A baby who was misplaced during the Afghanistan airlift has been discovered and restored to his family
A baby who was misplaced during the Afghanistan airlift has been discovered and restored to his family
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Kabul: An infant boy was found and reunited with his relatives in Kabul on Saturday after being delivered in desperation to a soldier across an airport wall during the pandemonium of the American pullout of Afghanistan.

Sohail Ahmadi, the baby, was just two months old when he vanished on Aug. 19 as tens of thousands of civilians fled Afghanistan when it fell to the Taliban.

After more than seven weeks of discussions and pleadings, as well as a brief imprisonment by Taliban police, Safi returned the youngster to his ecstatic grandfather and other Kabul relatives.

They claimed they would now try to reconnect him with his parents and siblings, who had been relocated to the United States months before.

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In early November, Ahmadi told Reuters that in a panic, he tossed Sohail over the airport wall to a uniformed soldier he thought was an American, fully expecting him to make it the remaining 5 metres (15 feet) to the door to reclaim him.

The throng was pushed back by Taliban soldiers at that very time, and Ahmadi, his wife, and their four other children would have to wait another half hour to get inside.

The baby, however, was vanished by that time.

Inside the airport, Ahmadi said he looked urgently for his son and was told by officials that he had most likely been escorted out of the country separately and would be reunited with them later.

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The rest of the family was sent to a military base in Texas. They were unable to locate their son for months.

The case underlines the misery of many parents who were separated from their children as a result of the rapid evacuation and withdrawal of US forces from the country following a 20-year conflict.

Afghan refugees have had difficulty gaining answers on the timing or possibility of complex reunifications like this one because there is no US embassy in Afghanistan and international organisations are overburdened.

On Saturday, inquiries for comment from the US Departments of Defense, State, and Homeland Security were not returned.

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AT THE AIRPORT BY YOURSELF

On the same day that Ahmadi and his family were separated from their infant, Safi snuck through the Kabul airport gates after giving a ride to his brother’s family, who were also planning to flee.

Safi claimed he discovered Sohail crying on the ground alone. After failing to locate the baby’s parents inside, he decided to bring the youngster home to his wife and children. Safi is the father of three daughters and said his mother’s greatest dream before she died was for him to have a boy.

He made the following decision at that point: “This is a baby I’m keeping. I’ll return him to his family if they are discovered. I’ll raise him personally if it doesn’t work out “In a late November interview with Reuters, he said as follows:

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After he was discovered, Safi took him to the doctor for a checkup and instantly adopted him into his family, according to Reuters. They dubbed the newborn Mohammad Abed and shared photos of the entire family on his Facebook page.

Ahmadi requested his Afghan relatives, notably his father-in-law Mohammad Qasem Razawi, 67, who lives in the northeastern region of Badakhshan, to locate Safi and request that he return Sohail to the family.

The baby’s family sought assistance from the Red Cross, which has a declared aim of reuniting people separated by worldwide disasters, but said the organisation provided little information. The Red Cross declined to comment on specific situations, according to a representative.

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Finally, Razawi phoned the local Taliban police to report a kidnapping after believing he had exhausted all other alternatives. According to Reuters, Safi disputed the claims to the authorities and stated that he was caring for the youngster rather than abducting him.

“We discovered Hamid and recognised the infant based on the evidence we had,” said Hamid Malang, the local police station’s chief area controller. “The infant will be handed over to his grandfather,” he stated on Saturday, “with both sides in agreement.”

The baby was finally restored to his relatives in the presence of the police and a great deal of crying.

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The baby’s parents told Reuters that they were pleased since they were able to observe the reunion live via video chat.

“There are festivities, dances, and singing,” Razawi explained. “It’s really similar to a wedding.”

Now Ahmadi, his wife, and their other children, who were permitted to move off the military post and into an apartment in Michigan in early December, are hoping that Sohail will be brought to the United States soon.

“We need to return the infant to his mother and father as soon as possible. This is the only obligation I have “His granddad expressed his thoughts. “I’d like for him to return to them.”

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