Starting over: Afghan refugee remembers family's flight for freedom one year after US withdrawal
SAN FRANCISCO (KPIX) -- On the one-year anniversary of the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan after U.S. forces withdrew their mission in Kabul, Bay Area refugees look to the start of the school year with the children who made it out alive.
Afghan father Inayat, lives in an East Bay hotel room and is starting life over. He never thought the Taliban would take over Afghanistan again and represents the first generation to have been raised during a time when Afghanistan had an organized society. Months into his family's escape, he is still shell-shocked by the change back home that put his life at risk and caused his family to leave everything they had.
"It was a long journey, but at least we are safe," Inayat said.
Inayat said his former home is now a shadow of what it once was.
"There is no work, the schools have been banned for girls. There are so many problems."
KPIX 5 only used Inayat's first name as he is concerned for family who remain back home while the family who came to America with him work to build a new life. He says his family lost ninety nine percent of everything they owned, and he clings to the one-percent of hope he has left to fuel a new life in America for his children, ages seven and four.
"The family and the kids know we are starting from zero but there is hope," he said. "They are going to be happy.They are happy. After all the darkness, there is brightness."