Afghanistan, Alidad refugee in Italy: “My cousin was in danger of death, now she is at the Kabul airport”

“It’s inside the airport”. The joy of the Afghan writer Alidad Shiri is irrepressible. “I cry with happiness”. It is a “surreal moment”. To Aki – Adnkronos International she tells that her “cousin Saleha”, in Kabul, managed to pass “by herself, showing the necessary documents, the Taliban checkpoint and the American checkpoint, in total chaos”, and managed to enter at the airport of the Afghan capital, the airport that for days has become synonymous with salvation for many Afghans who see no other choice but to leave their country, often reluctantly, back in the hands of the Taliban. Alidad Shiri is Afghan, Hazara, has lived in Italy since 2005. He fled his country, alone, when he was only ten years old. “The situation has been unlocked – says in a faint voice the author of ‘Away from the mad war’, who contributed to the anthology of stories ‘Even Superman was a refugee’ edited by UNHCR – A little while ago she entered the airport , she wrote me that she managed to get in. She should come to Italy “. “I talked to my cousin”, he repeats relentlessly, as if he wanted to convince himself of the ‘turning point’ in history that began with the “fear of death”. It was a “very difficult situation”. And he tells of his “cousin, on his mother’s side, just over 20 years old, who lived in Kabul, journalist, activist, worked for the Ministry of the Interior, dealt with women, human rights”. “She studied journalism and psychology between Afghanistan and Istanbul, in Turkey “, he continues, even though he” remembers nothing “about her because he was just a child, originally from Ghazni, when he fled from Afghanistan, a long and difficult journey that lasted more than four years, until his arrival in Italy attacked under a truck. Now he is fresh out of a degree in Philosophy at the University of Trento. “It was she who contacted me, she managed to find me on social networks – he continues – And I just tried to help her”. The voice is lowered even more when Alidad thinks of the “risk of attacks” in Kabul. A terrorist attack at Kabul airport could happen “by the hour,” British Under-Secretary of the Armed Forces, James Heappey said this morning. Alidad relates the stories of the “crazy crowd at the airport”, Afghans “who have been waiting for at least 48 hours, but also for days” in the hope of passing the checkpoints and entering that airport, of people “fainted, taken to hospital” because they didn’t hold up in that situation. Alidad speaks of a “very difficult job”, explicitly thanks “the MEP Alessandra Moretti, who worked day and night with me”, and “her friend Elisa Serafini”. Without forgetting to always repeat his thanks to Italy and the many Afghans who are “at risk, journalists, activists”.