Thread by @MetroUK

An Afghan scholar evacuated from Kabul thanked the UK for showing him ‘great love’ as he attended his first day at a British university.

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Naimat Zafary, who feared for his life after the Taliban seized power, is one of nine students from Afghanistan enrolling at @SussexUni on the UK Government’s Chevening programme.

The father-of-four was airlifted out amid fraught and desperate scenes on August 23 having spent 10 days in hiding in Kabul, his home city, after it fell into the hands of the militants.

British soldiers had to pull his group out of a pool of dirty water as they tried to make their way through vast crowds at the airport in the final days of the mass evacuation.

British soldiers had to pull his group out of a pool of dirty water as they tried to make their way through vast crowds at the airport in the final days of the mass evacuation.

He feared being targeted by the country’s new rulers due to his work with the UN and his high-profile association with the Chevening Scholarship.

Naimat’s hopes and those of his peers were initially dashed when the British Embassy in Kabul stated before the Afghan government fell that it was unable to process the students’ visas in time for their scholarships this year.

He acted as a media spokesperson for the group and they were granted permission to travel to the UK after Boris Johnson intervened to issue fast-track visas.

Naimat, who attended an induction at the university today, is currently living temporarily in London with his wife, Saima, and daughters aged three, nine and seven and his 18-month-old son.

Speaking of his homeland, he said: ‘It was a shocking situation.'

‘I had a dream to study in the UK and return to improve my country, but the ministries are no longer there.

Instead there are barbaric people in power who do not know the value of education. You cannot enter into dialogue with them.'

‘Those 10 days were the most stressful time in my own whole life.

‘I couldn’t go out of the house for fear that the Taliban would kill me.

‘I only went out once or twice and when I went to the market I could see the fear in people’s eyes, there was no joy left in Kabul.’

On Aug 22, Naimat and his family went to Kabul airport with just a few of belongings but they were unable to make their way through the crowd.

‘We formed a human chain because it was the only way to protect the women, children and elderly from the force of the crowds,’ he said.

‘In total it took us three hours to reach the point where the British soldiers were. We crossed the pool of dirty water and they stretched out their hands and pulled us out. It was 10 hours after we first arrived at the airport.’

The scholar is now enrolled on a one-year postgraduate course in Governance, Development and Public Policy at the Institute of Development Studies, which is affiliated with the university and based on its campus in Falmer, East Sussex.

His future is uncertain but he remains a passionate champion of education and development in Afghanistan, and is considering supporting his homeland through research and writing in the UK after his course ends.

‘What has happened in Afghanistan is a tragedy,’ he said.

I was reading a report last week that said by 2022 there will be 97 per cent poverty in the country.

I believe the int. community should support Afghanistan, they require humanitarian assistance and education.'

Naimat travelled to Sussex, which is one of 15 UK Universities of Sanctuary, ahead of his family’s scheduled relocation in around two weeks’ time.

‘I have found a calm and peace in the UK with happy, smiling faces that welcome you, which has touched my heart.’