As the Taliban took control of Afghanistan’s capital city of Kabul over the weekend, it left many citizens in dire straits.
Here in Western New York, people who emigrated from Afghanistan now wait with worry for their loved ones still in the country, especially women and children.
WBFO had the opportunity to speak with Awaljan Taniwal on Monday. Taniwal came to the U.S. in 2014 on a visa and became a U.S. citizen after aiding the U.S. government as a journalist in Afghanistan. His mom, brother and sister are still in Afghanistan and he has been trying to get them out of the country, but he feels hopeless at the moment, as so many others attempt to do the same.
“I'm really hopeless to be honest. I'm very hopeless," Taniwal said. "I'm just thinking about how to get out of my family from there. That's all I can do."
He is trying to sponsor his family's coming to America, but it is a very long process. He was working on the documents for his family to go to Turkey when the government collapsed. He was unable to get them processed. He is extremely concerned for his family's rights in Afghanistan.
"I don't see a good future for my family there. I think I have to take on my family from Afghanistan. And they're not safe. And I don't think so my sister can continue her medical school. It's not guaranteed at all. And if she continued, she won't enjoy that school, that career, that society under the Taliban's control," Taniwal said.
Taniwal said that previously, under Taliban control, women were “treated like nothing” and even beaten. He added that things greatly changed for women under the Afghan government. They were able to become doctors and engineers, serve in the military, and life was good.
But now, with the return of Taliban control, women’s rights are not guaranteed again, and his sister, a fourth-year medical student, is concerned for her future.
