Dutch-Afghans devastated by Taliban takeover
After the rapid advance of the Taliban in Afghanistan, there is gloom and pain in the Afghan-Dutch community. Jawid Dehpoor of the Keihan foundation is convinced that no Afghan-Dutch household is happy with the developments. "You feel totally powerless," said Dehpoor.
The radical Islamist movement Taliban managed to take over all of Afghanistan in a short time this year. The group ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001, until the regime was overthrown by international military partners led by the United States. At the beginning of this year, those partners withdrew and the Taliban began to advance. On Sunday they captured the capital Kabul and the group declared victory. Since then, chaos reigned in Afghanistan. Many people flocked to the international airport in the capital, hoping to flee the new regime.
The situation is difficult for Afghans in the Netherlands to see, explained Dehpoor. Many people live here who fled the Taliban back then and who still have many contacts there. There are also many Afghans who fled since the war broke out in 2001. "They saw what had been achieved in Afghanistan and now it has all been lost," Dehpoor said.
Also for Dehpoor himself, the images of the advance of the Taliban and the panic of the citizens are difficult and painful. "After so many years, we are going back in time." Dehpoor grew up in Afghanistan and lived in Kabul when the Taliban invaded the city in 1996. "There was a depressing mood about the city at the time," he explained. Leisure activities were no longer allowed, women had to stay at home, and when it was time for prayer, the faith police forced people to the mosque. Dehpoor's parents had worked at the university before the Taliban regime and therefore were no longer sure of their lives. In 2000 they fled to the Netherlands. Now Dehpoor is a general practitioner and volunteer for the Keihan foundation.
The Keihan foundation is seeing its work of the recent years going up in smoke, explained Dehpoor. Keihan is committed to development aid and the improvement of education. The GP gave as an example that medical schools in Afghanistan do not have human bodies available to practice on, for example. Keihan had arranged a cadaver, had it prepared, trained an Afghan doctor with it, and sent that doctor back with the cadaver to Afghanistan to train doctors with it. "That will never be allowed under the Taliban regime."
Attempts from the Netherlands to help Afghans in need are now virtually impossible, according to Dehpoor. Several initiatives were set up to raise money. This money was intended for Afghans who fled from the countryside to Kabul from the Taliban and needed food. "But the advance of the Taliban was so fast that it could not be set up in time." Air traffic has now come to a standstill, the borders are closed and bank transactions to Afghanistan are no longer possible.
"People really want to do something, but you feel totally powerless," Dehpoor said. He hopes that attention will continue to be paid to Afghanistan and the humanitarian aid it needs. "It doesn't matter who the government is. An empty stomach is an empty stomach."
Reporting by ANP