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Ajmal Rahmani thought he had discovered a haven of calm in Ukraine after fleeing Afghanistan a year ago.
He and his family were forced to leave once more this week, this time to Poland, amid Russian bombing.
“I flee one conflict, relocate to a new country, and then another one breaks. “It’s unfortunate,” says the speaker “Rahmani spoke to AFP shortly after crossing into Poland.
As Rahmani spoke, his seven-year-old daughter Marwa held a beige-colored soft toy dog in her arms.
Because of the backlog on the Ukrainian side of the border, Marwa, his wife Mina, and their son Omar, 11, travelled the final 30 kilometres (19 miles) to the border crossing on foot.
The family waited with other refugees for a bus to transport them to Przemysl, a nearby city, after arriving at the Medyka on the Polish side.
Hundreds of thousands of people have fled to neighbouring countries, namely Poland, Hungary, and Romania, during the four days of conflict.
While the majority of the refugees are Ukrainian, there are also students and migrant workers from Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, India, and Nepal among them.
‘I lost everything,’ says the narrator.
Rahmani, who is in his 40s, said he spent 18 years working for NATO in Afghanistan at Kabul airport.
He left the nation four months before the US pullout because he had received threats and was so terrified that he kept his children out of school.
“I had a fantastic life in Afghanistan, I had a private house, a private car, and a high salary,” Rahmani claimed previously.
“I sold my car, my house, and everything else I owned. I had everything taken away from me, “he stated
“Nothing is better than my love, than my family life,” he continued.
Rahmani said he was unable to obtain a visa to leave Afghanistan and chose to travel to Ukraine because it was the only country willing to accept him.
They established themselves in Odessa, a Black Sea port city.
When Russia invaded Ukraine four days ago, they had to leave everything behind and walk 1,110 kilometres to the border.
Since Thursday, almost 213,000 individuals have crossed into Poland from Ukraine, according to Polish authorities.
According to Tomasz Pietrzak, a lawyer with the Ocalenie (Salvation) Foundation, Rahmani and his family, as well as those without a Polish visa, now have 15 days to register.
Given the numbers, the timetable seems improbable.
“Poland will have to alter its legislation on this matter very shortly,” he said.
Rahmani expressed his anxiety for the future, but was buoyed by the warm reception he received from volunteers and officials supporting the influx of migrants on the Polish side of the border.
He stated, “They gave us energy.”
