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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
World
Laura Connor

Desperate Afghans plea 'don't forget about us' as country starves under Taliban control

Desperate Afghans tonight begged: “Don’t forget about us.”

Residents says they have felt “completely ignored” by the outside world since Russia invaded Ukraine.

Millions are at risk of starvation while lawless Taliban soldiers are said to be murdering former interpreters and their families.

A dad of four, 31 - an interpreter for UK forces in Helmand from 2009 to 2014 - was captured by the Taliban on the way to the airport while trying to flee. He was badly beaten and arrested but later released.

He now says he cannot return to his home village in Kunduz as the Taliban are dragging ex-colleagues out of their homes to kill them on the street.

The man, who cannot be named for safety reasons, said: “Every moment is risky, every moment they are taking lives. My colleagues who supported UK forces in Afghanistan got killed by the Taliban.”

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Residents feel ignored in Afghanistan (Getty Images)

Another resident has been hiding in Kabul for nearly six months with five members of his family – including his grandparents – who do not have access to food or medicine.

If they leave their hiding place, they will be killed by the Taliban for working as journalists and soldiers for the Afghan Government before the Taliban takeover last August.

The man’s 17-year-old sister has died from heart failure as the family have just dry bread to eat.

A former colleague has also been attacked and badly beaten by the Taliban for working as a journalist.

He said: “Living here is like a burning hell, we burn here every day.

“Journalists and former military personnel are being persecuted.

“I’m afraid of losing the rest of my family to starvation, but we will be killed if we leave the hiding place. My life is in serious danger”

The man said the Taliban now have access to 95% of food supplies in the country and have taken over the media, meaning stories of starvation and brutality are not reaching the wider world.

New Unicef data reveals the number of children admitted to hospitals with malnutrition nearly doubled from 2,407 in August 2021 to 4,214 in December.

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