SACRAMENTO, Calif. — For the past decades, thousands of Afghan refugees have made the Sacramento region home after being granted special immigration visas.
As the Afghanistan government crumbled to insurgent forces Sunday, Aug. 15, refugees now residing in the Sacramento area are left wondering what will become of the family they left behind.
Despair blanketed the Shinwari Market and restaurant in Arden Arcade, customers and staff broke down and cried multiple times.
“We will not be seeing our family again,” Mohib Momand said.
Momand is among thousands of refugees living in the region processing the collapse of Afghanistan. He said he and his family arrived in the U.S. in 2019 on U.S. special immigration visas after spending 15 years working with an American agency, but he left behind five brothers and nine sisters. He fears for their lives and fellow Afghan countrymen and women.
“Taliban will kill and shoot them one by one, all of them who have worked for the U.S. government and U.S. Army," Momand said.
He said he was able to contact his family back home and said that they were in hiding.
Amina Adal’s family is as well. As Taliban forces circled Kabul, she said her family desperately tried to obtain visas to escape Afghanistan, but the embassies had shut down.
“They don’t have any option," Adal said. "They are just thinking and everybody are in deep depression. And they’re thinking, 'What should we do? What will happen to our children’s future?' So my family are very scared."
Adal, a former U.S. contractor, who lives in Modesto, said she fears the Taliban’s modest language coming into power and doesn't believe it will last, with extremist rule returning.
“Maybe after they take control of the provinces, they will change the policies, and they will start ruling the same as they did 20 years back," Adal said.
As Adal and Momand fear for their families back home, they are pleading international leaders take action.
“Pray for my people, stop all these fighting," Adal said. "Because our poor people are suffering.”
As the State Department says it will expedite visas for vulnerable Afghans eligible for U.S. Special Immigration Visas, Momand says it will be difficult for many to prove their eligibility.
“Please do not leave Afghans alone," Momand said. ”That’s my message for U.S. government, especially Joe Biden. “
ABC10: Watch, Download, Read
Watch more from ABC10