Afghan family celebrates reuniting with their lost baby during chaotic US withdrawal from the country

A two-month-old baby who was lost during the Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021 was found and handed over to his grandfather this Saturday after weeks of negotiations with the person who claimed to have found him and did not want to give him to his family.

Sohail Amadi's family was one of many who tried to flee when the Taliban took control of the country and, in that chaos, they lost their little boy.

His father, Mirza Ali Ahmadi,

to protect him from the crowds, according to the British channel BBC.

Hamid Safi, a 29-year-old taxi driver who had found baby Sohail Ahmadi at the airport, cries as he hands him over to his grandfather, Mohammad Qasem Razawi, in Kabul. Ali Khara / Reuters

The family was able to reach the airport in the midst of the uproar, but they no longer found the baby and, since then, a harrowing search began that, until recently, seemed futile.

Sohail's story was reported by the media and in November, the Reuters agency published a note about it.

Soon after, it emerged that

, a 29-year-old taxi driver.

Safi, according to Reuters, claimed that she had found him alone and crying at the Kabul airport.

He added that he tried to search for his relatives but, since he could not find them, he took the child home.

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He and his wife gave Sohail another name, Mohammad Abed, and, as if they were from the same family,

and uploading the images to Facebook.

That helped locate it.

Then his grandfather, Mohammad Qasem Razawi, a resident of the northeastern province of Badakhshan, decided to claim the boy.

But it wasn't as easy as he thought.

Safi, according to the aforementioned media, refused to hand over Sohail and asked that her family, like the baby's, be evacuated to the United States.

The boy's parents, in fact,

.

Sohail Ahmadi sitting in the house of Hamid Safi, the taxi driver who found him.Ali Khara / Reuters

Safi was arrested and, after seven weeks of negotiations, reached an agreement with the Taliban police

.

Sohail's first meeting with his parents, who are waiting for him in the United States, was through a video call.

["Worse than their animals."

These are the prohibitions and mistreatment of women imposed by the Taliban in Afghanistan]

"There are celebrations and songs.

," said his grandfather, who was holding him in his arms.