‘Really hopeless’: Canada-bound Afghan family stuck in Ukraine after fleeing Kabul
Global News
A former interpreter for the Canadian Armed Forces and his 11 relatives were evacuated from Afghanistan by Ukrainian soldiers after the Taliban took control.
An Afghan family that fled Kabul as the Taliban took over the country in August has been stuck in Ukraine for more than a month while they wait for Canadian immigration officials to process their paperwork.
Jawed Ahmad Haqmal — a former interpreter for the Canadian Armed Forces — and his 11 relatives, including five children, were part of a large group that was evacuated by Ukrainian soldiers.
Since landing in Kyiv on Aug. 28, they have been staying at a hotel paid for by the Globe and Mail, whose reporter Mark MacKinnon assisted the family’s dramatic escape hours after two deadly suicide attacks outside Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport.
The family from Kandahar now finds itself in limbo with no end in sight.
Haqmal is growing impatient, frustrated and concerned for his family’s well-being.
“We are heartbroken. We are really hopeless,” the 33-year-old told Global News.
“We are like prisoners living in this hotel,” he said. “I don’t know for how long more I will be waiting.”
It has been a long ordeal for the family that fled to Kabul back in July as the Taliban progressed to surround their hometown of Kandahar, Afghanistan’s second-largest city.