Fremont Man Desperate to Get Family Out of Afghanistan
FREMONT (KPIX 5) -- As the humanitarian crisis continued to unfold in Afghanistan Tuesday, KPIX spoke with man in Fremont who escaped from the country but still has family trapped there.
Some of those who have made it out of Afghanistan are now arriving here in the Bay Area. The news out of Washington Tuesday was exactly what they did not want to hear.
"Me, I was working with the U.S. government for five years," said Nazar, who just returned to California from his native country. "I have the documentation. I was able to get out of Kabul. But there are too many
people that don't have anything in their hands, because it happened so sudden. They were not prepared for it."
Lucky enough to have the right paperwork, Nazar was able to escape Kabul just as it fell to the Taliban. After passing through Qatar and Washington, D.C., he has now landed with family here in Fremont.
"So there are many people in danger," he said. "I'm especially concerned about my family. So how do we help? How do I get them out of there?"
"Every minute, 24-7, we are studying the news to see what is going to happen," said , Azim Zada a member of Nazar's family.
The Fremont community had been rallying for an extension of the August 31st exit deadline, asking for more days -- if not weeks -- to fly more people out of Afghanistan. Tuesday's decision to stick with the deadline strikes many as unreasonable.
"The deadline is too short," said Zada. "We want the U.S. government to extend the deadline so we can be able to bring our families from Afghanistan and danger."
While the U.S. says it is confident it can evacuate all Americans over the next week, there is no such guarantee for Afghan citizens who might be in danger.
"The first hope is God," said Nazar. "And the second hope is the United States government to take them out of there."