As the final hours available to British officials to get people out of Afghanistan appear to be slipping away, those who fear for their lives if they are left behind are becoming ever more frantic in their efforts to escape as their relatives in the UK grow increasingly panicked for them.
The identities of those who spoke to the Guardian have been concealed to protect them and their relatives.
One Afghan woman who lives in the UK said her relatives in Afghanistan worked with the government during the Nato operations. She has been trying to get the British authorities to evacuate her family and has enlisted the help of their local MP, but so far to no avail.
I am crying, I am upset. I am desperate.
We didn’t think they would take Kabul so quickly. My family are stuck there. They cannot leave the house. They are too afraid.
If something happens to my family, there is no point me going on living. They keep calling me. This is the first time they have asked for my help with anything and there is nothing I can do for them. And I am so sorry.
They tried twice to get to the airport but they could not get through. There were just so many people. They tried to stay there overnight but they could not and had to go back home.
My mother and sister are scared. They never wanted to leave before. This is the first time and they are begging me to do something. My other relatives are in danger as well because they all live together. My sister was asking what she should do, saying, ‘We are stuck here, what is going to happen to us?’ She was saying that everyone is going to leave soon and they will be left behind.
I have no choice. They are my family. I can’t leave them there. I promised to try everything I could to get them out. I am trying my best to do something but no one is able to help.
I have tried to speak to a solicitor in the UK, I have been continuously calling the UK government’s resettlement scheme from morning until night to try to help. I explained everything to them and I have heard nothing back.
I was told to contact my MP and they said there are so many cases that we just do not know when it will be possible to get your family out.
A woman who came to the UK from Afghanistan after the US-led invasion and has many relatives back home said her family feared reprisals, but that she had no way of getting them to safety.
My relatives are in danger. Everyone is just staying at home. They have locked the doors and are scared to speak to anyone.
Everyone there is in danger. No one is in a safe place. I am shaking because it is a very bad situation. I have one relative who is pregnant. She is terrified and is too afraid to leave the house.
One of her relatives in Afghanistan said:
We are in a dire situation and in desperate need of help. My family and I have been targeted by the Taliban because of the work my family did with the Afghan government. They are trying to track down the people who worked with the government and kill them. Our lives are in danger here in Afghanistan.
