Afghans on last flight out reach Delhi, escaping what they call 'certain death'

New Delhi: As the last Air-India flight from Kabul landed in Delhi on Monday, out poured the grief, pain and anger of a country that has been abandoned for the Taliban to take over. Afghans from all walks of life, including Parliamentarians, government officials and civilians stepped onto Indian soil — some leaving behind family members whose whereabouts are unknown and others carrying their entire lives in suitcases, all fleeing the horrors of a Taliban government in Afghanistan.

As horrific scenes played out on the runways of the Kabul airport, the last of the Afghans to have made it out of the country entered Delhi, some slowly making their way to their Embassy in Chanakyapuri, where the Afghan flag flew throughout the day.

By all accounts so far, the people who have reached India in the last few weeks have said that they feel "homeless and stateless" and extremely worried for their family and friends still stuck in Afghanistan.

"I had to run, else the Taliban would have killed me. Everything ends here. I could not bring my family along," 41-year-old Afghan intelligence officer Asif said in broken Hindi as tears welled up in his eyes, hours after he landed in Delhi on the last commercial flight out of Kabul - escaping "certain death".

Asif's mother, wife and eight-year-old boy are all in Afghanistan but he has heard nothing of them yet, he said as he set up a small room in Lajpat Nagar a compatriot had helped arrange.

Asked if he had food, the officer of the National Directorate of Security (NDS), the national intelligence and security service of Afghanistan, burst into tears.

His hands trembled and lips quivered as he took out his passport, an NDS identity card and photographs of his family from his bag.

"The Taliban are catching us, killing us. They sent us notices, asking us to revolt against the government or die. We lost hope after (President Ashraf) Ghani fled (the country). Hundreds of officers from the security establishment have fled to Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and other countries," he said, as beads of sweat trickled down from his forehead.

Many outside the Embassy on Monday were Afghan refugees who were worriedly waiting for news about theri loved ones still stuck there as the Taliban take over the country.

"Sab khatam (everything is over)... There is no chance we will return to our country ever. Our beloved home is lost. I don't even know if my family will be able to make it to India," Asif said.

Sitting in his chemist shop barely a hundred metres away, Yousuf Yousufi, who fled Afghanistan five years ago, is hooked to his mobile screen, watching videos of crowds at the Kabul airport and Taliban fighters storming the presidential palace.

In the adjoining four-storeyed building, Shukriya, 47, recalled the time when she ran a beauty parlour in Kabul.

"My parents sold me to a ''Mujahideen'' for Rs 4 lakh. He had two more wives. He would not let me go to the market without a burqa and beat me up if I talked to a man," she recalled. The government helped Shukriya get a divorce and she fled to India with a daughter and a son.

And even as Afghan nationals keep trickling into neighbouring and adjoining countries, several students, including women, from the Jawaharlal Nehru University are stuck in Afghanistan as the Registrar here said they are working out a solution.

JNU students in Afghanistan have already sought the JNU Students' Union help to reach the campus in Delhi and are staring at uncertain

futures.