Local workers in Afghanistan: “We are crazy with fear”

The Taliban are advancing further in northern Afghanistan: Mazar-i-Sharif, where the Bundeswehr has only just withdrawn, is also threatened. Former local workers fear for their lives.

When they take a place, the Taliban shoots in the air. For joy. They are happy to share this joy – in Internet videos that are spread thousands of times more. There are currently such recordings from the northern Afghan province of Baghlan, where the Taliban are advancing against the capital Pul-e-Khumri.

Successful offensives by the Taliban

The Taliban are very successful with their offensives. The Afghan army does not seem to be able to counter them. Five out of nine provinces in northern Afghanistan have fallen to the radical Islamists since last Friday. They are also on the advance in two other provinces, Baghlan and Badachschan in the northeast. And the largest city in northern Afghanistan is also increasingly in danger: Mazar-i-Sharif with almost 500,000 inhabitants, where the Bundeswehr only withdrew a few weeks ago.

Ahmad is still in Mazar-i-Sharif. He describes the situation in a WhatsApp message. He and his family are “crazy with fear”. He couldn’t sleep, and neither could his wife. “We assume that the Taliban will come. The people here in Mazar-i-Sharif are very afraid. There are currently many military movements here.” One often hears shootings in the city. Around his house too, he says.

That is the Taliban’s tactic. They come into the city almost silently, infiltrating the outskirts. And then at some point they come with power.

The application to leave the country remained unanswered

Ahmad’s fear is arguably even greater than that of many other people in the city. Ahmad, who does not want to have his real name given, was a translator for the German armed forces in Mazar-i-Sharif for years, and later received threatening letters and text messages from the Taliban.

As a former local employee, he had submitted an application for himself and his family to leave the country – but he had not heard from his application for two months. Other former colleagues who are still in town feel the same way.

Now, with a heavy heart, he is sending his older daughter away so that she does not fall into the hands of the radicals. “I am now sending my eldest daughter to relatives in Kabul. She is 14. I can no longer leave her here because I have just heard that the Taliban are forcibly taking away the younger girls. I made this decision, which was very hard for me is to save their lives and their future, “says Ahmad.

Many people are currently trying to leave northern Afghanistan. Hundreds of thousands are on the run across the country, reports the United Nations. Many of them are stranded in Kabul and cannot get away from there. They camp in open spaces, in tents or in the open air. They don’t know where to go if the Taliban come here too.