A British man is in hiding in Kabul after travelling to Afghanistan to try and rescue his wife, fearing she will become a target for the Taliban.
The mechanic told Metro.co.uk that 10 friends he had made on his way to the city had died in the bomb attack outside the city’s airport on Thursday.
The 24-year-old said he had flown from Heathrow to Uzbekistan before a 19-hour car journey across the border and into the capital.
Safi and his wife, whose family has links to the deposed military, are in hiding with the Taliban in full control after the end of evacuation flights and the final US soldier leaving Kabul’s airport on Monday night.
The couple married two years ago in Afghanistan and he was in the process of trying to arrange her paperwork so she could settle in London.
While he was eligible for one of the last remaining flights, his wife has not been granted resettlement and otherwise needs a visa to travel to the UK.
Safi’s brother has made calls to the UK Government but found phone lines to be jammed and says he has so far only received advice over the phone.
Safi left London with six close friends but met others in the same situation during the three-day journey, including Mohammad Niazi, who has been confirmed as one of the victims of the bomb attack by IS-K outside the airport, which has claimed the lives of 170 civilians and 13 US Marines.
Most of the 150 people on the flight were in the same position he said, with a race against time to reach their loved ones after it landed in Tashkent.
Safi said: ‘When I saw how bad the situation was getting I began to worry about my wife because of her links to the military through her family.
‘I spoke to my friends who were in the same situation and also wanted to go and get their wives and kids.
‘We drove for 19 hours night and day without a break and after we met up with our families in Kabul we went straight to the airport.
‘We were standing with other British people showing our paperwork when I heard a big explosion. It was a few metres away from me and there were a lot of dead bodies, my clothes were full of blood.
‘Ten of my friends died there. There was shooting so we all ran away but when we came back we couldn’t find another plane.
‘Now I’m stuck in Kabul with my wife and there are no flights out.
‘We’re in hiding and we can only go for a few miles around her house, the Taliban are everywhere and they are stopping cars. I’m worried they will find something on me that shows I’m British.
‘My wife is stuck here because she can’t get a visa to go back through Uzbekistan, I don’t know what to do but I came here to rescue her and I’m not going to leave without her.’
Safi, who spoke under an assumed name to protect his and his wife’s safety, is among British nationals stranded after the coalition airlift ended with the UK’s Operating Pitting flying more than 15,000 people out of Kabul.
His brother told Metro.co.uk: ‘My brother went to Afghanistan to rescue his wife because he was concerned for her and her family’s safety.
‘Her family has military links, making them a potential target for the Taliban.
‘It’s almost impossible to get hold of the Government through the two phone lines we’ve been given because everyone’s trying to get through.
‘There’s one for British nationals and another for Afghan nationals.
‘We’ve just been told it’s not a problem for my brother to come back through neighbouring countries and they’ve taken details of his wife’s family and said they’ll be back in touch, but we don’t know when. We just want my brother to come back safely with his wife and his wife’s family.’
Safi and his brother, who have an Afghan background but are British citizens living in London, believe that the UK death toll from the bomb could be much higher that the three people confirmed so far.
The list of fatalities includes Mr Niazi, a 29-year-old taxi driver, who died along with his wife and two of their children.
Safi’s brother said: ‘There were 10 people that he knew who died in the bomb blast, they were all British citizens.’
The last UK flight out of Kabul landed at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire on Sunday, wrapping up 20 years of British involvement in Afghanistan.
The Foreign Secretary said today that the number of UK nationals still in the country is in the ‘low hundreds’ after 5,000 were flown out.
Dominic Raab told Sky News the Government is working with neighbouring countries on a ‘workable route’ allowing them to escape.
Fears remain for former interpreters and others linked to the coalition’s operations who have been left behind.
Metro.co.uk has contacted the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office for comment.
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