By ALAN PERROTT AND NZPA
An arduous three-day trek to safety through snow-coated Afghan mountain passes and minefields has left a Taranaki family relieved but guilty about those they left behind.
Aid workers Neil and Sandra Chesterton and sons David, aged 14 and Peter, 13, left Faizabad, in northern Afghanistan, on Friday for the Pakistani border town of Peshawar.
But it had taken several days of concerned urgings from family and colleagues before they decided to escape through the formidable Hindu Kush mountains that straddle the northern Afghan-Pakistan border.
The couple contacted the New Zealand Herald by e-mail yesterday to describe their adventure and the people they left behind.
After United Nations workers drove them for 11 hours to the base of the Shai Saleem Pass, the family were able to have a brief sleep before tackling the 10-hour horse trek through snow, mines and rough terrain to the border.
Then it was a 19-hour journey by ute and minibus before the Chestertons reached the office of their aid agency, ORA International, in Peshawar.
"We feel we have left behind friends who have no way of escape like we had, very little means of support and after three years of drought are desperate for help ... so to leave was very difficult," the couple wrote.
"We feel we can only live one day at a time, so our future moves are uncertain."
The Chestertons said life was business as usual when they left Faizabad - despite the suicide-assassination of Northern Alliance warlord Ahmed Shah Masoud - the market was operating, the school was open and social life continued.
They said most people in the town believed their greatest threat was the Taleban, as America would not target the Northern Alliance-controlled region.
"Everyone is saddened by what has happened in America because lots have friends in other parts of Afghanistan ... For the majority, life just continues to be a struggle for existence in an already impoverished and wartorn area."
While the Chestertons are safely out of Afghanistan, the situation in Peshawar seems to be becoming more unstable.
New Zealand pilot Glen Orchard is holed up in a house with six other flyers from South African company Rossair after being warned to stay indoors to avoid increasingly angry crowds.
"There were some serious riots here yesterday with people getting shot," said the Picton 31-year-old. "We were told to stay at home."
The pilots have collected supplies in case the riots continue and must be accompanied by a security guard if they venture outside.
Most foreigners have already left the border town, but Mr Orchard's group are still contracted to the Red Cross to ferry people and supplies throughout the region.
Flights out of Afghanistan were grounded on September 16 after Taleban soldiers surrounded and harassed a Red Cross aircraft.
Mr Orchard is due to fly west to the Pakistan capital, Islamabad, and then head to a new Red Cross base in Ashkhabad, Russia.
Siobhan Isles, a Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) nurse, is also in Peshawar after flying in from the Netherlands last week despite widespread travel warnings.
She has been working for the medical charity for about six years and will help to coordinate assistance for fleeing Afghan refugees.
Ms Isles has previously worked in East Timor, Kosovo, Sierra Leone, Sudan and Eritrea, as well as Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Jacqui Tong, another New Zealand aid worker who was based in Faizabad, is now thought to be in Tajikistan, north of Afghanistan.
Her family said the London office of MSF had told them she was safe but would not give her exact location.
However, they do understand that at least one New Zealander decided to remain in Faizabad.
Map: Opposing forces in the war against terror