‘My death is imminent’: British mother-of three stuck in Kabul fears she will ‘leave in a body bag’ and tells how she witnessed airport bomb attack as she pleads for help from UK government

•  ** EXCLUSIVE **
• ‘Fatima’, in her 30s, flew to Afghanistan around a month ago to visit her family 
• She said she never thought Kabul would fall to the Taliban so quickly and easily 
• Fatima blasted Dominic Raab for being ‘on holiday’ when Kabul fell to insurgents
• She is scared of leaving home in the capital as she has no male to accompany her
• Brother and elderly mother both need care but no nurses or doctors available

A British mother-of-three says she is stuck in Kabul and fears her ‘death is imminent’ – as she pleads with the British government to save her from the Taliban’s clutches.

The Londoner, in her 30s, said she has seen Armageddon ‘with my own eyes’ after witnessing the double-suicide bomb attack last Thursday as she accused ministers of botching the UK’s Afghan withdrawal.

The Brit – who is from Brent, north London and is using the alias Fatima out of fear of being identified by local insurgents – has already been threatened by the country’s new rulers while trying to be evacuated.

She told the Mail Online: ‘On the day of the bombings, our car was stopped by Taliban soldiers and they put a gun to my driver’s head, interrogating him and asking if we were foreigners.’

Fatima, who is a full-time mother but sometimes works as a freelance interpreter, claims they were allowed to continue to Hamid Karzai International Airport.

She said she was walking towards one of the airport gates when the blasts went off.

‘It was like hell, I saw Armageddon with my own eyes,’ she said, ‘It was raining blood, it was traumatising. 

‘Fatima’ said she was traumatised after witnessing the suicide bombs outside Kabul airport last Thursday (Pictured: Afghans use a wheelbarrow to evacuate a wounded person from the scene of the blasts)

‘It was raining blood’: British mother-of-three Fatima was trying to arrange evacuation at Kabul airport when the terror cell ISIS-K attacked last week (Pictured: Injured Afghans in aftermath of explosions)

Smoke rises from explosion outside the airport in Kabul, where Fatima says she witnessed ‘Armageddon’ 

‘I stayed around the airport to try and arrange evacuation until the Taliban threatened to start shooting if we didn’t leave. We went to go again on Friday but they had blocked off the road.’

Fatima is now living in fear inside a home around 20 minutes from the airport, with her disabled brother and elderly mother.

Her sibling needs crutches to walk and suffers from seizures after being in a car crash several years ago, while her mother requires care – which has been made impossible to acquire under the Taliban’s archaic system.

Fatima said: ‘It’s atrocious here, women can’t work, they are scolding women seen without men.

‘We can’t get a male nurse because men cannot touch women who are not family members, it’s forbidden, and there are no doctors who can treat my brother.’

She added that she was scared to go outside alone and is relying on friends and other family members to drop off food and other supplies.

‘In Kabul my death is imminent,’ she said, before accusing the British government of incompetence.

She added: ‘Kabul fell and Dominic Raab was on holiday. Our government is incompetent. Due to their incompetence my life is now in danger.’

Fatima flew to Afghanistan just over a month ago to visit family, but she says no one ever thought the capital would fall so easily and quickly to the Taliban.

‘I never saw it coming, no one thought it would fall, and not so quickly and easily,’ she said, ‘when the evacuations started it was total chaos. I thought we could wait it out but now I know we have to get out of here.’

But while Fatima is British and has a UK passport, her brother and mother are Afghani.

The Foreign Office reportedly told her that they were not eligible for asylum and advised her to travel home alone or to go to Islamabad – but Fatima refuses to leave her family members behind.

Fatima had been to the airport several times but was unable to arrange evacuation for her and her family (Pictured: Taliban fighters man a checkpoint outside Abbey Gate the day before the terror attack)

Fatima refuses to leave without her mother and brother, who do not have British passports (Pictured: Afghanis wait to board a Boeing C-17 during the evacuation at the Kabul airport)

The Foreign Office said it could not comment on individual cases, but that any Briton still stuck in Kabul should find a safe location and ‘await further advice’ (Pictured: Afghans try to talk to American soldiers to ask to be let into the East Gate of the Kabul airport last week before the U.S. left the country)

‘If I leave they will die,’ she said, ‘I want to tell the UK government please bring my family home or we will leave Kabul in body bags.’

The Foreign Office said it could not comment on individual cases, but that any Briton still stuck in Kabul should find a safe location and ‘await further advice’.

It said it will ‘keep under constant review our means to help British people as the situation evolves.’ 

A spokesperson added: ‘Our staff worked tirelessly to facilitate the swift evacuation of British nationals, Afghan staff and others at risk.

‘The scale of the evacuation effort was huge and we have helped over 15,000 people leave Afghanistan since the evacuation began.

‘We continue to put pressure on the Taliban to allow safe passage out of Afghanistan for those who want to leave.’  

MP for Brent North Barry Gardiner could not provide specific details but told the Mail Online: ‘I can confirm that I have been trying to assist with Fatima’s case.’

It comes as Home Office sources revealed yesterday that Afghans with British relatives may no longer need to meet visa requirements to settle in the UK – giving hope to Fatima and her relatives.

Officials in Kabul have also been ordered to prioritise ‘dependants’ of British nationals, including those who need care, such as Fatima’s brother and mother.

The policy update suggests Afghans with British relatives could be free to settle in the UK – if they manage to get out of the country – without successfully applying for asylum.

Source: Read Full Article