A refugee who fled the Taliban in Afghanistan on a plane with just a backpack has graduated a UK university with a master’s degree.

Naimat Zafary, 37, graduated from Sussex University with a merit in Governance, Development and Public Policy this week.

He was forced to flee his home in Kabul, Afghanistan, when the Taliban took over in August 2021.

Naimat was evacuated by British troops with his wife, Saima, 30, and four children in August 2021.

The family took just a backpack each - containing food, water and a change of clothes.

After spending four months in a hotel in London, the Home Office arranged a permanent move to Hove, East Sussex, in December 2021.

Naimat says his family received a "warm welcome" in the UK and described Sussex as "like home" after a year by the seaside."

He thanked the staff at Sussex University and at the UK Home Office for helping him and his family to settle into life in Britain.

Although his family are used to the cold weather - as Afghanistan can reach temperatures of minus 20 degrees in winter - he says the English rain has been "a bit of a shock"."

But, Naimat says his children are adapting well and have even developed a fondness for fish and chips - and his wife is taking English lessons twice a week.

Naimat applied for the government-funded Chevening Scholarship for five years before he was finally accepted by the British embassy in 2021.

The global scholarship is granted to individuals who "show potential to inspire, inform and influence positive change". "

During his graduation ceremony, Naimat unfurled a black, red and green Afghanistan flag as a gesture of solidarity with fellow Afghan's living under Taliban rule.

Naimat is now looking to start a PhD at Sussex University in International Development - focusing on aid and poverty in his home country over the past 20 years.

Naimat said: "My family and all Afghans have been through a difficult situation. "

"We have lost our country and everything we had. It was heartbreaking to leave everything behind. "

"I’m so grateful to Sussex University and the people in the UK. "

"With their support, I have been able to complete my studies, and my family has adopted a new community and come to terms with the trauma we have faced."

Naimat and his family fled Afghanistan in a military plane in August 2021 after the Taliban takeover.

"It was a very heartbreaking moment," he said. "

"We were unsure if we would make it or not. We left behind many people who were waiting to leave." "

Naimat left with his wife, his mother and father, Mohammad, 71, and Najiba, 62, his brother and sister, and his four children - Hina, 10, Hurmat, eight, Mahnoor, five, and Ahmadtaimur, three.

"We took just two pairs of clothes each and a backpack with food and water," he said."

"It was heartbreaking leaving behind the country our fathers had fought for and not knowing what will happen to it."

Despite making it safely to the UK, their journey was not without tragedy.

"The day before we departed, we stayed at a camp next to the Abbey Gate entrance to Kabul airport," Naimat said. "

"Two days later, there was a huge explosion outside the camp and many people died. "

"I thought to myself, had I made the mistake of delaying for a few days, my family might have been caught in the blast."

Naimat also had to leave family behind who were unable to escape in time.

"My sister was in her final year of studies to become a medical doctor - the very first in our family," he said."

"She is married with three children. "

"But now, at the very end of her degree, the Taliban prevented her from taking her final exams and have brought a stop to women’s education, meaning she cannot practise."

Naimat has an undergraduate degree in law and political science from Kardan University, Kabul, and first applied for the Chevening Scholarship to study in the UK in 2016.

Since 1983, the scholarship has enabled over 50,000 people from around the world to study in the UK.

His application was finally accepted in 2021.

When Naimat and his family arrived in the UK in August, they quarantined in a hotel before they were allocated accommodation in London.

Naimat would commute from London to Sussex three days a week for his studies.

But in December 2021, Sussex University helped the family to relocate to a house in Hove, where they have lived ever since.

Naimat said that he has received a "warm welcome" in the UK. "

He said: "I was greeted by the Vice Chancellor who, along with all of the staff at Sussex University, was very supportive."

"Having dreamt of studying at Sussex for six or seven years and watched virtual tours of the campus on YouTube, it was a great joy to be there in person."

"When I arrived, I sat on a bench outside the library and I waited for a few minutes to compose myself - it was a moment of great pride."

Naimat says he and his family are adapting well to life in Britain.

"It was challenging at the beginning but thankfully the home office and the council have provided a huge amount of support," he said."

"My three daughters have started primary school and my son is starting nursery this year. "

"We all have got used to Sussex, it is our new home. "

"My wife has started learning English at the library twice a week, and there is an organisation that supports my children with learning English in school."

"We are so grateful for the love and support we have received."

Despite the warm welcome, he admits the weather in Britain came as a bit of a surprise.

"We are used to the cold as Kabul reaches minus 20 degrees in winter. But the rain was a bit of a shock," he said."

And although the family tends to eat Afghan food at home, Naimat's children have developed a taste for a certain British delicacy.

"My kids really like fish and chips when we go out. We allow them to have it once or twice a month as a special treat," he said."

Naimat graduated from his master’s degree with a merit last week alongside his fellow students. His parents and family were cheering him on from the crowd.

"The graduation is a moment I cannot put into words," he said. "

"I had been planning it for years and finally I took to the stage and brought the flag with me."

"I wanted to show the people and the girls of Afghanistan that I am committed to education for all."

Naimat hopes one day to return to Afghanistan but will not do so in the short term as is worried about what it will mean for his daughters.

"I would love one day to return to serve my people, my family and the wider community," he said."

"But I am a father, and if I go back my daughters cannot be educated, which goes against my beliefs. I believe in education for all."

As well as women’s education, Naimat is committed to supporting refugee education in the UK.

"I have seen first-hand that higher education opportunities for Afghan refugees in the UK are quite limited," he said. "

"Last month, I spoke at a forum in Edinburgh discussing the issue." "

Naimat now hopes to embark on a PHD at Sussex University, focusing on his home country.

"My PHD thesis is about aid and poverty in Afghanistan," he said. "

"I have witnessed the collapse of Afghanistan with my own eyes."

"In the last 20 years, billions of dollars of support went into the country, but so many people still live in poverty. "

"I want to look at what went wrong. The point isn’t to criticise. It’s about learning from the mistakes of the last 20 years so we can improve things in the future. "

Naimat added: "The love I have received gives me courage and belief that I am on the right path. I now hope to open this pathway to others."