Afghanistan: My siblings served New Zealand – now they're targets, says former interpreter

Monday, 16 August 2021

Diamond Kazimi, 28, worked with the New Zealand Defence Force as an interpreter in 2009 for two-and-a-half years.

An interpreter whose family worked with the New Zealand Defence Force in Afghanistan says it is unfair that his three siblings have been left behind to die at the hands of the Taliban.

The Cabinet announced on Monday that New Zealanders and Afghan allies would be evacuated from Afghanistan, but that’s cold comfort for Diamond Kazimi who thus far is in the dark about the fate of his brother and two sisters.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said Afghan nationals with the “greatest security concerns” would be prioritised. This included people who had a heightened security risk because of the assistance they provided in the past.

Diamond Kazimi, 28, was just 15 when he started working with the New Zealand Army in Bamiyan.

But Diamond Kazimi, 28, who worked with the Defence Force as an interpreter in Bamiyan and now lives in Hamilton, said he was worried about his family, who had been trying to get out for four years.

Hundreds of people, desperate to leave, run alongside a US Air Force C-17 transport plane as it moves down a runway of the international airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Monday.

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Diamond Kazimi is worried about his siblings left in Afghanistan because of the close ties his family has with New Zealand.

“They [the New Zealand Government] have left people there to die,” he said.

“I thought it was [about] fair treatment in New Zealand. I didn’t expect it from a Government talking about being kind, being fair.”

Kazimi said his family had been trying to get his three remaining siblings in Afghanistan out since 2017. They had completed their applications, but their visas were never granted.

He was hoping they would be eligible to get on the evacuation flight. However, he said it was unclear where they could go to establish whether they were eligible and where he could send his siblings for help.

“All my siblings served with the [New Zealand] army just because my dad thought it was a good idea to help New Zealand soldiers.”

Taliban fighters take control of the Afghan presidential palace after President Ashraf Ghani fled the country.

Of the three siblings left in Afghanistan, Kazimi said his brother worked with the United Nations and New Zealand Defence Force, one of his sisters was a teacher and the other sister worked promoting women’s rights.

Now working as a lawyer, Kazimi came to New Zealand in 2011 after he was sponsored by someone working within the New Zealand Defence Force due to his role as an interpreter.

As he was only 18 when he came to Aotearoa, he could then bring his parents out. His two other brothers were also eligible due to their roles as interpreters.

Kazimi was just 15 when he started working with the New Zealand Army. His father was the deputy governor of the Bamiyan province, which was a special role.

“New Zealanders would come to my house for lunch, dinner – we used to have that special bond.”

Now, he is worried that role will make his three siblings who remain in Afghanistan targets.

Until Friday, they were in Bamiyan, but then they fled to Kabul.

During the last conversation he’d had with them, they were talking about fleeing to the mountains, and he had not heard from them since the weekend.

His family had contacted Immigration New Zealand and the minister of immigration multiple times but had no response.

Kazimi said it didn't seem fair that a Google billionaire could get here, but people who helped New Zealand couldn’t.

“If someone helped you through the dark times, wouldn’t you want to bring them home?”

‘They just torture women and kids’

Even though Kazimi was only young when the Taliban last ruled, he said he still remembered what it was like living under their regime.

“It was just horrible. If my mum went outside [she] would get beaten up – they would do some really horrible stuff … Women have to wear full burqa. I just remember little bits.

“We had to run to the mountains with little food.”

Kazimi said his family wasn’t asking for special treatment, but they had risked their lives and wanted help in return.

“The Taliban is not a good group – they just torture women and kids, especially people who worked for international groups.

“The last 20 years people enjoyed their freedom, women enjoyed walking free.

“[Now] those who helped New Zealanders or other international forces are likely to get captured and tortured, especially women.”

The United States, Australia and Canada had special programmes where they reunited families, and all three countries were working to get people out who had worked with them, he said.

But New Zealand had not been as quick to act, and Kazimi said he had lost faith in New Zealand’s immigration department and the Labour Government.

“I couldn’t sleep the last couple of nights.”

It was deflating to see how quickly the Taliban had moved back through after all the hard work that had been done, he said.

“I knew it was going to happen. It’s just quite hard.”