Just weeks before its collapse, the Western-backed Afghan government sent dozens of army officers for training to India, a close ally. Among them was Captain Obaidullah Zahir, a rising star in the Afghan National Army, which was battling the Taliban insurgency.
After the militant group seized power in August 2021, the Afghan officers were stuck in India, unable to return to their homeland out of fear for their lives and left to fend for themselves by the Indian authorities.
That neglect led to Zahir’s death, according to his former comrades. The military officer died of cancer in New Delhi earlier this month.
"He died because of the long delay in getting treatment," Behzad, another ex-Afghan army officer who did not reveal his real name due to security concerns, told RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi.
Behzad said he and other Afghan military officers initially funded Zahir’s treatment. Despite repeated requests to Indian officials, no help arrived. By the time the authorities sent Zahir to an Indian military hospital, it was too late. He died just a week later, Behzad said.
"We all contributed to arranging his funeral and sending him back to be buried in our homeland," said Behzad, who also resides in New Delhi.
Afghan National Army troops disembark from an Afghan Air Force Black Hawk helicopter during a troop resupply at Camp Shorabak in Helmand Province in July 2018.
Zahir’s death has put a spotlight on the plight of the scores of former Afghan military personnel who remain stranded in India, some 16 months after the internationally recognized Afghan government collapsed and the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan.
The former combatants fear returning to Afghanistan, where human rights groups have documented the killings, torture, and disappearances of hundreds of former members of Afghanistan’s security forces by the Taliban.
"I fear returning to my country will cost me my life," said Behzad, who along with Zahir was among the 120 military officers sent to India in July 2021.
Several dozen Afghan officers have returned to Kabul after completing their one-year training courses in India. The Taliban had guaranteed them safety and jobs. But it is unclear if they are now working for the Taliban.
Radio Azadi reached out to some of them for comment, but they refused to answer questions about their safety or employment.
Legal Limbo
New Delhi is not a signatory to the 1951 UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees or the related 1967 protocol intended to eliminate restrictions on who can be considered a refugee. But, in the past, India has granted asylum to refugees from Afghanistan, mostly members of that country’s tiny Sikh and Hindu minorities.
As a longtime friend of the Afghan people, India should provide us with material support until the situation in Afghanistan changes."-- Behzad, former Afghan army officer
Many former Afghan military personnel are on temporary visas and ineligible to work or receive government help. Some have been offered one-year military courses.
Behzad said India should follow the example of Western countries that have granted asylum or agreed to resettle former Afghan military personnel to third countries.
"As a longtime friend of the Afghan people, India should provide us with material support until the situation in Afghanistan changes," he said, referring to Kabul’s close historic relations with New Delhi.
India has not commented on the fate of ex-Afghan military personnel residing in the South Asian nation. But the Afghan Embassy in New Delhi, which still represents the previous government, said it is in contact with the authorities.
"Together with the Indian authorities, we want to find a lasting solution to their problems," the Afghan Embassy said in a statement sent to Radio Azadi.
That is little comfort for many of the Afghan officers.
"We don't have a clear future," said Javed, a former Afghan army officer who did not want to reveal his real name for security reasons. "My only wish was to return to my country and to serve it, but that is not possible now."
Javed said many of the officers have family members and relatives in Afghanistan, a reality that fills them with dread. The Taliban has targeted the family members of former security personnel in Afghanistan.
"Our situation is terrible," he told Radio Azadi, adding that they are also "worried about what our families are going through back in Afghanistan."