For one Bay Area family, Thursday's deadly attacks in Kabul have made the desperate struggle to leave Afghanistan even more difficult, as U.S. armed forces continue to withdraw from the country and the Taliban reestablishes rule.
Fatima, a U.S. citizen who chose not to be identified by her full name for fear of Taliban retaliation, has been trying to help family members leave the country, relaying messages from her Bay Area home.
But she told KCBS Radio they couldn't get into the city's airport this week after an arduous overnight journey.
"They said, 'We can only allow the citizens and the green card holders, that's it,' " she recalled.
Her brother is a U.S. citizen, and his wife has a green card. The couple's daughter, who was born here, is a citizen, too.
But their son was born in Afghanistan, and doesn't have a U.S. visa.
"It's not as simple as just saying, 'If you're a U.S. citizen, you can get out,' " Sara Fain, the family's attorney, told KCBS Radio. "In this situation, we have a U.S. citizen who is about 2 years old, but has another sibling who's just a year older and can't leave."
Fain said the family faces an impossible choice: Leaving without their child, or staying in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.
ISIS-K, the Islamic's state Afghanistan affiliate, claimed responsibility for Thursday's suicide bombings at the Kabul airport that killed 169 Afghans and 13 American troops. After the deadly attack, Fatima doesn't want her family trying to leave Afghanistan again without a secure escort.
"We're not safe," Fatima said. "They killed my two cousins back home, like, six years ago because they worked for the (U.S.) Army."
Fatima said she is especially worried about happens after American armed forces' planned withdrawal date on Aug. 31.
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