Afghanistan: Baby handed over at Kabul airport is back with his family

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Sohail Achmadi: Allegedly found crying on the ground at the airport

Photo: MOHD RASFAN / AFP

When the foreign troops quickly withdrew from Afghanistan in the summer, the nerves of many people in Afghanistan were on edge.

In the crush at Kabul airport, the situation came to a head that some even separated from their own babies and placed them in the hands of soldiers.

A baby that was lost during the chaotic evacuations is now back with relatives after almost five months.

This is confirmed by family members of the child.

His father Mirsa Ali Achmadi said that he handed his then two-month-old son Sohail Achmadi over a fence at the airport to a soldier in mid-August so as not to be crushed in the crowd.

In November he had already reported to the Reuters news agency about his despair - and said he had hoped that he would soon make the remaining five meters to the entrance.

At that moment, the Taliban would have pushed the crowd back.

When Ahmadi, his wife and their other children got inside, the baby could no longer be found.

Achmadi claims to have worked as a security guard for the US embassy in the Afghan capital.

Like tens of thousands of other Afghans who had worked for the Western armed forces and countries and feared retaliation by the militant Islamist Taliban after they came to power, he and his family had driven to the airport to leave the country.

Taxi driver took care of the child

Achmadi, his wife and four other relatives now claim to live in the US state of Michigan.

For months, however, the family was unaware of what had happened to the baby.

After reports of the family's search, Sohail was finally found in Kabul with the taxi driver Hamid Safi.

He told TV channel ToloNews that he found the crying baby on the ground at the airport.

The child had scratches on the chest and he took it to the doctor, Safi told Reuters in November.

He decided, “I'm keeping this baby.

When his family is found, I will give it to her.

If not, I'll raise him myself. "

Sohail was finally handed over to his grandfather in Afghanistan on Saturday.

"Everyone was happy when he gave us the child," said Grandfather.

The relatives played music and danced.

The father called on the United States and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to help them reunite families in the United States.

Will the family be reunited in the US?

Since there is no US embassy in Afghanistan and the international organizations are overwhelmed, Afghan refugees repeatedly find it difficult to get answers to the question of when and whether complex reunions like this are even possible.

"We're working on reuniting the family," said a State Department official.

The timing is uncertain as there are currently no regular evacuation flights leaving the country.

According to an insider, the US government is currently in talks with the Qataris as well as with parties in Afghanistan about the case.

Ahmadi asked his relatives still living in Afghanistan, including his father-in-law Mohammad Qasem Razawi, 67, who lives in northeastern Badakhshan Province, to visit Safi and ask him to bring Sohail back to the family.

Razawi said he traveled to the capital for two days and two nights and brought gifts for Safi and his family, including a slaughtered sheep, several pounds of walnuts and clothing.

However, according to the Reuters news agency, Safi initially refused to release Sohail and insisted that he and his family also wanted to be evacuated from Afghanistan.

Safi's brother, who had been evacuated to California, said Safi and his family had not made any applications to enter the United States.

The baby's family sought help from the Red Cross, whose stated aim is to reunite people who have been separated by international crises.

The Reuters news agency said Safi had denied the allegations to the police, saying he looked after the baby and did not kidnap it.

He eventually settled with the family and received compensation for the time he had taken care of the child.

apr / dpa / Reuters