Albania was one of the first nations in Europe to throw open its doors to Afghan refugees, desperately seeking shelter, protection and safety at the end of August 2021, when the Taliban took over.

As the first evacuees on board of a flight out of Kabul started getting off the aircraft after having fled the war-torn Afghanistan, in the dead of the night I could catch the sight of not only scared and sad faces, but also eyes filled with joy and hope, as the land of the Albanians, totally unknown to them until then, was about to become their safe haven.

The sense of safety and protection for the Afghan nationals, including women activists, civil society members, university lecturers and professors, state institutions employees, journalists and their families, was further reinvigorated after being welcomed by Albania’s top government officials in person at Tirana’s Mother Teresa International Airport.

No refugee camps were set up for the Afghan evacuees. Instead, they were all accommodated in beach tourist resorts under a carefully coordinated government plan.

With their traditional attire, they are easily recognizable among other foreign tourists recently visiting Albania’s coastal cities of Durres and Lezha.

“We fled the Taliban as our lives were under threat back in Afghanistan. The Taliban had already warned that they would kill us,” said Nuzeim Mustafa, one of the Afghan citizens, as he recounts the horrors of the war. With his voice trembling, he speaks of their fears for their relatives in Afghanistan, while expressing gratitude for the hospitality in beautiful and peaceful Albania.

Another young Afghani, who arrived in Albania together with his family, cannot hold back tears as he says that the situation in Afghanistan is very dangerous as the Taliban took over the country.

“We escaped Taliban persecution. The situation is incredibly dangerous for every family and everyone living in Afghanistan now, as they risk being killed,” he says.

He expresses gratitude to the Albanian people for the support and for providing shelter for Afghan refugees.

“We have been provided housing in a five-star hotel and everything is quite impressive,” says Ozra Aziz, who has arrived in Albania together with her husband and their two kids.

It is the same story about Hamasa Zeerak and Nikbakht Iqbalzada, two young Afghan girls and students at the American University of Afghanistan, who fled their country as their lives were under threat from the Taliban regime.

Now sheltered in the coastal town of Shengjin, they depict what starting a new life by making hard decisions and dreaming big entails.

“It was the toughest decision I had to make in my life, because I had never thought a day would come when I would leave my country. However, I had one choice only as the situation in Afghanistan became very fragile and I had to leave my homeland for me to be safe and go on living,” Hamasa Zeerak said.

Nikbakht Iqbalzada, another Afghan student now provided shelter in Albania, acknowledges that leaving her country was the most difficult decision she had to make in 20 years of her life.

“We did our best to receive a decent education and serve our homeland and our generation, but everything was destroyed overnight. So I am very grateful to the Albanian government, which welcomed us with all the due respect and love,” she noted.

Albi, the Albanian-Afghan

Amid their power of dreams broken and the hope to rebuild their future, the Afghan citizens housed in Albania seem to have found freedom they’ve lost.

Two Afghan parents were so overjoyed at the arrival of their newborn at the end of September. They decided to name him Albi in a sign of gratitude and appreciation to Albania and Albanians for offering them and thousands of their country fellows, not only decent housing, but also education, medical services and aid.

“Thank you, Albania! We will not forget!” is the mural text painted on a building in Tirana downtown, the Albanian capital. The mural near central Skanderbeg Square showed a map of Albania composed of many sections, in a reference to Afghanistan’s multiethnic character, and an Afghan man working.

“It’s a tribute, a way to thank people of Albania for their generosity, for them to open up their hearts and their homes,” explained ArtLords Co-Founder Omaid Sharifi who established the organization in 2014 to promote critical thinking and healing through art. “This is also a way for us to raise an outcry on the Afghan, who have been taken hostage in their own homes in Afghanistan,” Omaid Sharifi stated.

A unique photo exhibition entitled “Albania from my eyes” opened in Shengjin, Lezha, featuring the works from some 20 individuals as a testimony to the fact that despite the sacrifices and pain in a new year away from their homes and relatives, the strength and courage to move forward, the love for beauty and life prevails.

The Albanian government opened its doors to more than 2400 Afghan refugees after the Taliban seized control of the country in summer 2021.The government also decided to grant temporary protection to Afghan citizens and stateless persons with temporary or permanent residence in the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.

At a ceremony, where he was awarded the leading Joan Ganz Cooney Global Leadership Award by the non-profit educational organization Sesame Workshop for welcoming, providing shelter, education, health and care services and support for thousands of Afghan refugees, Prime Minister Edi Rama quoted Mother Teresa of Calcutta, and Saint Teresa of Albania: “It’s better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.” “We lit our candle and we will continue to do so. As long as we have a home, our home is also the home of whomever is in need and we are there, we will always be there, not by words, but by deeds,” PM Rama said in his remarks at the ceremony.

History seems to repeat itself. Albania was the only country in Europe that counted more Jewish population after World War II than before the war began. Albania is also the only country in the whole world not to record a single case when Jews were turned over to the Nazis. A century later, Albania was one of the first NATO nations to open its doors to the Afghans who fled war in their homeland. A total of 2400 Afghan nationals have been granted temporary shelter in Albania.

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In a televised interview about the Albanian government’s decision to host those Afghans who have helped NATO missions, he said, “Albania is not a big country but an extraordinary one. Albania has gone through the war and sympathizes with those caught up in what’s happening in Afghanistan. Fortunately, today Albania feels great and powerful thanks to its work. Afghans are grateful to you for your services rendered as part of NATO and they will be grateful for coming as friends.”

Asked about the fate of translators who have also assisted Albanian missions in Afghanistan, Mohammad Shafiq Hamdam, stressed that “although the Taliban say they will do no harm to translators, in the past we have witnessed that translators have been arrested, prosecuted, killed in public, they have been even beheaded in front of the cameras for Taliban’s videos on Youtube.”

“Those who have helped Albanian troops in Afghanistan are unequivocally in danger. They deserve to live and should not be left there. “Albania set a moral example for other countries, taking responsibility and helping allies in need,” he said.
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