Sisters who fled Afghanistan in search of safety fear war in Ukraine

Sisters Fazila and Shagufa Haidary have traveled the world as flight attendants, serving politicians and pop stars.

Now they live together in a small apartment on the outskirts of Kiev, Ukraine’s capital, browsing TikTok to keep themselves busy.

After fleeing the Taliban and decades of war in their home country of Afghanistan, the sisters now risk facing another conflict in their adopted home of Ukraine.

“Right now, we’re in the middle of nowhere,” says Shagufa. “We’ve just come out of a single trauma, and I think we’re going to have to face another trauma.”

The duo are torn between yearning for the past, the loved ones they left behind and their fears of a deeply uncertain future.

Fazila, 26, and Shagufa, 24, are the younger sisters of a large family. Members of the Hazara ethnic minority, their roots are in Bamyan, in central Afghanistan.

Despite the trials and tribulations of everyday life in Afghanistan, the sisters describe their lives before the Taliban took over last year as “the golden days.”

They were enrolled at university and their jobs as flight attendants allowed them to travel widely. At work, Fazila says she’s met everyone from former Afghan President Hamid Karzai to Afghan pop star Aryana Sayeed.

When the Taliban took control of Kabul on August 15, 2021, they felt they had no choice but to leave.

“We had no other option,” recalls Shagufa. “We had to take a flight and flee. And that was it. If we had another option, we would definitely choose another option instead of being a refugee or ending up here.”

The sisters had intended to go to Islamabad, Pakistan, but arrived too late at the Kabul airport. They found themselves trapped in the chaos of thousands of people trying to leave the country.

“The feeling back then was horrible,” says Shagufa, describing the huge crowd of Afghans, all desperate to flee. “We were all terrified and clueless because we didn’t know where we were going.”

The sisters say they, along with some co-workers, went to a plane parked in a remote part of the runway. They had no idea where the plane was going until minutes before takeoff.

“We were hopeful. It’s like, ‘Oh, finally! We did it,’” says Shagufa, sighing and lowering her head as she did at the time.

But the relief of escaping danger soon gave way to the harsh reality of life as an asylum seeker in a strange country.

A new life in Ukraine

Fazila and Shagufa were among a group of 370 Afghans who arrived in Ukraine on evacuation flights in August 2021, according to Ukraine’s State Migration Service. Definitive figures are hard to come by, but activists estimate that around 5,000 Afghans live in Ukraine.

Upon arriving in the country – where they had never been before – the sisters say authorities took them to an migrant lodge about two hours north of Kiev, close to the Belarus border.

Two weeks later, thanks to the help of a friend who works for a Ukrainian airline, they were able to move into a furnished apartment in a modest building on the outskirts of the capital Kiev.

But the sisters say they now doubt whether leaving Afghanistan was the right decision.

“If I knew that living life here, (that) would be such a challenge and such a difficult one, I would not choose to be (a) refugee. Believe me. Never,” says Shagufa.

The sisters have applied for asylum in Ukraine and are expecting a decision within weeks.

But with applications still pending, they say they have struggled to find work in their field – despite having Ukrainian documentation that allows them to get jobs.

Aside from an initial donation of 3,200 Ukrainian hryvnias (about US$112) when they arrived in Ukraine, they say they faced consistent indifference from the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR.

“They are pretending they are helping us,” Shagufa said. “But in reality, it’s nothing. When you want to go to them or […] when you want to talk to them […] is totally different”.

In a note to CNNVictoria Andrievska, spokesperson for UNHCR Ukraine, said that it “provides legal assistance to around 300 Afghan asylum seekers and also provides financial support in the form of a subsidy given to newly arrived asylum seekers”.

UNHCR also clarified that, while expressing “solidarity” with the countries that received Afghans last year, it “was not involved in the evacuation of Afghan nationals who aided foreign governments or military forces in Afghanistan” and that it was not responsible for organizing the issuance of seen.

And yet, despite the difficulties, the signs of joy – and the strength that the sisters give to each other – remain.

When, at the beginning of our visit, Fazila introduces herself and says she lives in Kabul, the sisters burst into uncontrollable laughter. Shagufa nudges her with pleasure: “Do you live in Kabul?!”

Uncertainties amid tensions with Russia

Now the sisters face the same uncertainty as everyone else in Kiev. For the moment, things are calm and life goes on as usual, but the possibility of imminent war is growing – at least according to foreign leaders.

US President Joe Biden said on Tuesday that Russia has more than 150,000 troops concentrated on three sides of Ukraine.

Russia denies it is planning to attack, but the United States believes an invasion could be underway even before the Beijing Winter Olympics end later this week.

Recent information from the US and its allies suggests that Kiev could be among Russia’s targets.

“The worst part of it is (how) dealing with our family in Kabul,” says Fazila. “They are also having their own problems in Kabul. But it hurts more that they think we’re safe here.”

To keep her widowed mother from worrying about them, her brothers instituted a “family protocol” preventing her from watching the news.

“Only my brothers know what is happening here,” says Shagufa. “But not my mother. We’re pretending it’s okay, it’s okay. Of course, she is a mother. She has her own fears for us, especially for her two daughters.”

“We were worried about them,” says Fazila. “And now we’re worried about them as well as ourselves.”

If the invasion happens, they have no escape plans. They say they are too scared to try to cross the border into Poland or another country nearby.

“We are not brave enough to cross the border, otherwise we would love to go there,” says Shagufa.

The sisters say they were not guaranteed help from the UN.

UNHCR told the CNN that recognizes the “anxiety” of the Haidary sisters, along with that of other Ukrainians; said he was urging the Ukrainian government to include refugees in its contingency planning.

When they fled Kabul, the sisters thought they were among the lucky few. Now they are not so sure.

“I’m not ready to go through that again,” says Shugufa.

Journalist Olga Voitovych contributed to this report.