An Afghan man who has been living in Italy for 15 years has asked the Italian government to help him bring his 16-year-old brother and 15-year-old sister to Italy. "They are in Afghanistan and have been waiting for a visa for months. I am afraid now that the Taliban will no longer let them leave," he told ANSA.
"I am asking the Italian government to help me bring my sister and brother, who are 15 and 16 years old, to Italy. They have been waiting for months for a visa and I now fear that the Taliban will no longer let them leave," said a 33-year-old Afghan in Macerata. He has been living in Italy for 15 years but wants to remain anonymous for security reasons.
'All the documents necessary'
He had fled from Afghanistan in 2006 because he could not stand the violence in the country, he said.
"A while ago, having understood that the Taliban were going to get back into power," he told ANSA, "I managed to bring my mother here, thinking that in this way it would have been easier to get my sister and brother out of my country of origin as well. We got all the required documents but the visas did not come and now the Taliban say that they want to close the border once and for all on August 31. This worries me and makes me feel anxious."
The teenagers are at the moment living with relatives in a city south of Kabul.
Asking for 'immediate help'
"I am asking the Italian prime minister and foreign minister for immediate help. My two siblings have the right to be reunified with their family, both myself and my mother," he said, noting that his father had died some years ago.
"With the return of the Taliban, for the two there will not be a future," he stressed. "Especially for my sister, given the treatment of women" under the Taliban.
"When I call them on the phone, they are so scared. They talk about a very difficult situation," he added.
"Italy welcomed me 15 years ago and I owe everything to Italy. But I also tried to give the best of myself to this country, working and behaving well. Now I am asking for just one more bit of help: get my brother and sister here."