Shah holds a degree in political science. Under the previous Afghan government, he had good jobs with the British and US military, and also at the Afghan parliament. He used to mingle with the top people and had more money than he needed.
Now, he is jobless and penniless and his prospects of finding a job are next to nil because of his past employment. “I am alive but I am dead here. Before the Taliban, I used to earn about US$2,000 a month.
I was rich...
My wife still thinks I’m rich, she does not know I don’t have a job. I now literally do not have anything. The money I had is gone.
I received a good education, I am talented, my loyalty is to my country whoever is in government but because of my past jobs I cannot work.” The Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan in 2021 after waging an insurgency against the US-backed government in Kabul. A US invasion had toppled the original regime 20 years earlier but they managed to regroup and began taking back territory less than 10 years later.
By August 2021, the Taliban were back in power. It is a government the world has shunned and refuses to recognise, with those countries that had diplomatic representation under the previous government shutting down their embassies for good. Shah hopes to gather enough money to go to Pakistan to try to get the necessary papers to move to the UK.
His old boss has promised to help him but first he has to make his way to the embassy in Islamabad. Do you think the situation will improve,.