When Pakistan Tightened a Border, Thousands of Lives Were Upended

Zia ur-Rehman and 

Zia ur-Rehman reported from Chaman, Pakistan, and Christina Goldbaum from London.

The New York Times

July 23, 2024

Traders in Chaman have done business in Afghanistan for generations, but that stopped when officials made it much harder to cross.
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For most of Abdul Manan’s life, the border dividing Afghanistan and Pakistan was little more than a line on a map. Like generations of men before him, Mr. Manan, 55, commuted every day from his mud-brick home on the Pakistan side to the wheat field his family had cultivated for decades in Afghanistan. His four sons crossed the border with him, transporting electronics and groceries from markets on one side to homes on the other.

It was a journey shared by tens of thousands of residents in the Pakistani town of Chaman, the site of the last official border crossing where people could pass through using only their national identity card from Pakistan. Then, in October, the gates slammed shut.

Pakistani officials say the restrictions are a necessary security measure — though most of the travel originates on their side of the border — as the country has grappled with a resurgence of cross-border militant violence since the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan in 2021.

For the first time since the border was drawn over a century ago, the Pakistani authorities are requiring residents to show a passport and visa before crossing — paperwork that virtually none of them have, they say.

The rules have upended their daily lives. Small traders say they have been effectively locked out of their shops, where their goods rot and bills for shuttered stores mount. Farmers have missed out on wheat harvests, leaving them unable to feed their families, they say. Porters, who once earned up to $3.50 a day by transporting goods like electrical items and groceries on their backs or on hand trolleys, have lost their only source of income.

In recent weeks, Chaman has erupted in violent protests as residents demand that the restrictions be lifted. “Everything has been taken from us. The land is now inaccessible,” Mr. Manan, 55, said. “We are starving.”

Mr. Manan is one of thousands who have gathered every morning since late October at a makeshift protest camp two miles from the border crossing. Throughout the day, the demonstration’s leaders shout speeches to the crowds, which roar with applause. They break only briefly for midday prayers before gathering again until sunset.

The tensions boiled over in mid-June, after security forces were called in to clear protesters who had blocked the main highway linking Chaman to Quetta, the provincial capital 75 miles away. The officers clashed with the protesters, leaving more than 40 people injured.

In the days that followed, the two sides tried to negotiate but government forces arrested protest leaders, generating accusations that the authorities had invited them for talks as a trap. Pakistani officials say that the arrests were necessary after attacks on paramilitary forces and attempts to seize government buildings.

Negotiations resumed last week and, on Sunday, the government released protest leaders in exchange for a temporary end to the daily protests at the border.

Negotiators also announced that the government would once again allow local tribesmen to cross the border with only a national identity card. But Pakistani officials have not issued an official statement on the issue and many observers are skeptical as to whether they will in fact restore the old system.

For generations, Pashtun tribes living along the rugged frontier traversed the area freely, their lives woven together by shared ancestry and culture, as well as economic dependence.

In 1893, British colonial officials established the Durand Line, a 1,600-mile border dividing Afghanistan and British India. Border tribes continued to cross freely, a tradition that persisted even after the creation of Pakistan in 1947. Extended families lived on either side of the line, crossing to dance at weddings or offer condolences at funerals.

“The only real sign that you had crossed into Afghanistan was the sudden switch in driving sides — from the left in Pakistan to the right in Afghanistan,” said Abdul Rauf, 42, a trader who runs his family’s plastic supply business across the border in Afghanistan.

Pakistani officials first introduced restrictions on the border crossing after the U.S. military invaded Afghanistan in 2001. American forces were concerned about the movements of Taliban fighters.

Two years later, the Pakistani authorities built the so-called Friendship Gate in Chaman, a large concrete gateway along the main highway connecting Chaman to Spin Boldak, the nearest town in Afghanistan.

As the years passed, the constraints tightened further. Border crossings were restricted to 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day. Pakistanis from Chaman, in Balochistan Province, and Afghans living in Kandahar Province over the border were required to show their national identity cards to cross. Porters — an essential work force of around 15,000 people — needed special paperwork issued by Pakistan’s border security officials.

And in 2017, a larger border fence was constructed, limiting movement through the dozens of informal crossings along the border. People living close to the fence either relocated or obtained a security pass to travel from one side of their village to the other.

Pakistani officials said that the most recent border restrictions were necessary to prevent militants from the Pakistani Taliban, also known as Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, or T.T.P., from infiltrating Pakistan from Afghan soil.

Since the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan three years ago, violence by the T.T.P. and other militant groups has surged in Pakistan, stoking tensions between the two countries. The Pakistani authorities have accused the Afghan Taliban of providing safe haven to Pakistani militants, a claim that Taliban officials deny.

“These measures aim to strengthen border management and prevent terrorists from entering the country from Afghanistan,” said Shahid Rind, a provincial government spokesman.

But tribes complain that the restrictions have also decimated their livelihoods and, if they remain in place, will forever reshape the fabric of communities.

Mr. Rauf, the trader, said he has not been able to visit his shops across the border for the past several months. “The plastic merchandise I stored outdoors is ruined, and the bills for closed shops — electricity, security — keep piling up,” said Mr. Rauf, who estimated losses exceeding $1,180.

Beyond trade, family ties that span the border have been strained, as people cannot visit graveyards, attend weddings and share in celebrations.

Activities that are “an obligation in Pashtun society” have become “impossible,” said Iftikhar Noorzai, 23, a porter. He said that he had not seen his two sisters, who are married to men in Kandahar, during two Eid festivals.

Even though the Pakistani government promises to help with passport applications, the greatest challenge for most Chaman residents is proving their Pakistani citizenship. The authorities require documents dating back to the 1970s, which many cannot provide.

Human rights groups have urged the government to find a way to balance national security needs and the rights of residents to maintain their livelihoods.

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, an independent watchdog, urged “immediate engagement with the affected communities, all stakeholders and Afghan representatives through dialogue and diplomacy” to resolve the issue.

At the protest camp in Chaman, families are exhausted and worried. “Will I ever get back to my land? What will become of my sons if the border stays closed?” said Mr. Manan, the farmer. “We can only pray for a solution that shows mercy on the poor like us.”

Christina Goldbaum is the Afghanistan and Pakistan bureau chief for The Times, leading the coverage of the region. 

A version of this article appears in print on July 25, 2024 with the headline: Border Policy In Pakistan Upends Lives Of Thousands.
When Pakistan Tightened a Border, Thousands of Lives Were Upended
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‘The Taliban tried to silence us’: the musicians who escaped to Portugal

 in Braga

Astone’s throw from Portugal’s oldest cathedral and buzzing bakeries serving up pastéis de nata, the complex notes of a sitar fill the ground floor of an unassuming building in the northern city of Braga.

The soft strumming belies the radical nature of the mission that has taken root here: to preserve Afghan music and use it as a tool to counter those who want to eradicate it.

“The Taliban tried to silence us,” said Ahmad Sarmast, the director of the Afghanistan National Institute of Music, in his new office in Braga. “But we’re much stronger and much louder than yesterday.”

Launched in 2010 under the US-backed government in Kabul, the institute once stood as a powerful sign of the changes sweeping Afghanistan. Young male and female musicians – several of them from poor backgrounds – performed together in ensembles that ranged from a national symphony orchestra to Zohra, the country’s first all-female orchestra.

They toured the world, offering up a singular blend of Afghan and western music as they reclaimed the country’s music traditions and directly challenged the years of silence enforced by the Taliban. “It was a symbol of progress, of human rights and of women’s empowerment,” Sarmast said.

The institute’s future, however, and that of its young musicians, went dark in August 2021 as the Taliban returned to power.

Ramiz Safa, 20, was in a shop in Kabul, waiting for his rubab – an Afghan stringed instrument – to be repaired when news broke that the Taliban were back. “Everyone was running. Someone came to us and said: ‘You have to get away, because this is a music shop,’” he said. “I took my rubab and I ran.”

He hid his instruments as soon as he got home. Soon after, he went one step further, heading to a barber shop to change his appearance as much as possible. “It was really scary,” he said.The Taliban’s return came as Sarmast was on holiday in Australia. From 6,000 miles (9,500km) away, he scrambled to figure out how best to protect the 280 or so people affiliated with the institute.

“Our school was on the top of the Taliban’s hit list,” he said. For years the institute had been targeted by the Taliban, who went as far as to plant a bomb at a 2014 concert, killing one person and leaving Sarmast badly injured.

Sarmast feared there was little chance the musicians and staff would be spared. Working in tandem with the US-based foundation that supports the institute, he contacted everyone he could think of, pleading with politicians and heads of state for help.

Only one country responded immediately: Portugal, setting off a months-long struggle that would eventually allow 273 people, including musicians, instructors and staff, to make the 4,000-mile journey to western Europe.

They arrived during the Covid pandemic, forcing Portuguese officials to pile on restrictions and confinements as they worked through the logistics of settling the large group. “They did everything to receive us warmly,” Sarmast said.

The young musicians, most of whom had been evacuated without their families, reeled from homesickness and culture shock as Portuguese courts wrangled with the question of how best to handle the unaccompanied minors.

“At first it was really hard,” said Farida Ahmadi, 15. “A new culture, new home, new language.” To her, Lisbon seemed large and confusing, and the task of learning Portuguese daunted her.

As initial plans to house them for a few weeks in a Lisbon military hospital stretched to eight months, morale plummeted, Sarmast said. “The kids were extremely disappointed, frustrated, facing cultural conflicts and the trauma of being separated from their families.”

Many were haunted by what they had left behind. “Every night I had dreams about the Taliban,” Safa said. “Now, day by day, it’s getting better.”Several musicians and staff decided to leave, hoping to find better opportunities in places such as Germany, or to reunite with extended family further afield.

Citing the lack of accommodation and cost of living in Lisbon, Portuguese courts eventually decided the group should be moved to northern Portugal, Sarmast said.

About 70 musicians and staff now live in Braga, Portugal’s third largest city. The unaccompanied minors are in the care of two institutions and attend local schools, while those aged over 18 attend classes at the music conservatory. Weekends are spent at the conservatory, honing the institute’s various ensembles.

On a Thursday evening this spring, a dozen or so students drifted through a set of rooms rented by the institute, gathering in groups to practice the sitar and rubab, study music theory and – during breaks – enthuse about the music of Ed Sheeran or finish homework assignments.More than two years after arriving, Farida said she had become used to the sights, sounds and smells of Portugal and could speak the language. “Now we are progressing,” the violin player said. “And it’s something really amazing for us.”

Even more exciting is what lies ahead: last year the institute obtained approval from the Portuguese government for the families of the musicians to join them. While a timeline has yet to be set, it is a tantalising possibility after years of separation. “We are waiting for that,” Sarmast said. “All the kids will be reunited with their families.”

In August the students will perform at Carnegie Hall, in New York, and the Kennedy Center, in Washington DC. The mention evokes a bittersweet smile from Sarmast, who points out that the last time they performed in those halls was in 2013, heralding an Afghanistan where hope, freedom and women’s rights were beginning to make headway.

“This time I’m going there with a different message,” he said. “To let the world know about what’s happening in Afghanistan and to call on the international community to make sure the Taliban are not recognised.”

Since the Taliban regained power, the country has deteriorated into what Sarmast described as a “gender apartheid”, with women’s access to education, work and public spaces steadily curtailed. Earlier this year, the Taliban announced it would resume publicly stoning women to death.

Many of the country’s musicians and artists have fled, while those who remain live in terror. “Afghanistan is a totally silent nation,” Sarmast said. “Today, learning music is a crime. Playing music is again a crime. Listening to music is again a crime.”

The crackdown has amplified the importance of the institute and turned Braga into one of the few places in the world where Afghanistan’s rich music history is being preserved. “If the Taliban remains in power long enough, within five, 10 years, many of these musical traditions will be lost, because Afghan music is an oral tradition,” Sarmast said.

The situation has lent new importance to the institute’s performances around the world. “So now these kids are not just playing music,” he said. “They’re serving also as the voices of the Afghan people.”

‘The Taliban tried to silence us’: the musicians who escaped to Portugal
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US diplomat urges people of Afghanistan to decide on the Taliban system

The U.S. chargé d’affaires stated that during the Doha meeting, the Taliban told global representatives that the current situation in Afghanistan reflects what the people want.

Karen Decker mentioned that it is now up to the people of Afghanistan to clarify whether the Taliban’s system is what they want.

However, the people of Afghanistan have consistently demanded respect for women’s rights, including education, work, and freedom of movement, as well as an inclusive government and respect for the country’s diversity. Despite these demands, the current regime has responded with repressive policies amid significant criticism.

On Monday, July 22, Decker emphasized to reporters that the primary concern for representatives from 25 countries and three regional organizations at the Doha meeting was the rights of women and girls in Afghanistan.

Decker noted that throughout the Doha discussions, women’s issues were central, and all representatives warned that Afghanistan could not succeed by excluding half of its population.

According to the U.S. diplomat, Zabihullah Mujahid, a trusted spokesperson of the Taliban leader based in Kandahar, heard from all representatives that Afghanistan cannot succeed by sidelining half its population.

At the meeting, the Taliban emphasized the removal of sanctions and the provision of development aid.

Decker indicated that the lifting of sanctions and the release of Afghanistan’s foreign reserves are among the Taliban’s demands, but the international community has not responded positively to these requests.

Meanwhile, Decker affirmed, “We have not yielded to the Taliban’s demands. They want foreign reserves released, sanctions lifted, and Afghanistan’s UN seat granted to them, but none of these things have happened.”

She added that the U.S. consistently highlights the Taliban’s human rights record in various meetings, stating that Afghanistan cannot join the international community unless the Taliban fulfills its international obligations.

Among these obligations, Decker mentioned allowing girls and women access to education and the right to work.

Decker responded to criticisms regarding humanitarian aid being sent to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, stating that the U.S. does not want to use food as a weapon.

She concluded that the complexities of Afghanistan’s issues are profound, and the UN is considering appointing a special representative to address these challenges, emphasizing that this appointment remains a strong possibility.

US diplomat urges people of Afghanistan to decide on the Taliban system
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Extraction work begins at Aynak copper mine in Logar, Afghanistan

By Fidel Rahmati

Khaama Press

The Ministry of Mines and Petroleum has announced the commencement of the extraction work at the Aynak copper mine in Logar province during a special inauguration ceremony.

Officials from the Ministry of Mines and Petroleum stated that the contract was signed today, Wednesday, July 24th, in Mohammad Agha district, Logar province, in the presence of Taliban officials.

During the inauguration, Hidayatullah Badri, the acting Minister of Mines and Petroleum, described the start of the Aynak copper extraction project as a significant employment opportunity for the country’s citizens.

It is noteworthy that the Aynak copper extraction project, which had been stalled for fifteen years, was officially inaugurated today in Logar province.

The Aynak contract, signed in 2008 with MCC, a Chinese company, was for a 30-year period, but work on the project had not yet commenced.

With the start of the Aynak project, the Ministry of Mines and Petroleum anticipates that approximately 3,000 direct jobs and an additional 10,000 indirect job opportunities will be created.

The implementation of the Aynak project involves significant security measures to ensure the safety of workers and the protection of infrastructure. Given the project’s scale and location, securing the site from potential threats is a priority.

Chinese companies responsible for the project are working closely with local authorities to establish robust security protocols and maintain stable operations. This collaboration is crucial for the successful and uninterrupted development of the mining operations.

Furthermore, the project is expected to bring substantial economic benefits to the region, including infrastructure development and enhanced local business opportunities. The presence of Chinese firms and their investment in the region will likely stimulate further growth and investment in Logar province.

Extraction work begins at Aynak copper mine in Logar, Afghanistan
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US State Dept Reiterates No Aid Funds Going to ‘Taliban’

The Ministry of Economy has also stated that all humanitarian aid to Afghanistan is provided to citizens without interference from the Islamic Emirate.

Matthew Miller, spokesperson for the US State Department, once again rejected claims of Washington’s direct financial support for the Islamic Emirate.

In response to a question about whether US financial aid to Afghanistan might have fallen into the wrong hands, Matthew Miller stated “we do not provide financial aid to the Taliban.”

“When it comes to US funding of the Taliban, no, we flatly do not fund the Taliban. Made that clear on a number of occasions,” Miller said.

Meanwhile, some economic experts have said that US financial and humanitarian aid is spent by aid organizations within the country.

Shakir Yaqoobi, an economic expert, told TOLOnews: “Even if there is indirect involvement, efforts should be made to manage this aid and establish a systematic framework that benefits Afghanistan’s economy.”

Abdal Nasir Rashtia, an economic expert, said: “Unfortunately, all the aid provided by the international community, the United States, and other countries is distributed through relief organizations. About forty percent of this aid is unfortunately wasted by the organizations themselves, leaving only a small portion for the Afghan people.”

At the same time, the Ministry of Economy has also stated that all humanitarian aid to Afghanistan is provided to citizens without interference from the Islamic Emirate.

Abdul Rahman Habib, spokesperson for the Ministry of Economy, told TOLOnews: “Since the beginning of humanitarian aid from charity organizations and world countries until now, this aid has been directly provided by various UN agencies without interference from the Emirate’s authorities. We strive to provide the necessary facilities for donor countries and charitable organizations to alleviate economic stagnation and poverty.”

In the early days of the current solar year, some US senators proposed halting Washington’s financial aid to Afghanistan through the United Nations, stating that until it is ensured that humanitarian aid is not used to strengthen the Islamic Emirate, the UN should stop its aid to Afghanistan.

US State Dept Reiterates No Aid Funds Going to ‘Taliban’
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UNAMA Chief Stresses Importance of High-Level Talks with Islamic Emirate

The statement mentioned that Otunbayeva said that UNAMA is striving to facilitate access to microloans in all provinces of Afghanistan.

In a meeting with the head of UNAMA, the Deputy Political Chief of the Prime Minister’s Office discussed the achievements of the third Doha meeting and the Islamic Emirate’s relations with the international community.

In a statement, the Arg quoted Roza Otunbayeva as saying that high-level talks between the Islamic Emirate and the international community could lead to the establishment of constructive relationships. According to her, having relations with the Islamic Emirate is a desire of Western communities.

The statement mentioned that Otunbayeva said that UNAMA is striving to facilitate access to microloans in all provinces of Afghanistan.

The head of UNAMA also added in this meeting that based on the decisions of the last Doha meeting, work is underway on establishing two committees related to supporting Afghanistan’s private and banking sectors and combating drugs.

The UN Secretary-General’s representative in Afghanistan noted that some countries have shown interest in managing the committees being established, supporting Afghanistan’s private and banking sectors, and combating drugs.

Meanwhile, Mawlawi Abdul Kabir, in this meeting, appreciated UNAMA mission and its assistance to Afghans and said that the United Nations’ acceptance of the Islamic Emirate’s conditions at the third Doha meeting was a significant step and that the decisions made in that meeting regarding Afghanistan’s issues are valuable.

The Deputy Political Chief of the Prime Minister’s Office stated that the Islamic Emirate prioritizes constructive and positive relations because, according to him, Kabul seeks engagement with the world.

UNAMA Chief Stresses Importance of High-Level Talks with Islamic Emirate
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Muttaqi Criticizes Global Inaction at National Labor Conference

Mawlavi Abdul Kabir also called for the lifting of sanctions imposed on the officials of the Islamic Emirate and the people of Afghanistan.

Amir Khan Muttaqi, the acting Minister of Foreign Affairs, criticized the lack of international cooperation with the Islamic Emirate in various sectors at the National Labor Conference today (Tuesday).

He called on regional and global countries to fulfill their responsibilities in creating job opportunities in Afghanistan.

Amir Khan Muttaqi said: “The international community questions us and makes demands, asking about the status of narcotics, how it will be banned, how security will be ensured, and how the use of Afghan territory by groups will be prevented. Their demands are like this, but their cooperation is zero. We hope the international community will fulfill its responsibilities in this regard.”

Muttaqi further stated that the Islamic Emirate’s policy is to establish relations and interactions with regional and global countries and that the Islamic Emirate wants to send workers to other countries legally.

“There should be interactions with regional and global countries. Job opportunities should be provided for Afghan workers in other countries, and they should go legally,” the acting Minister of Foreign Affairs said

Mawlavi Abdul Kabir, the Deputy Political Prime Minister, also called for the lifting of sanctions imposed on the officials of the Islamic Emirate and the people of Afghanistan. He stated that the Islamic Emirate is committed to solving all the problems of the people as a responsible government in Afghanistan.

“We ask countries to lift the illegal and unjust restrictions on the oppressed people of Afghanistan and the leaders of the Islamic Emirate, and the Islamic Emirate will extend a hand of cooperation as an active member of the international community,” said Mawlavi Abdul Kabir.

The two-day National Labor Conference, organized by the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, began today (Tuesday) in Kabul and is aimed at combating unemployment and poverty.

Muttaqi Criticizes Global Inaction at National Labor Conference
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Survey: Afghans Want Women’s Inclusion in Intl Decision-Making Forums

The survey, which covered 888 people across 33 provinces (not Uruzgan) of Afghanistan took place in the first quarter of 2024.

The latest quarterly survey conducted between 17 and 29 April by UN Afghanistan indicated that the consulted Afghan women and men feel that the international community should put in place formal mechanisms to ensure women’s inclusion in international decision-making forums which discuss the future of Afghanistan.

The survey, which covered 888 people across 33 provinces (not Uruzgan) of Afghanistan is conducted by UNAMA, UN Women and IOM.

In the survey, participants have also been asked about their engagement with the local authorities on issues important to them indicating that 80 percent of the female participants have not engaged at least once in the first quarter, while men’s meetings with the authorities was three times more than women.

According to the survey’s findings, men’s access to both legal and illegal dispute resolution mechanisms was also higher than those of women.

“Women indicated that they are excluded from influencing their lives at all points of decision-making – unable to influence the rules imposed upon them, nor hold others to account for violations or enforce those few rights granted by the DFA,” the report reads.

The women consulted in the survey have asked the local authorities to prioritize inclusive community engagement in local decision-making processes and service delivery design.

They have also asked the international community to facilitate ways for women to talk directly with government officials.

Survey: Afghans Want Women’s Inclusion in Intl Decision-Making Forums
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When the Taliban Took Kabul, She Fled, and Made a New Life in New York

The New York Times

Nargis Baran was a rising legal star in Afghanistan. She became a target once the government fell.

The night Kabul fell to the Taliban, a young lawyer named Nargis Baran was holed up in her apartment there, scrolling through news reports in disbelief. Then her boss called.

It was Aug. 15, 2021, and the U.S.-backed president of Afghanistan had fled the country as militants closed in on Kabul, the capital. Their swift advance shocked Western officials and the world, bringing the Taliban back to power after nearly 20 years of war with the United States and allied forces. Thousands of people surged toward the airport, desperate to board the last flights out as the city descended into chaos.

Ms. Baran, then 26, was an unmarried woman living with her widowed mother, and now they were afraid to walk outside. Her boss had not called to reassure her. He warned her that people like her — Afghanistan’s rising stars — had suddenly become targets.

“He said, ‘You know the time we spent on our education, on our self-development and self-growth, now doesn’t matter at all,’” she recalled.

Now, almost three years later, she has been able to build a new life in New York City because of an audacious escape plan hatched by law professors thousands of miles from Afghanistan. Her story is one of liberation — from the Taliban, who were notorious for oppressing women — but also of loss for what she and other promising young people could have done for their home country had they not felt their lives were in danger.

Ms. Baran, a law specialist for the country’s largest bank, was part of a generation of idealistic, Western-educated Afghans who had pledged to rebuild their country as it emerged from years of conflict. The Taliban, ousted from power in 2001 when Ms. Baran was just a child, were also known to treat minority groups harshly. Her background as a religious and ethnic minority — she is Ismaili, a minority sect in Islam, and from the Pamiri ethnic group — intensified her fears about what might happen to her if she could not flee.

“The only goal I had always in my mind was to serve my country,” she said. “The moment it needed me the most, I couldn’t do anything.”

The United States’ failed attempt to defeat the Taliban after the Sept. 11 attacks had been destructive and deadly for Afghan civilians, and for thousands of military personnel and contractors. As the American public soured on the war, the Obama and Trump administrations had moved to withdraw troops. Then President Biden set Sept. 11, 2021, as the final date to pull out.

In the summer before the deadline, the Taliban conquered more and more territory. Even as Ms. Baran heard news each day that another province had fallen, including her home province near the Tajikistan border, she never thought the insurgents would retake the capital. Her ties to the United States put her at acute risk.

She had gotten a master’s degree at Ohio Northern University and had helped found the Afghan-U.S. Law Alumni Association, which received funding from a Washington nonprofit supported by the State Department.

As harrowing scenes of the chaos in Afghanistan filled television screens in the United States, Karen Hall, a former State Department official who had taught Ms. Baran and other Afghan students at Ohio Northern, started fielding panicked calls.

“It was just this immediate tsunami of insane worry,” recalled Ms. Hall, who had once been stationed in Afghanistan.

On Aug. 16, 2021, Ms. Hall wrote on Facebook, “Afghan graduates, if you are trying to emigrate, can you let me know in a PM.” But she noted that even as officials were compiling names of past staff members of U.S.-funded programs, safe passage was not guaranteed.

She and an informal network of U.S. law professors would ultimately help more than 150 people, including at-risk lawyers and their families, flee Afghanistan, mostly to North America and Europe.

The American military was scrambling to withdraw. Roughly 125,000 people were airlifted out on emergency flights by the end of August 2021. Some Afghans died trying to hide in the wheel wells of departing planes. About 170 others died in an ISIS suicide bombing at the airport that also killed 13 American service members.

Ms. Baran recalled her first attempt to flee during those two weeks of panic: She got a call at 4:30 a.m. one day telling her that her contacts had secured her a spot on a flight, and to leave immediately. She and her mother joined the crowds rushing toward the airport, trudging on a dusty, circuitous path, but they had to turn back when shots were fired.

“I felt totally hopeless,” Ms. Baran said. “I thought, now I’m not sure I’ll see another plane in the sky.”

She would not leave Afghanistan for more than a month, as Ms. Hall and others tried to devise routes to safety. In the meantime, she married her longtime fiancé, Bahlool, a civil engineer, in early September, on her 27th birthday.

The chance for the newlyweds to escape came the next month. Ms. Hall texted Ms. Baran with instructions to go to Mazar-i-Sharif, many hours from Kabul. They could bring only a small bag each. Their final destination was unclear. Ms. Baran, her husband and her mother stayed at the home of a trusted network contact, using code words to make sure they were not being lured into a trap.

Two days later, they flew to Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates. They would spend the next year and a half there in a refugee camp. During that time, the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in New York offered Ms. Baran a fellowship, keeping it open during the long wait for extensive security checks to be completed so that she could receive refugee status in the United States.

“Just keeping hope alive was important,” said Valbona Myteberi, the law school’s associate dean for graduate and international programs. Ms. Myteberi, who kept in close contact with Ms. Baran, had escaped violent unrest in Albania in the late 1990s.

Ms. Baran was finally able to travel in April 2023. Before her plane took off, from Doha, Qatar, she sent a Facebook message to Ms. Hall, writing, “I’m extremely excited and happy!!!”

Her main worry now is the bar exam, which she hopes to take at the end of July. She had to take law classes at Cardozo that focused on American law to sit for the test. She also had to file special paperwork, because she could not get copies of her transcripts from Afghanistan.

She is still adjusting to life in a foreign city without a significant Afghan community. Brooklyn Law School gave her a temporary apartment, and her husband found a job at a construction company. Her mother struggled with English at first, but is improving through regular classes. They have found some sense of community at an Ismaili mosque in Manhattan, and a permanent apartment of their own in Brooklyn. Ms. Baran is immeasurably grateful for the help she has received from Cardozo since getting to New York, from the stocked refrigerator upon arrival to frequent check-ins as the months went by.

“I always say I’m blessed,” Ms. Baran said. “Life is very difficult, but I have this very good support.”

She gets regular updates from relatives who are still in Afghanistan, where human rights group say women and girls are living under “gender apartheid.” She struggles with a sense of guilt at having left her country as the Taliban reimposed their rules barring women from public life, and as the country fell further into economic devastation and isolation.

The efforts that helped Ms. Baran escape have continued.

Hadley Rose Staley is the former executive director of Friends of the Public-Private Partnership for Justice Reform in Afghanistan, the Washington nonprofit that had supported Ms. Baran’s alumni association. The group raised about $250,000 for the evacuations. It is still trying to help Afghan lawyers who want to leave or are trying to establish themselves in new countries, since they are at “grave risk” because of their connections to the United States.

To Ms. Hall, now a deputy executive director of the Rule of Law Collaborative at the University of South Carolina, the young Afghans who had taken risks and organized their lives with the goal of a better future in their country exemplify the tragedy of the Taliban’s return to power.

“Reformers, scientists, doctors, professors, all of the educated women who were doing so much work for human rights, that their voices, all that talent is now just silenced,” she said. “And the fact that there are Afghan women like Nargis who made it here and can use their voices, it’s a spot of joy in a very sad story.”

Karen Zraick covers federal law enforcement, courts and criminal justice and is based in New York. More about Karen Zraick

A version of this article appears in print on July 21, 2024, Section MB, Page 6 of the New York edition with the headline: Fearful of the Taliban’s Takeover, She Fled to New York
When the Taliban Took Kabul, She Fled, and Made a New Life in New York
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Mujahid Rejects Trump Remarks on Selling Military Equipment in Afghanistan

Zabihullah Mujahid, told TOLOnews that all the military equipment left by the US in Afghanistan belongs to Afghanistan.

The Islamic Emirate rejects Donald Trump’s statements about selling American military equipment in Afghanistan.

Zabihullah Mujahid, the spokesperson for the Islamic Emirate, told TOLOnews that all the military equipment left by the US in Afghanistan belongs to Afghanistan.

Mujahid stated: “Any equipment that was and is in Afghanistan is all stored and stationed and is the property of Afghanistan. Additionally, it is protected and safeguarded for the preservation of our homeland, our values, and the defense of our compatriots and our soil. Not a single weapon will be wasted, sold, or transferred.”

This comes as former US President Donald Trump in one of his campaign rallies said that after the withdrawal of American forces from Afghanistan, the country has become the largest seller of leftover American weaponry in the world.

Trump said: “You know that right now, Afghanistan is one of the largest sellers of weapons in the world. They are selling the brand new beautiful weapons that we gave them.”

The former US President and some other Republican figures criticized the withdrawal of American forces from Afghanistan at the end of the Republican National Convention for the upcoming presidential elections.

Trump added: “If they would’ve followed my plan, we had a great plan; but the plan only kicked in if they did everything perfectly, and they weren’t doing things perfectly, so we said it doesn’t kick in.”

Former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said: “We’d begun an honorable exit from Afghanistan and not a single Chinese spy balloon flowed across the United States of America.”

Earlier, US President Joe Biden, at the end of the NATO summit, called the occupation of Afghanistan by his country a mistake. Biden also warned Israel not to repeat this mistake regarding Gaza.

Mujahid Rejects Trump Remarks on Selling Military Equipment in Afghanistan
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