When the Taliban took back power in Afghanistan in 2021, a mother and son in suburban Sydney embarked on an audacious and improbable rescue. Mahboba Rawi and her son, Sourosh Cina, were desperate to evacuate children and staff from the orphanages they founded in Afghanistan. They were certain their association with Australia and their advocacy of women’s rights would make them a target of the Taliban. Australian Story was on the spot to record dramatic scenes in the family’s lounge room, as the pair’s attempts to remotely engineer a high stakes rescue collapsed at the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. Finally, more than a year after the Taliban victory, they’ve managed to successfully transfer almost 100 children and carers to Australia.