Afghan students in India helpless as Taliban take control of their homeland

Students who dreamt of rebuilding Afghanistan after decades of war say they can no longer return

A man waves Afghanistan's national flag in Kabul, as the country marks its 102nd Independence Day on Thursday, August 20. This commemorates the country regaining full independence from British influence in 1919. AFP

Taliban fighters patrol in Kabul. AP Photo

Afghans pass by the poster of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani who fled the country after Taliban took over, as they celebrate the Independence Day in Kabul. EPA

Cars and crowds are seen near the airport in Kabul. Reuters

People gather round the scene of a shooting outside Kabul airport, while others move away from the incident. Reuters

A Taliban fighter sitting on a vehicle guards the route of an Ashura procession in western city Herat. AFP

British and dual nationality citizens living in Afghanistan board a military plane at Kabul airport. Reuters

A US Marine processes an evacuee at Kabul's Hamid Karzai International Airport. AFP

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on his first video address since Taliban takeover. Facebook

People carry Afghan flags as they take part in an anti-Taliban protest in Jalalabad, Afghanistan. Reuters

A woman holds a photograph during a protest to raise awareness of the situation in Afghanistan, outside EU headquarters in Brussels. AP Photo

Senior Taliban figure Abdul Ghani Baradar arrives in Afghanistan on Tuesday, August 17, 2021. AFP

A Taliban fighter walks past a beauty saloon where images of women have been defaced, in Shahr-e Naw neighbourhood in north-west Kabul. AFP

People wait to be evacuated from Kabul's Hamid Karzai International Airport, following the Taliban takeover of the capital. AFP

Afghans make their way into Pakistan at the Chaman border crossing. AFP

Khairullah Khairkhwa, right, a former governor of western Herat province and now a member of the Taliban's political office in Qatar, speaks to the media after arriving in Kandahar, southern Afghanistan. EPA

US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan takes questions on events in Afghanistan, at a White House press briefing in Washington. EPA

Taliban forces guard a checkpoint in Kabul. Reuters

A young demonstrator attends a vigil in support of Afghanistan outside the West Los Angeles Federal Building, Los Angeles. EPA

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid, centre, holds the group's first press conference in Kabul since the insurgents took the capital. AFP

Images of glamorous women displayed outside a beauty salon in Kabul have been painted over since the Taliban took control. EPA

A Taliban fighter in Afghan capital Kabul, where the group has told government staff to return to work. AFP

Taliban fighters on patrol in Kabul. AFP

Taliban fighters in an Afghan government forces pickup patrol the streets of Kabul. AFP

Taliban fighters pass a poster of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani in Kabul. AFP

People queue outside Kabul airport as they try to leave Afghanistan following the Taliban takeover. Reuters

A Taliban fighter keeps watch outside the Interior Ministry in Kabul. AFP

Some of the first people flown out of Kabul after the Taliban takeover arrive at Frankfurt International Airport in Germany. AFP

People have arrived in Frankfurt after fleeing the Afghan capital. AFP

Western countries have been flying citizens and Afghans out of Kabul since it was seized by the Taliban. AFP

Follow the latest updates on Afghanistan here

Afghan student Jalal hoped to return to Afghanistan next month after completing his studies at a university in India.

But his dreams of a bright and prosperous life in his home country have been shattered by Kabul's dramatic fall to Taliban fighters, with concerns growing over Afghanistan's future under the hardline Islamist group.

“I can’t go back. Once we go back, our lives will be threatened under Taliban control because living under them would mean slavery – our freedom would be taken away,” said Jalal, who for security reasons gave only his first name.

“My education, my degree would mean nothing in Afghanistan any more. I have lost my country,” he told The National.

The 25-year-old from Kabul initially self-funded his graduation programme at New Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University in 2016, but stayed on to pursue a master’s degree in development studies.

Jalal’s aim was to finish his studies and return to his family in the Afghan capital and work to rebuild the country after more than two decades of war.

But with the Taliban takeover, his family is urging him not to return to the country, leaving him “hopeless and helpless”.

“I can only stay here if I apply for a PhD, but that is very expensive and I have no means to finance my studies,” Jalal said.

Like Jalal, thousands of Afghan students in India are gripped by similar feelings of despair and despondency after the fall of the US-backed Ashraf Ghani government.

Many are left in limbo, with their student visas soon to expire, financial difficulty on the horizon and concerns over the safety of their families in Afghanistan mounting.

India has been running several programmes to boost bilateral ties between the two countries for the past decade, including providing educational scholarships to get 1,000 Afghan students into Indian universities each year.

Some students were self funding their education so that they could one day return to Afghanistan and serve their nation or use that as a stepping-stone for better opportunities in western countries. This was a hope particularly for Afghan women, who suffered badly under Taliban rule between 1996 and 2001.

Atifa Bahmani, an ethnic Hazara, came to India in 2019 to take a bachelor’s degree in business studies.

One of 10 siblings, Ms Bahmani, 21, had hoped to return to her country and find a decent job after after graduating next year.

But after the Taliban took over Kabul, she fears for her own and her family’s safety in Kabul.

“I wanted to have a job and help my two brothers run our large family. My father is disabled,” said Ms Bahmani, a final-year student at a college in Visakhapatnam in southern Andhra Pradesh state.

Ms Bahmani told The National that going back to Afghanistan has become a distant dream because of her gender, which means the chances of being able to work or even enjoy basic freedoms under the Taliban regime are slim.

“I will never be able to work there. Going back would mean dying and becoming a victim of the Taliban,” Ms Bahmani said.

“My two sisters who worked at a beauty parlour were sent back home yesterday. My family is asking me to extend my stay in India. I am helpless. I don’t know what I will do.”

The situation is no different for those Afghans who have taken refuge in India and who fear for their families still living in the war-ravaged country.

Hayat Amiree, 29, a conflict-resolution trainer in New Delhi, said a Taliban armoured vehicle was stationed outside his sister's home in Mazar-I-Sharif.

“She has five children, two of them are young daughters. The Taliban doesn’t see women as humans. It is a grave situation for them. They are trying to escape the city but do not have the passports and visas,” Mr Amiree told The National.

Mr Amiree, a Hazara from Parwan valley, came to India in 2013 on a student visa and later applied for UNHCR refuge in the country.

While he gradually succeeded in bringing his parents and four siblings to India, his eldest sister was living with her husband and he was unable to get them to India because of financial constraints.

“They are scared to death. It brings back memories of violence and massacre that we experienced in the 1990s. It is very risky for them. We are traumatised,” Mr Amiree said.