An Afghan Christian, whose parents were killed by the Taliban when he was eight, has given fresh insight into what Christians can expect following the extremist group’s takeover.

Speaking to Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), Ali Ehsani, a 38-year-old lawyer now based in Italy, explained that the Taliban was merciless when it found out his family were Christian.

He said: “People eventually discovered that we were Christians. One day, I came home from school to find that the Taliban had destroyed our home and killed my parents. Me and my brother were forced to flee Afghanistan. He was 16 years old and I was eight.

Before his parents’ death, Mr Ehsani said his family’s faith was kept secret.

He said: “When I was eight years old, I went to school and my classmates asked me why my father did not go to the mosque to pray. I went home and asked my father and he said, ‘Who said that?’

“My father impressed upon me that I was to tell no one that we were Christians. My father explained that Christians went to church. However, he left it at that because he was afraid that I would go out and talk about our faith and people would find out about us.”

Once in Italy, Mr Ehsani befriended a Christian family in Afghanistan and supported them, although eventually the Taliban discovered them too and they had to leave the country.

Although ACN is unable to support projects in Afghanistan directly, we are helping persecuted Christians in the region.