The BBC speaks to Afghans fleeing the Taliban into Pakistan at the Chaman Spin Boldak border.
With the Taliban taking control of Afghanistan, thousands have fled their homes in fear. While much of the attention has focused on the crowds thronging Kabul airport, thousands of others have fled to neighbouring Pakistan over the Chaman border. Shumaila Jaffery speaks to some of them.
From dawn till dusk they pour in - hundreds of men with luggage on their shoulders, burqa-clad women walking briskly behind their men, children clinging to their mothers, exhausted in the scorching heat, and even patients pushed on wheelbarrows.Zirqoon Bibi*, a 57-year-old woman belonging to the minority Hazara community, has only just arrived in Pakistan when I meet her.a recent brutal attack on some men of the community"My heart is burning " she repeatedly sobs when I ask how she is.
"I don't care about my house or our belongings, I am only worried for my son and his daughter," Zirqoon Bibi says while gently massaging the child's shoulders. Among them is Muhammad Ahmer* who was studying and working as an English language instructor in Kabul."It was so unbelievable. To be honest, we didn't know they would take all of Kabul in just one night. But I was only scared about my school and my education," he said.
Meanwhile, the Taliban has been trying to portray a more restrained image since its takeover. This is reflected in the stance of one foot soldier who stops to talk to us at the border.
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