A FORMER Afghan MP, has escaped the Taliban with the help of Oldham East and Saddleworth MP Debbie Abrahams.
Shukria Barakzai, a former member of the Afghan parliament and a critic of the Taliban, managed to flee Afghanistan in an operation that involved British, American and Afghan soldiers and a series of “informal networks” facilitated by Ms Abrahams.
Shukria was at the airport last Sunday when the news broke that Kabul had fallen and the Taliban were at the city gates. She spent the night on board a stranded plane while Taliban fighters roamed the city.
By the next day the Taliban had taken over the main terminal and Shukria tried to make it to safety on the military side where US forces were still in control.That was when she realised the Taliban were looking for her.
As Kabul airport plunged into chaos Shukria began messaging anyone who might be able to help get her out, including the US Embassy and friend and Oldham MP Debbie Abrahams.
With her mother and four children in the UK, Shukria and her husband were becoming increasingly desperate. They managed to escape the airport and went into hiding.
Ms Abrahams made an official and formal application to both the Foreign Office and the Home Office and the MoD in an attempt to evacuate Shukria.
The MP also contacted Lord Ahmad, Foreign Office Minister, with responsibility for South Asia, who put her on the evacuee list.
Thomas Tugendhat, chair of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, was simultaneously also working behind the scenes.
Late on Saturday night, Shukria got a call and was told to go to a certain address near the airport. The Taliban checkpoint stopped her in three places, but being fully covered she managed to reach the airport.
Shukria arrived safely in the UK in the early hours of Monday and is currently in quarantine in a hotel where she landed near Brize Norton.
Speaking on BBC Newsnight, Ms Abrahams said: “It should not be down to informal networks to enable people to escape persecution and that is what it has come down to.
“I don’t think Shukria would have got out unless I used all the contacts I had to help her escape and I can’t thank them enough but there are so many others that are going to be left. There will be thousands who are left, and I think we have let them down dreadfully.”
Shukria said: “From one side, I feel hope. I can breathe. But on the other side I have been thinking, what happened? What’s going on with me, my country, my people?”
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