COLUMBUS, Ohio — The U.S. evacuations in Kabul, Afghanistan faced new roadblocks as the Taliban’s top political leader arrived in the capital.
Even though she’s thousands of miles away, Hajira Dada is haunted by what’s happening overseas.
“It's just so hard seeing your people in such a desperate situation that they're willing to risk their lives just for a way out,” she said.
Dada is a student at Ohio State University. She’s haunted by the videos she sees, the cries of desperation and because her family is still overseas.
“People are just confined in their homes. There's a lot of looting, there's a lot of fear. If you look at the airport, all these people are trying to leave, literally just hundreds of thousands of people at the gates trying to get over," she said.
Dada and others met at Ohio State to hold a rally. They’re demanding the safe evacuation of refugees out of Afghanistan.
10TV also spoke with Shafiq Luden. He knows the terror millions of people are facing.
Luden himself is a refugee, coming to America in 1992.
Luden has family trying to escape as well. "It would mean the world to me. Not knowing what's going to happen tomorrow with your family, with your first cousins, brothers and sisters over there it's hard to go to sleep every night," he said.
Dada said she’ll continue to stand until all of her people are safe.
"My family was actually at the airport trying to come over. Unfortunately, they were not successful. The situation is very, very dire and we need to do our best to, you know, to go out there and help."
Germany, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates all say they're helping with the backlog of evacuees in Doha and Afghanistan.