Fleeing Taliban fighters, Ibrahim begs the country he helped – Australia – to save his family

Taliban fighters on patrol in Kabul. Mohammed Ibrahim and his family are in hiding because he worked on an aid program funded by Australia. Photograph: Felipe Dana/AP

Huddled on Afghanistan’s chaotic border with Pakistan, his young son shivering in the cold, Mohammed Ibrahim stared at the unmoving metal gates – willing them to open, even just for a moment.

“We spent the night there in the middle of the street with little Daniel and it was [the most] difficult night of my life,” he says.