As the world reacts to the Taliban’s swift takeover of Afghanistan, Afghans living abroad are watching anxiously. In the United Kingdom, which hosts one of the largest Afghan diaspora communities, many are deeply worried about the fate of their homeland after more than four decades of conflict.
Many British Afghans still have close family ties in Afghanistan. Among them is Qari Abdul Wakil, who fled the Afghan Civil War in 1991 with his family, first seeking refuge in Pakistan before settling in London in 1996. Today, Wakil leads the Islamic Integration Community Centre (IICC) in Hounslow, a hub for the Afghan community in the UK capital.
“We don’t want this war to continue any longer,” Wakil said inside the mosque’s prayer room. Since founding the IICC in 2008, he has dedicated himself to supporting Afghans in London, providing a space for weekly Friday prayers, Islamic marriages, and funerals.
“In my lifetime, I’ve witnessed 45 years of fighting in Afghanistan,” he reflected. “Nobody is happy to leave their country. All this fighting has forced us to escape. But the love we feel for our country is in everyone’s hearts. It’s not like we’ve forgotten our nation.”
The concerns are shared by younger Afghans as well. Twenty-four-year-old Yusuf Ibrahimi works at the IICC and has been inundated with calls from worried community members seeking help for their families in Afghanistan.
“I think all the Afghan community, especially the youth, are in a state of shock,” Ibrahimi said. “Things have happened very quickly, very dramatically. We couldn’t expect how quickly the Taliban could take over. But the first hope is that people are safe.”
The rapid developments in Afghanistan have left the diaspora grappling with uncertainty and fear for loved ones. As the situation unfolds, Afghans in the UK are coming together to support one another and hope for a peaceful future for their homeland.
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Afghans in UK worry about nation's future after Taliban takeover
cgtn.com
