Nasria: Pregnant American woman kicked in stomach by Taliban, forced to hide
In another shocking instance of violence against women by the Taliban, a pregnant American woman was kicked in the stomach after the militants stopped her at a checkpoint in Kabul. The woman, who was referred to as 'Nasria' by California GOP Rep. Darrell Issa, was reportedly trying to flee the country with her husband when the brutal assault took place. She and her husband were forced to go into hiding to save their lives as the final US evacuation flight left Afghan soil.
During an interview on Fox & Friends on Tuesday, August 31, Darrell Issa shared Nasria's ordeal. "She was kicked in the stomach, but she was kicked in the stomach well after - as she got through the first checkpoint for hours, waiting for those people at the south point to supposedly come and get her," he revealed. Issa continued, "It wasn't until it was clear they had closed, they weren't taking anyone else for quite a while that finally, she accepted that she was going to have to go back and hide in her apartment."
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Nasria and her husband, who are American citizens and residents of California, are now left stranded in Kabul along with hundreds of other Americans, who failed to make it to the final evacuation flight a day before. In fact, the final five evacuation flights did not have any US civilians and comprised only the remaining troops and embassy staff. The last C-17 flight lifted off from the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul at 3:29 pm ET on August 30, with Major General Christopher Donahue becoming the last American soldier to leave Afghanistan.
Despite her health situation, Nasria made desperate attempts to flee the country along with her husband and father. She made multiple trips to the airport but was turned away by Taliban militants or failed to secure a place in a flight. Darrell Issa's team co-ordinated with her to figure out a 'possible alternative' but the idea of involving a third-party group to evacuate her family was ruled out as "too dangerous".
"We've agreed that she's going to stay sheltered in place, hiding her identity and hoping that her friends will continue to bring her food and keep her secret until frankly we can come up with something new," Issa confirmed, adding that an octogenarian American couple also failed to make it to a flight despite waiting at the airport gate for hours.
"Anyone that says that they didn't break a promise to the American people and leave people behind is wrong. Anyone who says that there aren't people stranded is wrong. These people were stranded, they did everything they were supposed to do and they simply were not a priority at the end," Issa said while criticizing Joe Biden's decision for a hurried troop withdrawal and unplanned evacuation efforts.