One year on, Afghan family still divided after daughter fled, mother stayed

Massouda Kohistani, who lives as a refugee in Spain after she left Afghanistan last year, is seen on a screen as she wipes her tears while speaking with her mother over a video call, at a house in Kabul, Afghanistan, August 9, 2022. REUTERS/Ali Khara

As thousands of Afghans crowded outside Kabul airport a year ago desperately trying to escape the Taliban, Massouda Kohistani managed to fight her way on to a foreign military flight bound for the Gulf and ended up in Spain.

Her mother and more than a dozen other family members did not make it. They were left behind on the tarmac, Kohistani recalled, so as well as dealing with the pain of separation from her family and home, the 41-year-old rights activist is coping with a crushing sense of guilt.