An Afghan infant boy who was separated from his parents amid the chaos of the Taliban takeover and mass evacuations reunited with his family five months later.
As masses rushed through the Kabul airport gates on August 19, the baby, Sohail Ahmadi, was two months old when his father turned him over to a US soldier.
Fearing that his infant might be crushed by the crowds, Mirza Ali Ahmadi felt that handing the child to a soldier would be the safest way to get him past the airport gates and be reunited with his family minutes later. But, at that same time, Taliban soldiers stopped the remainder of the throng, preventing Ahmadi and his family from passing for another half-hour.
Missing Afghan baby reunited with family
Officials told the Ahmadis that the infant had most likely been removed from the country separately and that they would be able to reconnect with him later after an unsuccessful search. Ahmadi and his wife were subsequently flown from Kabul to the United States, with no indication of when they would see their son again, as per Newsweek.
The baby's grandpa added that when Ahmadi recognized him, he went to Safi's house to get the child in exchange for presents. Safi declined, requesting that he and his family be evacuated from Afghanistan. The Ahmadi family was ultimately reunited with the infant on Saturday after seven weeks of discussions and enlisting the help of Taliban police. The family paid Safi 100,000 Afghani ($950) for caring for the baby.
The parents were able to view their baby through video chat after entrusting him to his grandfather's care. The Ahmadi family, who moved to Michigan in December, is hoping to reconnect with their infant in the United States shortly. Mirza Ali, 35, Suraya, 32, and their other children, ages 17, 9, 6, and 3, were flown to Qatar, then Germany, before landing in the United States aboard an evacuation plane.
The family is currently residing in Fort Bliss, Texas, among other Afghan refugees awaiting reintegration. In this town, they have no ties. Other families were entrusting their infants to the army at the Kabul airport as well. Video footage of a young newborn in a diaper being carried over razor wire by her arm went popular on social media. Her parents were reunited with her after that.
Baby lost in chaos of Afghanistan airlift
Since his baby went missing, he notified everyone he encountered, including charity workers and US officials, about Sohail. An Afghan refugee support group developed a "Missing Baby" poster with Sohail's face on it and disseminated it around their networks in the hopes that someone would identify him, according to Reuters.
When word of the missing child spread in November, several of Mr Safi's neighbors recognized the baby's photos and made comments on a version of the story wondering about his whereabouts. Ahmadi asked his Afghan relatives to find Safi and requested them to return the newborn Sohail to the family. In an attempt to save the infant, Ahmadi's father-in-law, Mohammad Qasem Razawi, flew to the capital for two days and two nights with gifts for Safi and his family.
The baby's family went on to ask for help from the Red Cross but revealed they received little information from the organization.To report an abduction, Razawi eventually phoned the local Taliban police. Safi told the authorities that he was caring for the child and that he did not kidnap him, Independent reported.
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