A man whose wife and 16-year-old son managed to escape conflict-hit Kabul last night has said that he is relieved to have them back in Limerick.
Salim Saay outlined the danger that his family were in.
Speaking on RTÉ's Drivetime, Salim Saay said: "The situation in Afghanistan is too dangerous now.
"My wife and my son were in Afghanistan since 4 August, so I was too worried about them. So, yesterday night when I met them in the airport, it was a very happy time for me because it was unbelievable how they arrived back to Ireland. It was a very, very happy time for me."
He said that his family was particularly in danger because of his work as a teacher.
"Yes, unfortunately, there has been some nights when I was not able to sleep, because you know in Afghanistan, they faced the situation in general it's too dangerous in Kabul, at least for now.
"Because of my job and my background my children were not safe. My family was not safe, and still they are not safe of course"
"And my situation was a little different than the general situation because, first of all, I work with governments and international organisations currently here.
"The Taliban have access to data, everyone does use social media. And also, they have access to some of the organisation like minister of interior that manage the national ID."
He worked as an associate professor in Kabul University and helped establish a new technical university in Ghanzi province. He also worked for the Ministry of Higher Education.
When asked if he felt that his work meant that his family were especially at risk, he said: "That's right. Because of my job and my background my children were not safe. My family was not safe, and still they are not safe of course."
His family were in a house in Kabul when news broke that the Taliban had taken control of Kabul.
"You know that the situation changes very fast, and we were not expecting that much fast change of the government. So they were at home, just they were meeting the family members and the relatives, and suddenly they hear that okay now the government has changed it and the Taliban is in Kabul."
He said that it had been two and a half years since the family had seen each other and his wife had originally hoped to travel earlier in the summer, but chose to wait until she had received the Covid-19 vaccine.
He outlined the advice he gave his family to keep safe before they could get out of Afghanistan.
"One of my (pieces of) advice to them was that you have to change your location, day by day. They were changing their location until the night that they decided to go to the airport."
16-year-old Fazl Ahmad Saay said: "I was scared because if they came to our house and they found that my father is a teacher and worked with US Army and NATO, they could get us and call my dad and say 'come and get your son.'"
Fazl described the journey he and his mother took to the airport.
He said that a US soldier checked their passport and visa before letting them enter the airport and at that point they had to try and find the Irish officials.
"We went to the British Army, I think they contacted our Irish army," he said.
