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Afghan student Jalal hoped to return to Afghanistan next month after completing his studies at a university in India.
But his dreams of a bright and prosperous life in his home country have been shattered by Kabul's dramatic fall to Taliban fighters, with concerns growing over Afghanistan's future under the hardline Islamist group.
“I can’t go back. Once we go back, our lives will be threatened under Taliban control because living under them would mean slavery – our freedom would be taken away,” said Jalal, who for security reasons gave only his first name.
“My education, my degree would mean nothing in Afghanistan any more. I have lost my country,” he told The National.
The 25-year-old from Kabul initially self-funded his graduation programme at New Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University in 2016, but stayed on to pursue a master’s degree in development studies.
Jalal’s aim was to finish his studies and return to his family in the Afghan capital and work to rebuild the country after more than two decades of war.
But with the Taliban takeover, his family is urging him not to return to the country, leaving him “hopeless and helpless”.
“I can only stay here if I apply for a PhD, but that is very expensive and I have no means to finance my studies,” Jalal said.
Like Jalal, thousands of Afghan students in India are gripped by similar feelings of despair and despondency after the fall of the US-backed Ashraf Ghani government.
Many are left in limbo, with their student visas soon to expire, financial difficulty on the horizon and concerns over the safety of their families in Afghanistan mounting.
India has been running several programmes to boost bilateral ties between the two countries for the past decade, including providing educational scholarships to get 1,000 Afghan students into Indian universities each year.
Some students were self funding their education so that they could one day return to Afghanistan and serve their nation or use that as a stepping-stone for better opportunities in western countries. This was a hope particularly for Afghan women, who suffered badly under Taliban rule between 1996 and 2001.
Atifa Bahmani, an ethnic Hazara, came to India in 2019 to take a bachelor’s degree in business studies.
One of 10 siblings, Ms Bahmani, 21, had hoped to return to her country and find a decent job after after graduating next year.
But after the Taliban took over Kabul, she fears for her own and her family’s safety in Kabul.
“I wanted to have a job and help my two brothers run our large family. My father is disabled,” said Ms Bahmani, a final-year student at a college in Visakhapatnam in southern Andhra Pradesh state.
Ms Bahmani told The National that going back to Afghanistan has become a distant dream because of her gender, which means the chances of being able to work or even enjoy basic freedoms under the Taliban regime are slim.
“I will never be able to work there. Going back would mean dying and becoming a victim of the Taliban,” Ms Bahmani said.
“My two sisters who worked at a beauty parlour were sent back home yesterday. My family is asking me to extend my stay in India. I am helpless. I don’t know what I will do.”
The situation is no different for those Afghans who have taken refuge in India and who fear for their families still living in the war-ravaged country.
Hayat Amiree, 29, a conflict-resolution trainer in New Delhi, said a Taliban armoured vehicle was stationed outside his sister's home in Mazar-I-Sharif.
“She has five children, two of them are young daughters. The Taliban doesn’t see women as humans. It is a grave situation for them. They are trying to escape the city but do not have the passports and visas,” Mr Amiree told The National.
Mr Amiree, a Hazara from Parwan valley, came to India in 2013 on a student visa and later applied for UNHCR refuge in the country.
While he gradually succeeded in bringing his parents and four siblings to India, his eldest sister was living with her husband and he was unable to get them to India because of financial constraints.
“They are scared to death. It brings back memories of violence and massacre that we experienced in the 1990s. It is very risky for them. We are traumatised,” Mr Amiree said.
Specs
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Email sent to Uber team from chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi
From: Dara
To: Team@
Date: March 25, 2019 at 11:45pm PT
Subj: Accelerating in the Middle East
Five years ago, Uber launched in the Middle East. It was the start of an incredible journey, with millions of riders and drivers finding new ways to move and work in a dynamic region that’s become so important to Uber. Now Pakistan is one of our fastest-growing markets in the world, women are driving with Uber across Saudi Arabia, and we chose Cairo to launch our first Uber Bus product late last year.
Today we are taking the next step in this journey—well, it’s more like a leap, and a big one: in a few minutes, we’ll announce that we’ve agreed to acquire Careem. Importantly, we intend to operate Careem independently, under the leadership of co-founder and current CEO Mudassir Sheikha. I’ve gotten to know both co-founders, Mudassir and Magnus Olsson, and what they have built is truly extraordinary. They are first-class entrepreneurs who share our platform vision and, like us, have launched a wide range of products—from digital payments to food delivery—to serve consumers.
I expect many of you will ask how we arrived at this structure, meaning allowing Careem to maintain an independent brand and operate separately. After careful consideration, we decided that this framework has the advantage of letting us build new products and try new ideas across not one, but two, strong brands, with strong operators within each. Over time, by integrating parts of our networks, we can operate more efficiently, achieve even lower wait times, expand new products like high-capacity vehicles and payments, and quicken the already remarkable pace of innovation in the region.
This acquisition is subject to regulatory approval in various countries, which we don’t expect before Q1 2020. Until then, nothing changes. And since both companies will continue to largely operate separately after the acquisition, very little will change in either teams’ day-to-day operations post-close. Today’s news is a testament to the incredible business our team has worked so hard to build.
It’s a great day for the Middle East, for the region’s thriving tech sector, for Careem, and for Uber.
Uber on,
Dara
Company%C2%A0profile
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Company%20profile
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Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Mina Cup winners
Under 12 – Minerva Academy
Under 14 – Unam Pumas
Under 16 – Fursan Hispania
Under 18 – Madenat
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Tearful appearance
Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday.
Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow.
She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.
A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.
About Karol Nawrocki
• Supports military aid for Ukraine, unlike other eurosceptic leaders, but he will oppose its membership in western alliances.
• A nationalist, his campaign slogan was Poland First. "Let's help others, but let's take care of our own citizens first," he said on social media in April.
• Cultivates tough-guy image, posting videos of himself at shooting ranges and in boxing rings.
• Met Donald Trump at the White House and received his backing.
The five pillars of Islam
FIGHT CARD
From 5.30pm in the following order:
Featherweight
Marcelo Pontes (BRA) v Azouz Anwar (EGY)
Catchweight 90kg
Moustafa Rashid Nada (KSA) v Imad Al Howayeck (LEB)
Welterweight
Mohammed Al Khatib (JOR) v Gimbat Ismailov (RUS)
Flyweight (women)
Lucie Bertaud (FRA) v Kelig Pinson (BEL)
Lightweight
Alexandru Chitoran (BEL) v Regelo Enumerables Jr (PHI)
Catchweight 100kg
Mohamed Ali (EGY) v Marc Vleiger (NED)
Featherweight
James Bishop (AUS) v Mark Valerio (PHI)
Welterweight
Gerson Carvalho (BRA) v Abdelghani Saber (EGY)
Middleweight
Bakhtiyar Abbasov (AZE) v Igor Litoshik (BLR)
Bantamweight:
Fabio Mello (BRA) v Mark Alcoba (PHI)
Welterweight
Ahmed Labban (LEB) v Magomedsultan Magemedsultanov (RUS)
Bantamweight
Trent Girdham (AUS) v Jayson Margallo (PHI)
Lightweight
Usman Nurmagomedov (RUS) v Roman Golovinov (UKR)
Middleweight
Tarek Suleiman (SYR) v Steve Kennedy (AUS)
Lightweight
Dan Moret (USA) v Anton Kuivanen (FIN)
Company%20Profile
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Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
