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A30 world news
Diaranson 6 aPriL 2022

Afghan evacuees mark first US Ramadan with gratitude, agony

From metropolitan areas with flour- and El Calvario United Methodist
ishing Afghan diasporas to this des- Church in Las Cruces, as well as the
ert university community less than Jewish and Christian-based organi-
40 miles (64 kilometers) from the zations that resettle refugees across
Mexican border, tens of thousands of their national networks, have been
newly arrived Afghans share one pre- helping Afghans find housing, jobs,
dominant concern that’s amplified in English-language classes, and schools
what should be a celebratory time: for their children.
With only temporary immigration
status and low-paying jobs, they feel They decry the fact that most dis-
helpless to take care of their families placed Afghan families don’t have
here and back home. permanent legal status in the United
States, despite their services for the
Abdul Amir Qarizada repeats several U.S. government, military or their
times the exact moment, 4:30 p.m., Afghan allies during the post-9/11 Af-
when he was ordered to take off from ghanistan war. That would give them
Kabul’s airport during the chaos of access to many government benefits
the evacuation – with no time to get and an easier path to work and family
his wife and five children, who are reunification.
still in Afghanistan more than seven
months later. While Afghanistan’s decades of war
and current food shortage mean far
“My concern is the aircraft is safe, less extravagant feasts than in many
(AP) — Sitting cross-legged on prayer rugs. On Saturday evening, but my family is not safe,” the for- countries where Ramadan is celebrat-
the floor as his wife and six chil- the two-bedroom apartment filled mer flight engineer says after Friday ed, the familiar tastes of home are top
dren laid plates of fruit on a red with the murmurs of their invoca- prayer at Las Cruces’ only mosque, of mind for many displaced this year.
cloth in front of him, Wolayat tions. where he goes by bike to find some Qarizada recalls his mother’s signa-
Khan Samadzoi watched through “peace.” ture festive dish of bolani, a stuffed
the open balcony door for the “I pray for them, and they pray for fried bread like a giant samosa.
sliver of new moon to appear in me, they miss me,” he said of his rel- So does Qais Sharifi, 28, who says he
the cloudless New Mexico sky, atives back home. His cousin Noor can’t sleep with worry for his kids left The mother of Shirkhan Nejat still
where the sun had set beyond a Rahman Faqir, who is also now in Las behind, including a daughter born cries every time the 27-year-old
desert mountain. Cruces, translated from Pashto to the two months after he fled Afghanistan makes a WhatsApp video call home
simple English he learned working alone. from Oklahoma City, where he
Then, munching on a date, the with American forces in Afghanistan. was resettled with his wife and the
bushy-bearded former Afghan soldier Both men break into smiles when couple’s baby was born. Missing his
broke his first Ramadan fast in the As they adjust to their new commu- the mosque’s education director, Ra- close-knit extended family at Rama-
United States – far from the Taliban nities, Afghan families evacuated to jaa Shindi, an Iraqi-born professor at dan brings “bad emotions,” Nejat
threat, but also the three dozen rela- the United States as the Taliban re- nearby New Mexico State Univer- said, despite his gratitude for being
tives he would be marking the start gained power last summer are cel- sity, invites them to register for the safe.
of the Muslim holy month with if he ebrating Ramadan with gratitude for free iftar dinners held nightly in the
was still home in Khost, Afghanistan. their safety. Yet there’s also the agony meeting hall decorated with gold bal- It’s such bonds, the warmth of large
of being away from loved ones who loons spelling “Ramadan kareem” — family gatherings around the iftar
A few minutes after naan was dipped they fear are in danger under a Tal- an Arabic greeting often used to wish meal and the cacophony of familiar
into bowls of stewed okra and beans, iban leadership crafting increasingly people a happy Ramadan. sights, sounds and smells marking
Samadzoi, his wife and the two oldest repressive orders. the end of a day’s fast that many are
children retired to worship on their Local congregations like the mosque yearning for in America.

300 killed by Mali’s army and foreigners, says rights group

(AP) — Mali’s army and have been deployed in Mali slaughter of people in custo- Watch. “The Malian govern- in a decade, whether carried
foreign soldiers suspect- to help fight the extremist dy,” said Corinne Dufka, Sa- ment is responsible for this about by Malian forces or as-
ed to be Russian recently rebels, the U.S. military con- hel director at Human Rights atrocity, the worst in Mali sociated foreign soldiers.”
killed an estimated 300 firmed in January.
men — some of them sus-
pected Islamic extremist In the Moura incident, Ma-
fighters but most civil- lian army troops and foreign
ians — in Moura in cen- soldiers in late March round-
tral Mali, Human Rights ed up several hundred men
Watch said Tuesday. and shot dead about 300 of
them, burying many in mass
It is the worst single atrocity graves and burning others,
reported in Mali’s 10-year according to Human Rights
armed conflict against Islam- Watch.
ic extremists, according to
the rights group which said it Mali’s defense ministry re-
interviewed several witnesses ported a similar incident,
about the killings. saying that in the last week
of March it had killed 203
Russian fighters are believed “terrorists” and arrested 51
to have shot dead most of others, acting on intelligence
those killed in Moura in late that armed extremists were
March, according to witness- meeting in Moura.
es who identified the killers
as white soldiers who did not “Abuses by armed Islamist
speak French. Several hun- groups is no justification at all
dred Russian mercenaries for the military’s deliberate