College student recounts escape from Kabul
By Matt Petrillo
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PHILADELPHIA (KYW) — What was supposed to be a standard trip to Kabul for a Philadelphia woman turned into a harrowing escape as the Taliban took over Afghanistan.
Haisha Hahsy travels to Kabul every few years to visit family, and her flight to Afghanistan last month was no different. The 22-year-old Roxborough resident and Philadelphia pre-med student soon realized her trip was going to be cut short as the Taliban moved in.
She was due to come back to Philadelphia two days after the invasion happened.
“It was very confusing because half the people believed there’s no way in the world the Taliban are gonna come to Kabul,” she told CBS3. “And on the other hand, there was also a ‘what if’ because it already happened in so many places.”
The “what if” came true; Hahsy remembers the blast at the Kabul airport that killed dozens of Afghans and 13 U.S. servicemembers. It dawned on her that she, along with her parents, grandparents, and her teenage sister, may not make it out alive.
It was a miracle they made it onto a military plane, all thanks to a friend putting Hahsy in contact with a U.S. Marine.
“Everything was just a mess. Whoever got lucky got inside. Whoever got stuck, got stuck,” she said.
Despite being home, the fears linger; Hahsy is worried her extended family in Afghanistan will never be able to get out. It’s now just a horrific waiting game.
“Everybody’s kind of waiting to see what are they going to do,” she said of the Taliban.
Four additional flights arrived at the Philadelphia International Airport Tuesday with evacuees. Before that arrival, more than 9,000 arrived through the airport.
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