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Who is Faziya Nematy? NY mom stuck in Kabul with her child struggles to get out: 'No help here'

Faziya Nematy is among thousands of American citizens who are struggling to flee the country, many of whom were told they must make their own way to Kabul airport and that the US couldn't guarantee their safety.

BY KUNAL DEY

PUBLISHED AUG 20, 2021

In this handout image provided by the Bundeswehr, evacuees from Kabul sit inside a military aircraft as they arrive at Tashkent Airport on August 17, 2021, in Tashkent, Uzbekistan (Photo by Marc Tessensohn/Bundeswehr via Getty Images)

A New York mother is struggling to get herself and her child out of Kabul as the Taliban strengthens control of Afghanistan's capital. Faziya Nematy had traveled to Afghanistan last month to visit family. She is now among thousands of American citizens who are struggling to flee the country, many of whom were told they must make their own way to the Kabul airfield and that the US couldn't guarantee their safety. When asked about reports of Taliban blocking roads and the difficulty in reaching evacuation jets, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin admitted, "We don't have the capability to go out and collect up large numbers of people."

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“I, myself am stuck here. I’m a US citizen, can’t even get out, have my kids here,” Schenectady resident Nematy said over a video she took of what appears to be Kabul airport. The footage, obtained by ABC 7, showed crowds of people trying to get out of the country as the Taliban seized control. “There’s no help here, there’s not one single American troop here. Now, this whole thing is just full of people,” Nematy added.

The embattled mother noted that her journey to the airport had some scary moments as the Taliban ran amok the country. In another video sent by Nematy, her taxi was heard coming to a screeching halt as someone banged on the car. At that point, she told her child to "get down, get down."

“As I’m talking to you, my body is just shivering and it’s like I’m in a panic,” Nematy said in the video.

Zoohra, 60, holds the photo of her daughter who she said was killed by the Taliban one month ago at a makeshift IDP camp in Share-e-Naw park to various mosques and schools on August 12, 2021, in Kabul, Afghanistan. (Photo by Paula Bronstein/Getty Images)

Nematy, a graduate of Schenectady High, reportedly went to Kandahar with her mother and child last month to visit her brother who recently got engaged. During their stay, she and her daughter fell ill and went to Pakistan to get medicine but got stuck in the process. “As soon as the border opened I drove, took a taxi, came to Kandahar. And when I came to Kandahar there was nothing but Talibans,” said Nematy.

According to ABC 7, Nematy is a home health aide and makes face masks. In March 2020, during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, she set up a booth for the same at the Niskayuna Farmers Market.

“The airport is completely down. People are just sitting here, these are the Kabul troops I believe,” Nematy continued. She was still stuck going back and forth to Kabul airport as of Monday, August 16.

People arriving from Afghanistan are transported on a bus arriving at the Hyatt Hotel on August 20, 2021, in Perth, Australia. (Photo by Matt Jelonek/Getty Images)

Speaking to Fox News, another American citizen identified only as Haroon said he was met at the US embassy by the Taliban as he tried to make his way out of the country. "I'm trying to get my family out of here," he said. "We need immediate help. Mr Biden, please help all these Afghans who did support you, who helped you. These people deserve this, and I needed to do this for them."

One Colorado father told Fox 31 on condition of anonymity that his wife and children were still stuck in Kabul. "My wife and my daughters for now are hiding in a house in Kabul. I think it’s chaos. There are a lot of lives in danger." A woman was reportedly executed in the street for not wearing a burqa, according to Fox News.

A woman yells for her family to hurry up as displaced Afghans from the northern provinces are evacuated from a makeshift IDP camp in Share-e-Naw park to various mosques and schools on August 12, 2021, in Kabul, Afghanistan. (Photo by Paula Bronstein/Getty Images)

Former President Donald Trump accused his successor of leaving people behind like "lamb[s] being led to slaughter."

“You had to get the people out of there. Can you imagine having your military go home and leaving all those people? That’s called the lamb being led to slaughter,” Trump said Wednesday on Fox Business.

“But here’s the problem: Withdrawing is the right thing to do, but the way they withdrew will go down in infamy. There has never been a worse withdraw. There has never been a more stupid group of people doing a withdraw. This is unbelievable when a military leaves first and then they say, ‘Oh, we have to go back and get ours,'” Trump told host Maria Bartiromo.

"You take the people out first — and always the Americans first, as far as I’m concerned. I don’t know, maybe I’m old-fashioned, but always the Americans first," Trump added. "And then we’ll take some people that helped us."