“I’m going to have to leave everything”: a French woman recounts the chaos after the capture of Kabul by the Taliban – franceinfo

In the aftermath of the capture of Kabul by the Taliban, the evacuation of French people living in Afghanistan is being organized urgently, Monday August 16. Many European countries, including France, have transferred members of their diplomatic staff to the airport before an evacuation. Paris has also deployed military reinforcements to the United Arab Emirates to facilitate the departure of its nationals.

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According to the Minister of the Armed Forces, Florence Parly, “Several dozens” of French people remain to be evacuated, as well as “people who are under [la] protection [de la France]“. Victoria Fontan, vice-president of academic affairs at the American University of Afghanistan, is one of the French citizens still there. Franceinfo has collected his testimony.

Franceinfo: Where are you currently?

Victoria Fontan: I am in a private security camp ten kilometers from Kabul airport, I arrived there on Friday evening. I thought I could stay at university with my students and then leave the country on a commercial flight, but that was not possible. I applied for asylum at the French Embassy for all of us, but they told me that I would be the only one to obtain it because I was the only French.

“The closure of the French embassy was our red line. As soon as we heard about it, we made the decision to leave Kabul in not even an hour.”

Victoria Fontan

to franceinfo

I went to this security camp with students and colleagues, we didn’t want to leave anyone behind. I am currently with a Filipino, an Englishman and four Afghan students. We tried to take everything we could, we even took our dogs, but we couldn’t find the cat, unfortunately. I had 100 kg of luggage on me, but eventually I will have to leave everything and keep only a small bag.

Yesterday I was supposed to take an Emirates commercial flight, but the plane turned back because the Americans closed the airspace. They blocked it to pass special shuttles for their nationals.

What is the situation in the camp?

In this camp there is a contingent of 450 Georgians and Nepalese who took care of the security of the embassies. I don’t know when I’m going to be able to leave, how it’s going to be … I have no way to get to the airport. I had another plane for Qatar this afternoon at 2 p.m. but I missed it. I’m trying to negotiate, with my interpreter, with the new Taliban governor of Kabul so that he at least lets us go to the airport.

“Tomorrow, the security guards will leave. We will be alone and we don’t know how it will be. The Taliban are at the gates of the camp.”

Victoria Fontan

to franceinfo

In the meantime, we’re burning everything we can. We burned the university’s servers, all the documents we were able to take before leaving, such as the lists of professors, students … We especially do not want to leave information on the people who were able to help us. We disconnected all our accounts on social networks, our online course platform.

The university was looted. This kind of extreme situation brings out a lot of things in people: resentment, despair … They may be thinking that they are going to be able to resell the equipment if nothing more happens from abroad with the Taliban in the country. power. Whatever happens, our mission at the university will continue, we will continue to teach online and help our students.

How do you see the days ahead?

The situation breaks my heart. Yesterday evening, I went to join my students in Kabul for the evening. I was accompanied by a Georgian security guard who protected me. We were running from building to building to hide from the Taliban, these were really scenes of war. The students are very afraid that they will be abandoned, every time they see someone leaving with suitcases, they ask : “Will there be room for everyone? Are you going to leave us?” And when I see the situation at the airport, it’s unimaginable violence. It is absolutely abject to leave the inhabitants while the Taliban are there.

All these Afghans who are trying to leave their country, they are our colleagues, those who worked for us, helped us … They opened their doors to us for twenty years, believed in our promises, and we let them down.

“If we do not manage to leave this week, next week it will be too late. The reprisals against the Afghan people will begin and there it will be Rwanda.”

Victoria Fontan

to franceinfo

The Hazara minority [minorité chiite] has always been the target of the Taliban and they will be the first to suffer persecution. For me, we are on the verge of genocide. Around me, people are rather serene. Georgians are quite fatalistic, they have already lived through several wars. There, they say to themselves that it may be the end, without ever admitting defeat.