Afghans flee to eastern Turkey as Taliban takes control amid chaos

[superadmin]

Twenty-eight days into their journey out of Afghanistan, a woman and her five children are sitting in the shade near a bus station in Tatvan, a town on the shore of Lake Van in eastern Turkey.

She is waiting for a smuggler, who was paid in advance, to take the family to Istanbul. Tired and dirty, the younger children are playing in the dust and laughing; the youngest boy wants a piggyback. The smuggler is two days late.

“My husband died fighting the Taliban in Ghazni,” she said. “There are fierce battles there now. We used the mountain road [to Iran] and got stopped by Turkish soldiers at the border, but they let us go. We have walked for days … My children are getting sick. It’s a very difficult situation.”

Chaos has quickly engulfed Afghanistan following the withdrawal of US and Nato troops after 20 years fighting against the jihadist movement; the Taliban claim to be in control of 85% of the country, kindling fears of renewed civil war.


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