LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Khadija Shojae, an Afghanistan native who now lives in Kentucky, said she’s terrified for her family back in her home country.
"Even today as I'm talking, I don't know if the Taliban will use this as an excuse to punish if they find my family,” Shojae said.
As a child, Shojae lived in a different Afghanistan— one under Taliban rule.
“Women are just a toy or a slave [to them],” Shojae said. “They are just there to serve men. They will never have choices, even how to dress. Very basic things.”
But once the Taliban fell, Shojae said things changed.
Shojae said as a child, she’d sneak and watch Indian action films.
“I would love how women police officers in those movies saved people,” Shojae said. “I wanted to be one of them. So, after the fall of the Taliban, I heard on the radio that police academies were recruiting women. I was like, ‘Yeah, my dream is coming true. It's happening.’ I was so excited.”
But Shojae’s career choice put her family in danger.
Shojae moved to America in 2011 to attend school.
After arriving, her family started getting threats for letting Shojae join law enforcement and said they should punish her.
She decided to stay in America following the threats and was granted political asylum in 2016.
"I do not want to commit suicide,” Shojae said. “If I go back, I would be killed."
As of Tuesday night, Shojae is waiting to hear from her family, wondering if they’re safe and what the future holds for them and the families of other refugees who won’t qualify for America’s Special Immigrant Visas (SIVs) for Afghans.
"What's going to happen to them?” Shojae said. “The United States is going to evacuate most of the interpreters or other allies who worked with U.S. government, so what happens to those interpreter’s family that never can reach US Embassy or anyone to write an email? What’s happening to them?”
Since 2016, Kentucky Refugee Ministries said they’ve resettled 140 Afghan refugees to Louisville and Lexington.
Right now, they're waiting to help three more Afghan families assigned to Louisville and expect many more will be following.
RELATED: How you can help Afghan refugees
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