Fakhruddin Akbari is allowing his full name to be published because he is certain he is going to die. Akbari, his wife and his three-year-old daughter fled their home in Kabul, Afghanistan, two weeks ago. They have been hiding with friends in the city, living on bread and water.

He should be among the lucky ones.

Instead, Akbari fears the very thing he was hoping would be his salvation will now make him a target.

Unluckiest winners

Two years ago, Akbari won a rare spot in the United States’ “visa lottery”. He was chosen at random from a pool of 23 million to get the chance to apply for one of 55,000 visas to immigrate to the United States. The US was supposed to have finished his case by last fall. The instructions when he registered promised as much. Either he would be safely en route to the US, or he would lose his chance and move on.

But with the final US evacuation from Afghanistan just days away – and as recent bombings have added even more chaos at Kabul’s airport – Akbari has almost certainly lost his chance to get out.

He has already burned the letters of commendation his relatives received for their work with American contractors or allied militaries. The…

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