'What Will Happen to Me?' An Uncertain Future Awaits Afghans Who Fled (NYT)

[dalton99a]

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/29/world/asia/afghan-refugees-future.html

‘What Will Happen to Me?’ An Uncertain Future Awaits Afghans Who Fled
Tens of thousands clambered onto evacuation planes bound for Qatar. Many are now in limbo in overflowing processing centers, fearful of what comes next.
By Christina Goldbaum and Najim Rahim
Aug. 29, 2021 Updated 1:38 p.m. ET

After the insurgents entered the Afghan capital, Kabul, desperate scrums of people descended on the city’s international airport, where they clambered onto evacuation flights. On landing in Qatar, which has played a key role in evacuation efforts, some Afghans fell to their knees in tears after disembarking, thinking they had arrived in the United States.

In the first few frenzied days under the Taliban, when rumors swirled of American planes transporting Afghans directly to the United States, thousands of people without passports, visas or identification cards flooded Kabul’s airport and were placed on Doha-bound planes.

“It was a panic environment; the Taliban had entered the airport, that’s why we came here,” said Gul, a police officer at Kabul’s airport who was among those flown to Doha.

Gul joined the frenzy, jumping onto four commercial planes — all grounded by the mayhem — before forcing his way onto an American evacuation flight. Even when Americans turned off the air-conditioning and told everyone the plane was broken, no one budged...

Those in line offer a window into the chaotic exit from Kabul: There are shopkeepers whose stores were next to the airport, members of the security forces who abandoned their posts there and employees of Kam Air, an Afghan airline, still in their uniforms after jumping on planes.

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[Turbineguy]

1. That question could be asked by anybody.

The future has no structure. We cope as well as we can.