Threatened by the Taliban and forgotten by Italy. So Zara saved us

Zara Jules Bhopal We left in tears In Kabul in the grip of the new Taliban Emirate. Private Jane from Afghanistan, a sex representative in the Afghan army in Herat, who had been cooperating with Italian forces for years, was wanted across the country. The symbol of the no-hem for the Taliban was hiding with her husband, her brothers who are also soldiers and two young children, 9-year-old Arslan and her little sister Aslilan, born last March. A yellow veil and a mask against Covid to avoid being recognized, made a desperate plea to Italy: “Help me escape in the name of our long cooperation, otherwise the Taliban will kill me.” On Monday, Zahra landed with her family at Malpensa Airport and then arrived Verona Thanks to the Solidarity competition in which journalists, politicians, a Christian association and the Italian Embassy in Islamabad participated. Not the government, which promises a lack of humanitarian corridors while continuing to leave at least 250 translators and collaborators isolated due to the dramatic evacuation from Kabul.

People of good will have supplanted the duties of a state worthy of the name by helping to save dozens of Afghans thus far. And as the newest Zhara on sort of Schindler’s little list at the crossroads of Asia. A story we can now tell with the Afghan soldier “Jane” who was saved in Verona thanks to the municipal administration’s generous hospitality.

On August 31, Zhara called us: “Hello, I am in charge of gender equality in Herat, my husband Sohrab is the chief engineer at Camp Zafar (NDA Afghan Army base). We ran to Kabul. The Taliban already went to our house and burned it. They saved my family. We are in danger.” The female soldier was forced to storm Herat: “The Taliban stopped us at a checkpoint and shooting broke out with my brothers.”

In the Afghan capital we meet her in secret, but the interview is not enough to save her skin. defenseAnd Foreigner NS interior They have List We are ready for those left behind, but unlike other countries we don’t evacuate anyone. To take her to Pakistan, the only escape route, we guarantee her with the Italian embassy in Islamabad, who persuades the authorities to let her cross the border. “We are in Pakistan, but we will feel safe only in Italy” is the message of September 27. The embassy explains to us that in order to obtain a visa, it needs to invite an NGO in Italy to accept the reception, despite the fact that Minister Luigi Di Maio boasts of fake “humanitarian corridors”. Big NGOs, who are good at talking, are fading away, but there The Lancora Foundation Verona opens his arms. “Faith and humanity. We have already received a Syrian family fleeing from war. We are happy to help save the life of an Afghan woman with her husband and children” explains the founder, Don Renzo Zuka, a street priest who does not lose himself in distinctions when it comes to life or death.

The last hurdle is there mandatory quarantine, even if the whole family has a required passive safety barrier for the flight from Islamabad on October 25. The defense is slipping, but the Verona administration is responding thanks to politicians of good will. Andrea PachegaThe head of the security committee mobilizes in a few hours to find housing during the quarantine. with the vice-junior, Vito Comincini, who rents a minibus and takes the Bhopal family from Malpensa. “We are happy to help those who really escaped from a state of war – confirms Bachega – they were on the Taliban blacklist, and now they are safe in Verona. We are proud that we did our part.” The mayor welcomed the Afghan family, Federico Spoarina: “We are all happy to be part of an international relationship that ends with a happy ending. The city of Verona can only be proud to welcome this woman, who collaborated with our army, and put her life in danger.” Zara was touched, saying, “I thank you from the bottom of my heart. We are happy. We were in danger and you saved us.”

The Albini Dilana They guarantee Afghans food and basic necessities. The Black Turin with conference Newspaper In Afghanistan, on November 23, it will raise funds for the association that will receive the family after quarantine until the asylum application is accepted.

An empirical case to be repeated because Schindler’s List is still long. Seven families of former translators of Italian soldiers were left behind plus B. A widow at the hands of the Taliban kidnapped and killed her husband and a young journalist in Herat lives in terror. Another girl, n. She believed in the values ​​of the West, now forced to live under the yoke of the Taliban and He writes us an awesome idea : “I think of the girls who were killed during an attack on Kabul University, in the classroom with their books open and their pens open. And I envy them.”