations that operated in Afghanistan before the Taliban takeover. She was also a lecturer at the private Mashal University in Kabul.

She fled Kabul with her mother a few months before the Taliban takeover. They first landed in Turkey and then flew to Warsaw last December. She is grateful to Poland because it acted swiftly to protect them, although her name was on the evacuation list for the UK, a country she once worked passionately with on female empowerment projects in Afghanistan.

“The Polish people, especially the women, are really kind and supportive. When we arrived, they used to bring us groceries and medicines even without asking. They also speak English very well. Even when we wanted to go somewhere to finalise our papers, Mrs Kluzik-Rostkowska was always there for us, but also there are Facebook groups that help refugees and offer us taxis for free. They are really helpful,” she said.

The path to a peaceful life seems at last to be clear.

“For my mental health, I no longer live with the fear of being kidnapped, murdered or bombed by Taliban. All these fears accompanied me every single day in Afghanistan. But not any more.”