Afghan Baby Handed to US soldiers Amid Afghanistan Chaotic Airlift Disappeared
2 Min Read
The parents who handed over their baby to US soldiers in Kabul International Airport during the chaotic airlift are still looking for him, but he is nowhere to be found.
-
Baby Sohail Ahmadi is still missing after US soldiers took him from over the fence in Kabul Airport (Picture credits: Reuters)
Mirza Ali Ahmadi and his wife Suraya handed their 2-month old baby to a US soldier, from over the fence, outside the gates of the Kabul airport in Afghanistan, thinking they would soon get to the entrance, which was only about 5 meters away, Reuters reported.
However, it took the rest of the Ahmadi family more than half an hour to get to the other side of the airport fence. By that time, Sohail had been lost.
Mirza Ali, who worked as a security guard at the US embassy for 10 years, started desperately asking every official he met about his baby's whereabouts. He said a US military commander told him the airport was too dangerous for a baby and that he might have been taken to a special area for children. But when they got there, it was empty.
"I spoke to maybe more than 20 people," he said. "Every officer - military or civilian - I came across I was asking about my baby."
Mirza Ali, Suraya, and their other children were put on an evacuation flight to Qatar, headed then to Germany, and eventually landed in the US. The family stays now in Texas with other Afghan refugees waiting to be relocated somewhere in the US.
"Everyone promises they will do their best, but they are just promises," Mirza Ali said.
An Afghan refugee support group created a "Missing Baby" sign with Sohail's picture on it. The sign is being circulated hoping that someone would recognize him.
A US government official familiar with the situation claimed the case had been flagged for all the agencies involved, including the US bases.
