15 Bangladeshis, 160 Afghan students waiting outside Kabul Airport for 20 hrs
Some 160 Afghan students of Asian University for Women in Chattogram are scheduled to arrive in Bangladesh in a special flight on Thursday. Fifteen Bangladeshis stranded in Afghanistan are scheduled to return home by the same flight.
However, they have been waiting for about 20 hours outside the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul as they have not got permission from the authorities as yet.
Rajib Bin Islam, one of the 15 Bangladeshis waiting to return home, informed Prothom Alo of the matter on Thursday morning. Rajib, an engineer by profession, is a senior official of Afghan Wireless.
He said, “Our flight was scheduled to leave Afghanistan for home on Tuesday. But we had to return halfway as we did not get the permission. Later, after coming to the airport, we got to know that we have clearance for today (Thursday).”
Rajib said they have been waiting outside the airport since 2.00pm local time on Wednesday. They are waiting for the permission of the authorities to enter the airport. They are scheduled to head home on a special flight arranged by the United Nations (UN), he added. The flight is supposed to land directly in Chattogram.
Earlier, some 160 students of Asian University of Women went to Afghanistan on vacation. They got stranded there after the Taliban came into power.
Earlier on Sunday, Faruk Hossain and Mahiuddin, two of the 29 Bangladeshis stranded in Afghanistan, who used to work in the US army base, went to Qatar from Kabul by a special flight of US Air Force. On the same day three Bangladeshi officials of Brac International were taken to Kazakhstan’s capital Nur-Sultan from Kabul under UN arrangement.
After the Taliban took power in Afghanistan on 15 August, citizens of different countries, including the Afghans, started to leave the country. However, many have been stranded there due to lack of flights.
Bangladesh does not have an embassy in Afghanistan. The embassy of Bangladesh in Uzbekistan provides its mission services in Afghanistan. According to them, a total of 29 Bangladeshis had been stranded in Afghanistan. Of them, five have already left the country.