They fled Afghanistan. In the US, they have freedom – but fear a return

A family from Afghanistan receives donated food in Sacramento, California, on 19 August 2021. Photograph: Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

Almost three years after Esmatullah Sultani rushed to Kabul’s international airport, at the time besieged by Taliban forces who were seizing control of Afghanistan, the 24-year-old man walked into a busy neighborhood market near Sacramento, California.

Sultani greeted many of the stallholders, fellow Afghans, and ordered kebabs for lunch in Dari, a language spoken by more than 35 million people in Afghanistan.