It was 4 a.m. when Taliban soldiers pulled up at Wahidullo's apartment block in north Kabul with 50 Datsun pick-ups and rounded up young Tajik men.
Armed with Kalashnikov rifles, the soldiers seized 13 men, aged 18 to 30 years, one of whom they bound and gagged, and press-ganged them to defend the country in case of a US attack, Wahidullo (30) said. "That was when I decided to leave. I was afraid they'd take me too," said the father of two young children.
For ethnic Tajiks headed north on the old Kabul road on Monday, the journey began in a pre-dawn panic on Sunday, as soldiers descended upon their neighbourhoods, stopping to loot televisions, videos and other valuables.
The refugees piled into cars and headed north, until they reached the front-line no-man's-land that their drivers would not cross. Carrying their children, they walked three hours in the scorching sun before reaching territory controlled by the opposition Northern Alliance.
The refugees braved Taliban bomb attacks and faced trigger-happy bandits who stole what little cash they had left after paying the extortionate drivers.
As Afghanistan prepares for war, the exodus from its cities has begun. Members of the Taliban are among those frantically moving their families out of Kabul, said Mr Mohammad Hossam (30), a refugee.
Refugees such as Wahidullo (who goes by one name) fear US bombs will land on Kabul, but the trigger for their escape was the Taliban press-gang. On Monday, the Afghan government said it was mobilising 300,000 troops to help fight off any US attacks. Some observers considered the figure grossly inflated.
"They take the young men and take them to the front line to fight the American people who are coming," said Mr Mohammad Anwar (58). "Those who refuse are sent (to jail)."
Refugees were consistent in their descriptions of the roundups, which they said began three or four days ago. Tajik men were being sent to the most dangerous military posts, they said.
There was no independent confirmation of their stories as Western journalists have been forced to leave Kabul.
With the combined threats of Taliban raids and US bombs, about 100 refugees a day are making it out along the harrowing northern road - most of them frightened ethnic Tajiks.
Afghanistan's ethnic rivalries go back centuries and highlight the difficulties of finding a stable political solution here. In the northeastern opposition-held Badakhshan province, most of the people are ethnic Tajiks, who face persecution from the Taliban. The country of 25 million is 38 per cent Pushtun, 25 per cent Tajik, 19 per cent Hazara, and 6 per cent Uzbeks.