Afghan Kiwi pleads for evacuation help as brothers face Taliban threats

Tuesday, 24 August 2021

Former refugee Frozan Azizi fears for her brothers' lives as the Taliban have executed others. Her brothers have been denied entry into New Zealand.

They are coming to kill my brothers, Frozan Azizi says.

On Monday night, members of the Taliban knocked on her family’s door in Kabul, demanding to know where her two older brothers, who worked for the Afghan Army, were hiding, Azizi said.

“They scared my mother, my nieces, my sister-in-laws.

“Now I don’t know where my brothers are. They are still alive, but they are not safe.”

Frozan Azizi came to New Zealand as a refugee in 2017, as her family fled the Taliban. Now her brothers, who served in the Afghan Army, are being hunted by the Taliban, and are at grave risk of death, she says.

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(from left to right) Frozan Azizi with sister Masooma Azizi. The family waits in fear of news of their older brothers, who are hiding from the Taliban.

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Azizi is pleading with the New Zealand Government to grant evacuation and refugee status to her brothers and their families.

She came to New Zealand with her mother, younger sister Masooma and younger brother as refugees from Afghanistan in 2017, and they now all have residency status in Hamilton.

The family fled Afghanistan because their mother was a Kabul council candidate who faced threats and attacks from the Taliban.

Her two older brothers have been living in Afghanistan with their families, serving in the Afghan Army for about 20 years.

The Azizis sought refugee status for them in 2017 and 2018 under the reunification policy – but those applications weren’t granted.

U.S. Marines with Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force - Crisis Response - Central Command, provide assistance during an evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport, Kabul, Afghanistan on Saturday. Since the Taliban took control of the country, crowds have gathered at the airport, desperate to flee.

As soldiers, they were trained by the New Zealand Defence Force and worked alongside NATO forces, Azizi said.

But they are not part of a group of Afghan allies or New Zealand citizens the Government has pledged to evacuate.

Reports suggest the Taliban has been hunting down former Afghan Army soldiers since they took over the country over a week ago.

Her brothers have been called by members of the Taliban, she said, telling them they must surrender themselves, or they will come looking.

“There is no safe place for them in Kabul.

“Every second is a death wish for them.”

Azizi’s mother recently went back to Afghanistan to visit family as well.

She is now trying to reach Kabul Airport for an evacuation flight, along with masses of other desperate people, also trying to flee.

A New Zealand Defence Force Hercules has been operating out of a base in the Middle East participating in an international effort to evacuate foreign nationals and Afghans threatened by the Taliban's takeover. Azizi’s brothers are not part of this list.

Azizi has contacted the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to seek refugee status for her brothers and their families.

On August 18, she received a response denying them refugee status, but she received another email on August 23, saying their application will now be considered.

Community Law Centres O Aotearoa chief executive Sue Moroney is urging the Government to evacuate a wider group of Afghanis seeking refugee status in New Zealand.

Now Azizi waits, feeling hopeless.

“These soldiers worked with NATO and now nobody wants to help them. My question is why?

“My request is to the New Zealand Government: please help these soldiers, they are the first people in danger.”

And Community Law Centres O Aotearoa (CLCA) is pleading with the Government to evacuate a wider group of those stranded in Afghanistan with connections to New Zealand, in order to save lives.

Chief executive Sue Moroney told Stuff the Government had made good progress with identifying and helping refugees in recent days, but a lot of the processing should have already been done.

“What we’ve seen the last 48 hours is some movement to get some people evacuated who weren’t on the original list, so that’s good to see.”

Moroney said when the borders closed last year Immigration New Zealand stopped processing refugee applications and this meant people had been left in limbo.

Community Law has been asking the Government since May to approve decision-ready applications.

“We said to the Government that there are some hotspots around the world where it’s really important that you start processing those applications now.”

At the time the refugee advocates were focused on the situation with refugees coming from Myanmar, but it now applied to those caught up in the crisis in Afghanistan.

“Every delay that happens for those families whose safety is at risk because their family members were working with the NZDF… makes it harder and harder for them to be evacuated.”

Immigration New Zealand senior engagement and communications advisor Tracey Jury said the agency was working hard to process visas and facilitate entry for Afghan nations who meet the resettlement criteria to be evacuated.

“The Government is closely monitoring the rapidly developing situation in Afghanistan and empathises with the uncertainty that people are facing as the situation changes.”

Jury said anyone who believed their family members could be eligible for resettlement should contact the Ministry of Trade and Foreign Affairs by emailing afghanistanresponse@mfat.govt.nz.

Family-based applications from Afghan nationals who are the partner or dependents of a New Zealand citizen or permanent resident are being prioritised – as the Government’s primary objective is to evacuate New Zealand citizens and permanent residents from Kabul.

New Zealand has a refugee quote of 1,500, Jury said.

There is a category known as Refugee Family Support, which allows former refugees who have resettled in New Zealand to sponsor family members to join them.

But the selection of expressions of interest for this category are currently paused and many offshore applications on hold while border restrictions remain in place, Jury said.

-Frozan and Masooma agreed to have their names and photos published by Stuff.