The first time he flew his cargo plane through the clouds over his hometown of Kabul, Tauheed Khan swelled with pride. <\/p>\n
During the US-led, 20-year war against the Taliban, Afghan Air Force pilots played a key role alongside American counterparts, some carrying out strikes that inflicted heavy casualties on the hardline Islamists. <\/p>\n
That coalition ended in August 2021, when foreign troops withdrew and Kabul fell to the Taliban. <\/p>\n
Khan now finds himself in neighboring Pakistan with his young family, fearing that they could be killed if they return to an Afghanistan now under the grip of the very forces he fought against. <\/p>\n
Worsening their plight, anti-migrant policies in both Washington and Islamabad mean time is running out to find a safe alternative, including a looming deadline at the end of this month. <\/p>\n
The war, which began with the US invasion in 2001 following the September 11 attacks, devastated Afghanistan\u2019s civilian population, which is still recovering. <\/p>\n
The ousting of the Taliban by the US-led coalition led to profound changes, including a return of democracy and significant improvements for Afghanistan\u2019s women. But war and instability raged across swathes of the nation, especially in rural areas. <\/p>\n
Tens of thousands were killed. Civilian losses escalated to 5,183 dead in the first six months of 2021, as the US began to pull out from Afghanistan and depend further on the Afghan military. A five-year study published by the United Nations in 2021 showed that 785 children died from US and AAF airstrikes over that period. <\/p>\n
As the US finally pulled out, the Afghan army and government collapsed, allowing Taliban fighters to sweep back into power. Afghans affiliated with the former government are \u201cmost at risk\u201d from the new Taliban administration, according to a report published by Human Rights Watch. <\/p>\n
HRW and the United Nations have documented \u201cextrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, arbitrary arrests and detention, and torture and other ill-treatment\u201d of Afghans who were in the security forces. <\/p>\n
Khan\u2019s friend, 37-year-old Khapalwaka is equally terrified. A trained aviation engineer, he worked as part of the AAF\u2019s intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance program. His job involved clearing out civilian areas before they were targeted by US drone strikes. <\/p>\n
He said he was assigned the task by his superiors, something he had often protested. \u201cI soon became a target of the local Taliban faction,\u201d said Khapalwaka, who had to move house every \u201cthree to four months\u201d for safety reasons, even before Kabul fell. <\/p>\n
Now selling wood by the roadside to feed his family, Khapalwaka \u2013 who, like Khan, was speaking under a pseudonym \u2013 said he\u2019s concerned the Taliban could reach him in Pakistan too. \u201cI know that they have contacts here, that they could target me here if they wanted\u2026 I just want to get out of here, so my daughters have a chance to be educated.\u201d <\/p>\n
The Afghan Taliban denied that former pilots were at risk if they returned. <\/p>\n
The US embassy in Islamabad did not respond to a request to comment. <\/p>\n
Khan sat in a small room of his tiny apartment in a non-descript Islamabad building. Bedspreads shrouded windows as makeshift curtains, but slivers of sunlight poked through, making harsh blotches on the faces of his small children, who slept tucked together in frayed blankets on the floor, oblivious to the sound around them. <\/p>\n
The youngest child was awake and constantly jumping on Khan\u2019s lap as he spoke of the life he left behind. <\/p>\n
In the chaos that ensued after the US withdrawal, Khan got to Pakistan in March 2022. He arrived legally and on foot, following the advice of a US pilot who had been one of his trainers. <\/p>\n