'You cannot imagine how happy I am. Yesterday I was crying for hours,' the National Institute of Music's director Ahmad Sarmast, said from his Melbourne home.
In what has been declared the largest airlift of Afghan refugees since the U.S. exit on September 1, more than 100 students, alumni and faculty members of the Afghanistan National Institute of Music were evacuated from Kabul and are en route to Portugal.
Around 100 passengers including Americans arrived in Doha after flying from Kabul airport on September 9, the first flight ferrying out foreigners since the U.S.-led airlift concluded on August 30. Above, evacuees from Afghanistan arrive at Hamad International Airport in Doha, Qatar, on the first flight carrying foreigners out of the Afghan capital since the conclusion of the U.S. withdrawal on September 9.
The Afghanistan National Institute of Music, founded by Sarmast in 2010, was once famous for its inclusiveness and emerged as the face of a new Afghanistan, performing to packed audiences in the U.S. and Europe. Around 50 students were on the flight out Sunday, including most members of the all-female Zohra orchestra, in addition to former students, faculty and relatives. The group of 101 is about one-third of the ANIM community.