They left their loved ones and memories in their country
Fleeing from Afghanistan: Fear, violence and remorse
The Taliban have set up checkpoints along the roads and border areas.
dad
An Afghan family arrives at Dulles Airport in America after being evacuated from Afghanistan.
dad
picture
In front of the airport, American and French soldiers sort the arriving people and shout "He's with us, she's not..."
Whoever passes can escape from Kabul, he said (Muhammad).
Others who tried to infiltrate the group supported by the French embassy were deported.
After arriving in Paris alongside hundreds of Afghans evacuated by the air force, (Mohammed) and dozens of his compatriots tell AFP of their exhausting journey and escape, their fear and comfort, but also their grief.
(Maryam), who is deeply saddened by her separation from one of her three children during this trip, recounted: “I tried several times to enter the embassy, but armed men (Taliban) prevented me.
Someone hit me with a Kalashnikov.
I was crying in the street when someone from the French side saw me and then opened the door for us.”
Under pseudonyms for fear of reprisals from their loved ones, they tell of the hurry, the beatings, the insults, the desperate flight from the Afghan capital, the chaos around the airport, the relief of arriving in Europe, with great sadness leaving their country and some of their family members.
Gibran had to leave everything in the blink of an eye, and that's what he did.
He said that just because he worked as a driver for a foreign company made him suspect in the eyes of the Taliban.
The young man in his forties recounted: “I left Afghanistan with only my clothes and my family.
I came straight back from the office to my house.
I closed the door to the house and then we left” to the embassy.
In his pockets, seven passports, the passport of his wife and their five children and less than 20 euros.
"We are starting a new life, but from scratch," he said from a hotel near Paris, where they were all housed, and despite everything, "I am happy to have survived the atrocities of (the Taliban)."
The Taliban is everywhere
But getting to the embassy without him is a great danger, said (Abdullah - 32 years old), a reporter for a foreign media and holds a visa, just like his eight-month pregnant wife.
The couple set out on their journey, “The (Taliban) militants were everywhere.
They were searching all the cars and all the bags.”
Between his home and the Green Zone, where the French embassy was located, the rebels set up three checkpoints.
“It was scary, I thought they would stop me.
They asked me (Why are you going to France?).”
But in the end, they let them pass.
Omar is 20 years old and is alone, as his parents had to return after they were beaten by Taliban gunmen.
This employee at the French embassy says that he was "beaten" by rebels on his way there, and added, "They told me (stop working for foreigners, or else we will consider you an infidel and kill you)."
Although he was allowed to enter the embassy, outside it he saw Taliban gunmen slapping his father, who was trying with his wife to join him. "He and my mother had to go home," he said.
Masoud, his wife, and their four children manage to get together.
This reporter, who lives in Jalalabad, the capital of eastern Afghanistan, has covered attacks by the Taliban and ISIS, and his life is on the line.
He was in Kabul when the Taliban entered the city.
His family got into a car and drove three hours to join him and enter the embassy.
She didn't even have an extra diaper for her two-and-a-half-month-old baby.
5 kilometers in 3 hours
Then they were all taken to the airport at night, escorted by French forces.
Behind the windows, those who remain are terrified, as the gunmen watch all over the place.
The head of RED, an elite unit of the French police, said the "five kilometers" between the embassy and the airport seemed "too long" despite previous "negotiations" between the French and the Taliban.
Five kilometers in two and a half or three hours, slower than walking the distance, because the convoy is frequently stopped by the rebels.
He (Masoud) said: “I was very worried.
I was afraid of being attacked.
There was a lot of tension among the passengers.”
The Pakistani journalist who was evacuated with them, Shahzeeb and Hala, saw death with his own eyes.
While a mass gathering formed near the bus in which he was being transported, some tried to storm it. "One of the (Taliban) members fired in the air to disperse the crowd," then pointed his gun at the driver, before allowing him to leave.
The same scenes were repeated in front of the airport, where thousands of desperate Afghans gathered.
But this time, it was American soldiers who fired in the air, said (Mohamed), a technician working for a foreign company who has obtained French visas for his wife and six children.
"When we got off the bus, some mingled with us, hoping to enter" the compound, which is surrounded by (Taliban) gunmen, he added.
"That's why the French started saying to the Americans (who guard the entrance) while referring to people (she's with us, he's with us, she's not with us)..."
"As soon as we arrived at the airport, we felt safe," he said.
But this sense of security does not eliminate the anxiety and fear that accompanied the transfer to the airport.
(Maryam), with two of her three children, began searching again for her third child, who was supposed to enter the embassy with his aunt before her, but to no avail.
She said that her husband, a high-ranking official in the Afghan administration, refused to accompany them for fear that "the insurgents would kill them in the middle of the street."
I had no choice
The French military plane took off, then arrived at Air Force Base 104 of the UAE Air Force.
Then they moved to another, more spacious plane for a seven-hour flight to Paris to start a new life.
But sadness and guilt accompany most of them.
Omar trembles for his parents, who he says are in great danger because of his mistake.
He added, "Taliban gunmen came to us and said, 'If you don't hand over your son, we will kill you'."
"I had no other choice!" said (Mohammed), who was distressed to have "abandoned" his father, brother and sister.
"In 1996, when (the Taliban) came to power, they put me in prison.
I don't want that to happen to my children."
(Maryam) breathes a little, her husband has taken their son to Mazar-i-Sharif, a large city in the north on the border with Uzbekistan, because he had a visa for that country.
"They are on their way to Tashkent, the Uzbek capital, but when will I see them again?" she said.
Maryam, who is deeply saddened by her separation from one of her three children during this trip, recounted: “I tried several times to enter the embassy, but the (Taliban) gunmen prevented me. Someone hit me with a Kalashnikov. I was crying in the street when someone from the French side saw me and then opened the door for us.”
• Under pseudonyms for fear of reprisals from their loved ones, the fugitives tell of the hurry, the beatings, the insults, the desperate flight from Kabul, the chaos around the airport, the relief of arriving in Europe, with great sadness at leaving their country and some of their family members.
Follow our latest local and sports news and the latest political and economic developments via Google news