“It was around 4:30 in the morning when the Taliban came into the village,” she recalled.
Everyone fled with whatever few belongings they could carry. Sanam and two kids found safety in a house owned by some relatives in Kunduz city, about 12 km away from their village Molah Sardar.
Finding a house to rent for her family has been very difficult. She has sent the rest of her children to another relative, who takes care of them. The house Sanam and seven other families are currently occupying has three rooms. Around 50 people including 25 children are living in it.
18,000 displaced
In early July 2017, the Taliban carried out several attacks in Kunduz Province, including in Molah Sardar and Shurabi, outside the provincial capital. Several hundred families had to leave their homes, as armed men advanced through their villages.
The fighting in Kunduz has displaced around 3,500 people since the beginning of July and over 18,000 people since January, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) in Afghanistan.
Over the past three years, people in some parts of the province have been displaced from their villages up to ten times due to the ongoing fighting.
We have been living in this heat, in these dirty clothes. We have nothing else to change into. Until today, we were sleeping out in the open.Assadullah, 38, displaced in Afghanistan.
“We have no food”
At the place where Sanam and the other families have found shelter, they are struggling to cover their basic need. The displaced families depend on neighbors and relatives who often help them with basic items like gas and cooking oil.
“We have been living in this heat, in these dirty clothes. We have nothing else to change into. Until today, we were sleeping out in the open,” said Assadullah, 38, one of the members of the seven families that share the house.
“We have no food; last night I bought three melons because that was the only thing I could afford,” he added with sadness.
The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) has assisted 102 displaced families with cash assistance, with support from the EU, enabling them to cover some of their most basic needs.
