London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Saturday, Jun 06, 2026

Kabul arrivals in the UK: 'We are the lucky ones'

Kabul arrivals in the UK: 'We are the lucky ones'

Thousands of people are said to be waiting to board flights at Kabul's international airport, just over a week after the Taliban seized the capital.

UK troops are continuing to evacuate British nationals and eligible Afghans. Here are the stories of some of those who have made it to the UK.

'They are going to kill you'
Peymana Assad flew back to the UK on an RAF flight on Tuesday

Peymana Assad, 30, came to the UK when she was three years old. Now 30, she is a Labour councillor in Harrow, north-west London. She was visiting family in Kabul when the Taliban takeover began.

When Ms Assad received a call from the British embassy telling her she would be evacuated, she made straight for the airport. But with the roads blocked, she found herself running there on a traffic-jammed dual carriageway.

"From the back street, I saw hundreds and hundreds of people just running and walking towards the airport. People are getting out of the cars and running towards the airport," she said.

"All the shopkeepers have come out to watch the panic and the chaos and the fear of everyone running towards the airport. And one of them, as I was running, pointed at me and he said: 'You - if the Taliban catch you they are going to kill you. You better start running faster'."

Ms Assad found the UK meeting point - but was told she was too late. Officials had already been there and left.

"I just stood in the street - I had 3% battery and I looked at my battery and I thought if my phone dies and I'm standing here and the embassy aren't here, then what's going to happen? And the Taliban are literally advancing on to this area, I need to get somewhere safe - I need to go inside," she said.

A local family took her in and let her charge her phone - which she used to call the Foreign Office and her MP in London, Gareth Thomas.

"The family were very kind, they put me in their car and they took me to the safe location point again and when I arrived there again I saw the British military were there," said Ms Assad.

"And the moment I saw them and they saw me I just felt so much safer... and kind of sighed relief that I was safe at that point."

'Most of us began to cry'


Hassina Syed, an Afghan businesswoman and activist, said she felt great "relief" as her evacuation flight took off from Afghanistan.

She said she fled the country quickly because the situation was "very unpredictable". Ms Syed turned up at the airport with her Afghan passport and British driving licence - her husband and children are in the UK.

Asked about the atmosphere on the flight, she told BBC Two's Newsnight: "Everybody got very emotional, most of us began to cry a lot."

Ms Syed said UK troops gave passengers bottled water and food, and that it was "really touching" to see them help soothe crying children.

Women back in Afghanistan are "worrying" and "want to get out" she says, because they fear that the Taliban will "capture them".

She said that during the Taliban's news conference on Tuesday - their first since seizing control of Kabul - there appeared to be a "bit of changes [sic] that make us a little bit hopeful".

'We are the lucky ones'

Gharghasht Hidai, a British Afghan who worked for the US army, moved to the UK around six months ago, but was back in Afghanistan when the Taliban took over.

He was told he would be evacuated - but his wife isn't a dual national and was initially told to stay behind in Kabul. That decision was later changed, but she struggled to get into the airport compound in Kabul to meet him and their children, who are also UK nationals.

"The situation is very bad because we were literally inside the compound, we could see the fighting, the shooting. She was crying. When we met her again in that compound... a British officer, he was actually, he cried too," he said.

He described the plane journey to the UK as "chaotic". "The plane was completely full. One of my children was sitting on the floor," he said.

He and his family were quarantining in Manchester when they spoke to BBC News. "I feel good, we are safe. We will start back from scratch in the UK," he said.

"We are the lucky ones. We made it. There are lots of people who really need help."


"Everybody got very emotional": Hassina Syed describes getting out of Afghanistan on a British military plane


Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Japanese Technology Firm Fujitsu Launches Advanced Artificial Intelligence Tool for Corporate Disclosures
South Africa Officially Launches Nationwide Campaign for Highly Contested Local Government Elections
United Kingdom Commits Additional Funding for Unexploded Ordnance Clearance in Laos
Singapore Announces Stringent New Greenhouse Gas Regulations for Commercial Cooling Systems
Cambodia and Thailand Hold High-Level Border Security Talks at United Nations Headquarters
Myanmar Military Government and China Sign Major Agreement to Upgrade Media and Cultural Cooperation
Knife Attack at Swiss Train Station Leaves Three Injured in Suspected Act of Domestic Terrorism
Transnational Extortion Gang Threatens Canadian Police With Army of One Thousand Armed Operatives
Australia Imposes Forty-Two-Day Quarantine on Cruise Ship Passengers Following Deadly Hantavirus Outbreak
International Monetary Fund Unlocks Seven Hundred Million United States Dollars for Sri Lanka Following Economic Reforms
Australia Launches Record One Point Four Billion Dollar Lawsuit Against Chemical Giant 3M Over Contamination
China and Canada Foreign Ministers Meet in Ottawa in Effort to Stabilize Strained Diplomatic Ties
Indonesia Demands Urgent United Nations Security Council Reform Amid Escalating Global Conflicts
Extreme Weather Patterns Trigger Severe Drought in Madagascar and Destructive Flooding in East Africa
Indian State of Karnataka Faces Political Upheaval as Chief Minister Siddaramaiah Abruptly Resigns
Philippines and Japan Reaffirm Defense Ties as Crucial for Indo-Pacific Regional Stability
Norway Joins French Nuclear Deterrence Initiative in Major Shift for European Security Architecture
Global Critical Mineral Alliances Expand as Western Nations Move to Counter Chinese Supply Dominance
United States Imposes Fifty Percent Tariffs on Mexican Steel and Aluminum Ahead of Trade Pact Review
European Union and China Head Toward Major Trade Conflict Over Clean Technology Exports
United States Economic Growth Severely Downgraded to One Point Six Percent as Stagflation Fears Mount
World Health Organization Warns Central African Ebola Epidemic is Outpacing Containment Efforts
United States Treasury Department Conditions Sanctions Relief on Reopening of the Strait of Hormuz
Iranian Air Defenses Intercept and Destroy United States Military Drone Over Bushehr Province
Iranian Armed Forces Launch Ballistic Missiles Toward Unspecified Targets Prompting Regional Condemnation
United Nations Secretary-General Warns Global Order Facing Highest Level of Conflict Since 1945
Israel Issues Sweeping Evacuation Orders in Southern Lebanon Amid Intensified Hezbollah Conflict
Russia Announces Systemic Military Strikes Targeting Ukrainian Defense and Energy Infrastructure
United States and Iranian Negotiators Reach Draft Agreement to Extend Ceasefire and Resume Nuclear Talks
United Nations Security Council Deeply Divided Over United States Capture of Venezuelan President
US and Iran Exchange Direct Military Strikes Amid Fragile Gulf Ceasefire
World Health Organization Warns of Catastrophic Ebola Outbreak in DR Congo
Russia Threatens New Wave of Strikes on Ukrainian Infrastructure and Embassies
Scientists Warn Atlantic Ocean Currents Could Collapse Faster Than Projected
Anthropic Reaches $900 Billion Valuation in Historic AI Funding Round
Washington Imposes Crippling Sanctions on Iranian Maritime Authority
Japan and the Philippines Initiate Strategic Intelligence-Sharing Pact
Microsoft Deploys Autonomous Computer-Using AI Agents to Global Markets
Anthropic Secures $45 Billion Compute Infrastructure Agreement With SpaceX
U.S. Director of National Intelligence Resigns Amid Administration Shakeup
Micron Technology Crosses Trillion-Dollar Valuation Amid Unprecedented Hardware Demand
Canada and Germany Finalize Historic Long-Term LNG Export Agreement
China Expands International Travel Restrictions on Domestic AI Researchers
Japan Approves Sweeping Overhaul of National Intelligence Apparatus
Global Airlines Scramble Logistics as Middle East Airspace Remains Fractured
Japan's Naphtha Imports Plunge 47 Percent Amid Strait of Hormuz Closure
Global Crude Prices Retreat Below $96 as Gulf Tensions Momentarily Ease
Generative AI Outperforms Human Baselines in Landmark Global Creativity Study
NASA Partners With Private Aerospace to Unveil Permanent Lunar Base Architecture
South Korean Equity Markets Surge on Next-Generation Memory Chip Frenzy
×