LQatar has invested a lot to welcome the FIFA World Cup in 2022 with pomp. But in the meantime, the residential complex designed by the organizing committee is receiving unlikely hosts: Afghan refugees.
“With us, we do not have all these facilities,” testifies Ahmad Wali Sarhadi, a 28-year-old Afghan, living in a two-story building with a companion in misfortune, Khalid Andish, 24.
Two sofas, a flat screen TV, two beds, an equipped kitchen and air conditioning. It seems surreal to imagine Ahmad a few days earlier in his home in Kandahar, southern Afghanistan, with his wife and five children.
The journalist, who also worked for a humanitarian association funded by the United States, says he has been wanted by the Taliban for two and a half years.
When he recounts his flight, it looks like he still feels the breath of the Taliban on his neck, the new masters of Kabul, whose first spell in power, more than 20 years ago, left only memories of executions and medieval politics.
“When I heard them coming into the street, I jumped over to the other side of a wall. I put on (…) a turban to look like a Taliban, ”says Ahmad.
“Do not tell anyone”
“I called my wife. She cried. “I’m going to Kabul, don’t tell anyone.”
The flow is fast. The emotion is buried, held back by large doses of antidepressant.
Arrived in Kabul, he says he went to the airport every day early in the morning to try to enter. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ, an American NGO) informs him that it will help. Then, “I had a call from the Qataris (…) Since August 13, I have had no contact with my family”.
In his left hand, his fingers amputated by a Taliban bomb more than ten years ago, he holds the smartphone on which pictures of his family scroll. Selfie of her little daughter, with a bright smile.
The complex in which Ahmad is housed, the Park View Villas, with a capacity of 1,500 people, is the result of Qatar’s desire to invest in sport in order to shine on the international scene. Delegations, media and personalities will be accommodated there during the next World Cup, scheduled from November 21 to December 18, 2022.
But for now, the complex is an unexpected refuge for Afghans.
Almost all of these refugees are journalists, present thanks to Qatar, which has had close links for years with the Taliban. By evacuating some 50,000 people since the Islamists came to power on August 15, the wealthy emirate has become an essential partner and has a good reputation.
“No one is interested in us except the Qataris,” Ahmad said.
A few weeks ago, he was invited to take a master’s degree in journalism in India. But he gave up. “I would need financial support.”
From Kandahar, he has a backpack, a smartphone, a book, a computer and his only real wealth: his papers and his diplomas. His life fits in a plastic sleeve.
“Physically I’m in Doha, but mentally I’m in Afghanistan with my family. I’m like dead, ”says Ahmad.
“No hope”
Outside, children are playing in a square. Turnstile and slide. Women pass by chatting. A man wears on a T-shirt, in English, this phrase of hope: “Start something new now.” To be a human ”.
In turn, Khalid Andish recounts his story, both unique and similar to the 600 or so other refugees present in the residence. On August 15, this bachelor fled the neighborhood radio station where he worked in Kabul. He has not heard from his siblings since.
“I was on the Taliban’s list, they could target my family if they can’t find me,” he worries.
He hopes one day “to be able to serve (his) country as a journalist, activist, teacher, trainer …”. “But for the moment I have no hope of returning”.
In each house, recount stories of flight and anguish. There is also a little hope there, among those who know where they will go to settle. Ireland, Iraq, Rwanda, United States, Great Britain … Like a bad taste lottery.
Ahmad, he waits: “I do not know who will accept me as a refugee.”
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