DENVER (KDVR) — The situation unfolding in Afghanistan may be tough for folks in the U.S. to understand if they’ve never been in that country before.
Here in Denver, two refugees sat down with FOX31 to detail their experiences with the Taliban and explain their process of fleeing to America.
Amrullah Sultans and Mohammad Younus Ahmad are Afghani refugees.
Sultans said he had been trying to get in touch with his brother for days. When he finally reached him, he asked his brother why he hadn’t answered.
“He said, ‘When you called, you talked about the U.S. on the phone,'” Sultans recalled. His brother told him that a few minutes after that phone call, someone from the Taliban called him and said “‘Don’t say nothing about the United States. Say nothing by the phone.'”
Sultans said the Taliban is trying to control everything in Afghanistan, leaving his family in complete terror.
“He took out the SIM cards and threw them away. Taliban gave him a warning: ‘Do not talk to your brother by the phone. We’ll try to find you and catch you,'” Sultans said.
Younus Ahmad just resettled in America a few a months ago. He said he has family members who were tortured and killed by the Taliban.
“My father is a teacher. They beat him a lot. Until blood came from father’s mouth. They told him, ‘You have a gun. Give me the gun!’ He told them, ‘I am a teacher. I have a pen.'”
Refugee resettlement agencies like the ECDC African Community Center say they are planning on increasing their number of volunteers, as they anticipate more people coming soon.
On Wednesday, Gov. Jared Polis said the state is ready to help the refugees, but he urged the president to quickly rescue those seeking asylum. Refugees said it will take more than the U.S. to correct the problems.
“It’s a big mistake. To the world: stop [the] Taliban. Do not recognize [members of the] Taliban,” Sultans said. “They are not a good government. They are terrorists, they’ll never be changing.”