• The city of Montpellier has implemented the rescue of an Afghan family, who fled the Taliban.

    She arrived at the airport on the night of Wednesday to Thursday.

  • The father of the family, Hakimullah Ghazniwal, mayor of a city in Afghanistan, had received the Montpellier medal from the hands of Georges Frêche, the former city councilor.

  • Thursday, the family was received in the hemicycle of the town hall of Montpellier.

There was an emotion that we are hardly used to in such a hemicycle, Thursday, in the room of the municipal council of Montpellier (Hérault). Barely hours after their landing, at the airport, Hakimullah Ghazniwal, his wife, their seven children and the wife of the eldest of the siblings were greeted by the mayor, Michaël Delafosse (PS), their throats tightened by the hardly credible rescue that his teams implemented.

This family, whose father was mayor of a city in Afghanistan, fled the Taliban.

After their exfiltration, they found themselves, after many twists and turns, in Macedonia ... Where, luckily, the MHB was playing a Champions League match.

The handball club, requested by the municipality, has thus made a small place for the Afghan family in their plane, which brought back, on the night of Wednesday to Thursday, the players in the Hérault.

"We did our duty"

"To go through these 50 days between this email [that the former elected sent to the city to ask for help] and this ceremony, we have spared our pains," said Michaël Delafosse.

We have one thing in common: resignation does not belong to our register of feelings.

We have done our duty.

You are an honorary citizen of the city of Montpellier [A medal was awarded to him by Georges Frêche, the former mayor].

This medal commits us and obliges us.

"

"In a terrible moment, we were taken by the hand, thank you," said Hakimullah Ghazniwal, recalling that the Afghan people were "very weak".

The municipality has made accommodation available to the family.

And the children should, very soon, continue their studies in Montpellier.

In particular one of them, who was about to begin her years of internship, in a public hospital.

"Good thing, we need a doctor!"

», Smiled Michaël Delafosse, promising to the siblings to allow them, all, to continue their studies, and to learn French.

Society

Montpellier: The incredible rescue of an Afghan family, exfiltrated in France via the plane of the handball players of the MHB

World

Afghanistan: An "imminent" risk of famine, warns the UN

  • Society

  • Languedoc-Roussillon

  • Taliban

  • Montpellier

  • Afghanistan