Kabuliwalas of Kolkata worry about kin back home as Taliban seize power

Kolkata, August 16 (PTI):
With the Taliban taking control of Afghanistan, after sweeping into its capital city, Kabuliwalas (people of Kabul) in Kolkata are a worried lot, having not been able to get in touch with their family members back home. Afghans in Kolkata — commonly known as Kabuliwalas — usually visit from one door to the other selling wares from their country, mostly dry fruits, rugs and perfume, or deal in the business of lending money.
Fifty-eight-year-old Omar Masood, a moneylender who has been living in the city for the past several decades, said that he hasn’t been able to establish contact with his family and friends in Kunduz over the past two weeks. “It was in July that I last spoke to my younger brother and family. Since May, I have been asking them to leave Afghanistan and move to either India or any other country… I am clueless about their whereabouts now,” Masood said.
Taliban fighters, who were removed from power in Afghanistan by US-led forces in 2001, have resurfaced again, taking control of key cities including Kabul on Sunday, after the government there collapsed and embattled president Ashraf Ghani fled home, much like his fellow citizens. Thousands of people have died and millions have been displaced in the conflict. Mohammed Khan (49), who moved back to Kolkata from Kabul last year, said the situation in his country had been taking a turn for the worse for a while now. “I I left Afghanistan in the mid-nineties after the Taliban took control of the country for the first time. But in 2017, I decided to return as everything seemed fine back home. I even opened a shop there. But after the US decided to withdraw its forces from the country, things started going downhill. I had no option but to move back to Kolkata with my immediate family, he explained.
Khan further said that he had been spending sleepless nights with no news from his extended family on the outskirts of Kabul. “Many people from my family were killed by the Taliban in the nineties as we were opposed to their regime. I don’t know what fate awaits my family there,” he rued.