As the Taliban make seemingly arduous progress through Afghanistan, the country’s youth living in India are living with constant worry over violence back home.
There are currently hundreds of young students residing across India as part of India’s assistance in human resource development and capacity building in Afghanistan. As part of this program, India provides 1,000 educational scholarships to Afghan citizens each year, with 100 percent being utilized in most years.
25-year-old Farhad Hakyar has been on scholarship here for the last two years. He says he has renewed fears for his family in Kabul as the Taliban move closer to the Afghan capital. Hailing from a small province in Afghanistan, his family had moved to Kabul a few years ago so that his father could easily work in the security wing of the Afghan government.
Back in 2019, when Farhad left his home to pursue a masters in journalism from Panjab University, Chandigarh, he saw a bright future for himself and his family.
“About a year ago my family was excited. They wanted me to come back home as soon as my master was here,” says Farhad. But things have changed a lot since then.
‘The future seems to be our past’
“I am 25 years old and in my whole life, we have seen a different situation. We saw new hopes for the future of our country. We were eager to go abroad, learn and then serve our country. This was our generation, which was born and brought up looking ahead, but now it is all slipping away. The future appears to be our past. The hopes of millions of people seem to be diminishing now. Many of us left our countries in the hope of returning and a better future,” he says, “but we are back in the past; even basic existence is a privilege.
As news of the US withdrawal and Taliban attacks intensified, Farhad’s family is among those who insisted that their son stay away for good.
“They want me to live here, to find a life and a job. Even if I earn enough to live here, to be able to rent a room and find something to eat, that’s enough for them.” . They don’t want me to come back at any cost.”
‘I fear for my younger brothers’
Syed Hasan Anwari (27), a journalism student at Jain University, Bangalore, hails from a district that has already been acquired. “My father is a farmer in Afghanistan. My district Dehdadi was attacked a few weeks back. The district is now under Taliban control. My father can no longer go to his farm. My entire family is stuck there,” says Anvari, whose father, two mothers and five younger brothers are back home.
“While many neighbors have been evacuated, my family cannot even imagine going out. They are too many people. We fear that my younger brothers, all of whom are in school, will be caught.”
While food, rent and fees are all taken care of under the scholarship, Anvari – with no financial support from family and no job in hand – has to borrow money from his cousin in Germany. “My family is in bad shape and cannot support me financially now. I am here looking for a job,” he says.
He echoes the sentiments shared by Farhad’s family. “My family was happy when I left. But told me not to come back. They say, ‘We don’t know whether you’ll be alive if you come back.’
‘We know the horrors in store’
Those who have lived under Taliban rule are not surprised by what they are claiming to the world right now. Abdul Haidi Sharifi, 30, PhD scholar of management at Punjabi University, Patiala, comments, “They may pretend to be anything but we know their truth. We have seen how they work. Taiwan does not believe in democracy, in human rights, in women’s rights. They are a terrorist group,” he says.
Even as his older brother fights the Taliban with the Afghan army, Abdul is not afraid of their future.
“If men are needed to join the army, I will leave my career and my future here and go back to support my brother against Taliban repression. Either they control us or we fight,” he says.
Mohammad Qais Rezwani, 32, PhD Scholar of Human Resource Management at Kurukshetra University, Haryana in India since 2019. He had an MBA degree in Shimla, but went back to work in the Ministry of Home Affairs in Afghanistan before reaching India again. His PhD.
Even as he fears for the future of his wife and two young daughters, he stands firm when he says he wants to go back.
“It is a battle between darkness and light. I would like to go back as soon as I finish my PhD here. I want to contribute to the building of my country. If I step back, my wife and daughters could become targets of the Taliban.
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