Taliban is ‘hunting Americans,’ says California mom-to-be left behind in Afghanistan
WASHINGTON - A pregnant woman named Nasria, a California native, flew to Afghanistan in June to visit family and get married. As of early September, she remained one of the estimated 100 to 200 Americans left behind in the chaotic withdrawal of U.S. forces, according to a report.
Now that the U.S. military is gone, the Taliban is "hunting Americans," she told the Voice of America.
"I think to myself, ‘Am I going to make it home? Am I going to end up living here? Am I going to end up dying here? What’s going to happen?'" Nasria, 25, who asked to be referred to only by her first name for safety reasons, said.
"Apparently they’re [the Taliban] going door-to-door … trying to see if anybody has a blue passport," she said.
Last week, U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., who has been working to rescue Americans remaining in Afghanistan, said during an appearance on Fox News that Nasria had been kicked in the stomach by Taliban fighters.
"Anyone who says there aren't people stranded is wrong," Issa said during the broadcast.
As the country fell to the Taliban, Nasria and her husband, an Afghan national, hurried to the overcrowded and chaotic Kabul airport in an effort to evacuate.
"It was so hard to get on a flight. There were a couple of days where we had to sleep on streets," she said. "People were literally stepping over people. That’s how bad it was."
The situation at the airport felt surreal, she told the publication.
"I’ve never in my life have experienced anything like this," she said. "It was like literally a movie scene."
She said the U.S. State Department told her "You will get picked up" after the flight she booked to return to the U.S. was canceled.
MORE: Illinois Senator Tammy Duckworth: 'my focus is getting Americans out of Afghanistan'
She said she and her husband tried to get to the specified location for 12 to 13 hours but the Taliban blocked them at gunpoint even as she showed them her U.S. passport.
"Our troops were literally at the gate just waiting for us to continue walking and they had blocked us," she said.
At one point in frustration she walked as fast as she could past the Taliban security forces but they "started shooting right by my leg and told me to come back or they will shoot me."
And although her husband pleaded for the Taliban to let her go without him, she refused, revealing she’s pregnant.
MORE: Who is the last U.S. soldier to leave Afghanistan?
"My child is going to need a father and I’m going to need a husband by my side," she said, adding that she knew once she left Afghanistan she would never return.
Despite the State Department telling her they’ll find a way to get her out of the country, she said she’s losing hope.
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"If I was only 15 steps away from the airport and I was told people are going to come out of the airport to get me, so what hope am I supposed to have now?"
The Biden administration has been widely criticized not only for the frantic withdrawal and evacuation efforts that left troops vulnerable to the bombing that killed 13 U.S. service members but for leaving Americans behind as the last plane left Tuesday.
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