KABUL- Her brother beaten in front of her. Her cousin beaten, too. Frightening encounters with the Taliban at checkpoints. Her small children lost and nearly trampled in the crowd of tens of thousands.

That’s how a Nebraska mother stranded in Kabul, Afghanistan, described to family back home her efforts to reach the airport and a flight out of the country.

Her brother in Nebraska, who has talked by phone with his sister and other family members, relayed their account to The World-Herald.

The woman, her children, ages 2, 4 and 11, and her mother, all American citizens, had gone to Afghanistan to visit family. They had tickets for a flight back in early August but were bumped by a fleeing Afghan official and his family. Since then, they’ve been trying to get home.

After a half-dozen attempts since Friday, she made it out of the country, and she and her children were safe in Qatar Wednesday. The woman’s disabled mother, also an American citizen, turned back at the airport this week, fearing she could not survive the crowd there, her brother said.

He asked not to be named out of concern for the safety of family members remaining in Afghanistan.

The key to his sister’s escape, he said, was Afghan men who were neighbors and willing to put themselves in harm’s way to help her, and her own willingness to overcome her fear of the Taliban. A widow, she could have been forced to marry a Taliban soldier had she been discovered, her brother said, and that terrified her.

The brother said he told his sister she couldn’t count on the U.S. government to arrange for safe passage to the airport. He said he has been trying to get his brother out of Afghanistan for nearly 11 years.

His family, including those still in Afghanistan, are at risk because he worked as a translator for the U.S. military.

"I told her the only thing I know is if you can get yourself to the Marines and show your (U.S.) passport, you can get out."

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