An Afghan man who immigrated to Tamworth last year said he is concerned he may never see his wife again, afraid that his life in Australia will make her a target for the Taliban.
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Azem Alizada, from Ghazni, left for Australia in 2015. He hasn't seen his wife for two years.
The best way for Australians and the government to help is by offering his family and other endangered Afghans visas, Mr Alizada said.
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He works as a local bricklayer and has been welcomed into Multicultural Tamworth advocate Eddie Whitham's family of migrants and refugees.
Mr Alizada and his family are members of Afghanistan's Hazara minority, a group hated by the Taliban. In the last fortnight his cousin was killed by the terrorist group that has taken over the country. He's concerned his life in Australia is endangering the family members he left behind.
"The Taliban think [if] Azem goes [to] Australia, he [must be] Christian, not Muslim now," he said.
When he last travelled to Afghanistan in 2019, two armed Taliban came to his door. The organisation had such a close eye on the community they knew he hadn't been in the house before and demanded to know where he had been. Azem tricked them by pretending to have been working in neighbouring Iran.
With the government's collapse last week, things are worse than ever.
"My wife can't go out, can't go shopping," he said.
If the Taliban see his wife walking alone the results could be deadly, he said.
"Where's your husband, where's your father, where's your brother [they will ask]? Not have, shoot," he said.
On TV they speak kind words, he said, but in the streets, it's quite a different story. And they have lists of names.
Mr Whitham reports that another Hazara Afghan with a Tamworth connection, a young female charity worker called Mitra, has escaped the country.
At time of printing she was in the air flying to Dubai, where she would have to spend 10 days' quarantine due to the coronavirus.
"I've been praying about it for days," he said.
Mitra is safe, but she's in limbo, and doesn't have an Australian visa.
Mr Whitham, who considers her a "daughter", is now working with the Department of Home Affairs to try to get her the right to live in Australia.
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