(L-R) Dewa Khan, Sanjar Qiam, Maiwand Mohmand and Horia Mosadiq with her husband Zamarey Faqiri standing with their kites and flag on Blackburn beach.

Afghanistan

Kite festival brings together Afghan families who managed to escape Taliban regime

Evacuees from Afghanistan who fled to the UK to escape persecution in their home country have come together at a kite festival to enjoy an artform that is now forbidden under Taliban rule.

Afghan families, including one interpreter with over a decade of service to the British Armed Forces, gathered at St Anne's International Kite Festival in Lancashire in a celebration of the art of making and flying kites - a craft that was once popular in Afghan culture until the practice was banned when the Taliban retook control of the country in 2021.

Creating kites from coloured tissue paper and bamboo sticks has long been a traditional activity in Afghan culture, but was denounced by the Taliban as un-Islamic, with the practice featured in the celebrated 2003 novel The Kite Runner by author Khaled Hosseini, which is set against a backdrop of the Soviet war and the Taliban's rise to power.

But some of those families who came to the UK under the Afghan Relocation and Assistance Programme (ARAP), which allowed Afghans who had worked with the British military such as interpreters to relocate to the UK, can enjoy their traditional culture once again.

Maiwand Mohmand, who worked with British Armed Forces and Nato allies in Afghanistan as an interpreter, and who attended the festival near Blackpool, said: "I want to thank all the people of England for my time here.

"They were welcoming when I came, and I would like to thank the Government of England for giving me this chance and saving lives.

"As an interpreter, I worked from 2009 up to 2021. I worked with Germans, American Special Forces and British Special Forces. I grew up with them as my family.

"I had so many experiences with the British forces. They respected everyone, they respected our culture and our religion. Everything. Awesome people.

"I think most British people understand the situation in Afghanistan already. The people thank me, I have good neighbours and there are nice people here. All around the UK, I see good people."

The Afghan families joined the hundreds of other people taking part in the festival, which attracted thousands of visitors who came to watch the skies fill with a colourful array of kites.

Many visitors were encouraged to bring their own kite and join in the fun.

Other attractions at the event included performers, entertainers and a funfair.

Families from Afghanistan enjoyed a day of flying kites; an activity banned by the Taliban, at St Anne's International Kite Flying Festival.

Colonel Rosie Stone of the General Staff in the British Army, who had previously served with the Adjutant General's Corps, has worked with evacuees from Afghanistan in Britain and accompanied the families on the day.

She said: "I have watched in disbelief over the last two years how quickly the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan has deteriorated.

"Women's rights denied, girls education gone, music forbidden, those who worked with us hunted down and killed.

"Today, bringing the community together through the shared cultural joy of flying kites has been uplifting. It provides a glimmer of hope for the future."

Maiwand Mohmand worked with British forces and Nato allies in Afghanistan as an interpreter.

Since first coming to power in 1996, and again since taking back control of the country in 2021, two decades after being removed from power by a US-led military coalition, the Taliban have prohibited kite-flying, playing music or sports, and have denied girls receiving an education beyond year six.

Sanjar Qiam, a kite maker from Afghanistan, said: "Their reasoning for why kite flying was banned was because it was a distraction.

"It was a distraction from the duties and a distraction from worship and it was a waste of time.

"That's why they banned it. But really, I felt it was just a control measure."

Families from Afghanistan standing with volunteers preparing to demonstrate kite flying on Blackburn beach.

Dewa Khan, CEO of the Dewa Trust Foundation, which supports women and children in Yemen, Syria, Pakistan, Somalia, Sudan and specifically in Afghanistan, said: "We have been helping people since they came to England, and we help them with translation. We helped the people in hotels with food banks, dresses, and toys after they came here after the collapse of Afghanistan.

"Afghanistan is the only country that has banned education past six years. After then there is no education.

"Women are banned from work and from education. They are banned from the park. Every basic right has been taken away from women.

"Education is very important for every child and every country. We are giving secret education to women and providing salaries for the teachers who teach online. We’ve been providing this since October 2021."