An Irish citizen trying to flee Afghanistan with his young family and return to Ireland has told of the "chaos" in Kabul under the Taliban in recent days.
Omid Ahmadi (32), who came to Ireland 18 years ago, had been visiting Afghanistan with his family to see his partner's father, who was ill.
Mr Ahmadi, his partner, and their two young children, were unable to reach a meeting point near Kabul airport before an Irish evacuation mission ended on Thursday.
It had been “impossible” to get to the meeting point through the large crowds surrounding the area, Mr Ahmadi told The Irish Times on Friday.
“There was shouting, there was tensions running high. Then the Taliban started running around, my mobile was stolen,” he said.
At one point, Mr Ahmadi said, he was “badly beaten” by a Taliban fighter, who struck him in the shoulder and stomach with the butt of a gun.
The overall situation on the ground in the Afghan capital was one of “chaos”, where “fear is rising day by day,” he said.
Mr Ahmadi, who lives in Crumlin in Dublin, previously worked as a Domino’s Pizza store manager, but now runs his own small pizza shop.
“I’m worried about my kids, this is my first concern, I don’t know what will happen tomorrow,” he said.
The children, aged two and four, are living in “great fear,” despite efforts to calm them down, he said.
The family is currently sheltering with relatives in a house in the capital, staying indoors most of the time. “Being at home is risky, but being at the airport is even more risky,” he said. “We are staying in, not going out.”
His brother-in-law is currently in hiding, as he feared he is at risk of reprisals from the Taliban due to his previous line of work, Mr Ahmadi said.
Mr Ahmadi said he had been at the “exact location” where a bomb exploded near the airport on Thursday several hours beforehand. The blast is believed to have killed at least 85 people, and injured many more.
Mr Ahmadi said he had been given “hope” when he was first in contact with Irish embassy officials, but now feared his family were “stuck”, unsure of how they would be able to leave the country.
He also faced the problem of running out of money to buy food, as the banks and many shops were closed. He took some funds out in the days before the banks closed, but is unsure of what he will do when that runs out.
The Government has said while the evacuation mission involving diplomats and the Army Ranger Wing had ended, efforts would continue to secure passage home for Irish citizens still in Afghanistan.
Nasrudin Saljoqi, chairman of the Afghan Community and Cultural Association of Ireland, said the situation in Afghanistan was "getting worse and worse".
Mr Saljoqi’s brother lives in Herat, and has a daughter studying to become a dentist, who now has to stay at home. “They are still in fear,” he said.
Mr Saljoqi, who moved to Ireland 20 years ago and lives in Clonsilla, said he was in touch with a number of Irish-Afghan citizens trying to return home, who were in a “bad situation” in Afghanistan.
