Al Mayadeen English

  • Ar
  • Es
  • x
Al Mayadeen English

Slogan

  • News
    • Politics
    • Economy
    • Sports
    • Arts&Culture
    • Health
    • Miscellaneous
    • Technology
    • Environment
  • Articles
    • Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Blog
    • Features
  • Videos
    • NewsFeed
    • Video Features
    • Explainers
    • TV
    • Digital Series
  • Infographs
  • In Pictures
  • • LIVE
News
  • Politics
  • Economy
  • Sports
  • Arts&Culture
  • Health
  • Miscellaneous
  • Technology
  • Environment
Articles
  • Opinion
  • Analysis
  • Blog
  • Features
Videos
  • NewsFeed
  • Video Features
  • Explainers
  • TV
  • Digital Series
Infographs
In Pictures
  • Africa
  • Asia
  • Asia-Pacific
  • Europe
  • Latin America
  • MENA
  • Palestine
  • US & Canada
BREAKING
Israeli foreign ministry: The vessels and the passengers are transferred to an Israeli port, and the passengers are expected to be deported promptly.
Sumud Flotilla: Addameer vessel attacked by an Israeli military helicopter with 93 journalists, doctors and activists on board
Freedom Flotilla Coalition: The Addameer Vessel was seized by the Israeli Navy
Israeli ministry of foreign affairs says ships and passengers of the Freedom Flotilla will be transferred to an Israeli port and deported immediately
Freedom Flotilla Coalition: 3 ships attacked and illegally intercepted by Israeli occupation.
Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa's motorcade comes under fire in Ecuador
Al Mayadeen's correspondent in Lebanon: Israeli quadcopter drops two shells on cafe in Houla town in South Lebanon
Informed source to Al Mayadeen: SDF Commander-in-Chief Mazloum Abdi demands that al-Sharaa approve the establishment of an autonomous region similar to the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.
Israeli media: Three drones launched from Yemen toward Eilat in span of 20 minutes.
Qatari Foreign Ministry: "Israel" should have already ceased fire under Trump plan for Gaza

The "rescued" infant in Afghanistan was left behind by US soldiers

  • By Al Mayadeen Net
  • Source: Agencies
  • 10 Jan 2022 09:36
  • 3 Shares
4 Min Read

It turns out that the same arms of US soldiers who lifted the infant above surging crowds left him stranded at the airport, only to be found by an Afghan who took him in.

  • x
  • The baby wasn’t
    The baby wasn’t "rescued" by US soldiers after all; he was abandoned

Amid the chaos of the US evacuation from Afghanistan, an infant boy was handed in desperation to a US soldier across an airport wall. He was found and reunited with his relatives in Kabul on Saturday.

But what is the story behind all this?

Everybody thought the baby made it to the so-called "Land of Liberty" and was living the stable life he would have never had back in his homeland, Afghanistan.

  • The baby wasn’t
    The baby wasn’t "rescued" by US soldiers after all; he was abandoned

Why did they think so?

The New York Times, at the time, posted a picture of the baby "being lifted above surging crowds into the arms of US soldiers on blast walls. It was not clear if the parents had made it to safety," insinuating that the infant actually had. 

The images are heart-wrenching: in the chaos outside Kabul’s international airport, footage of babies and children being lifted above surging crowds into the arms of U.S. soldiers on blast walls. It was not clear if their parents had made it to safety. https://t.co/eoCINkdqYd pic.twitter.com/GyHJuQZI2Q

— The New York Times (@nytimes) August 20, 2021

It turns out that the same arms of the US soldier who lifted the infant above surging crowds left him stranded at the airport, only to be found by an Afghan who took him in.

Baby Sohail's ordeal

Related News

Beijing: China–US trade talks to continue despite US shutdown

Trump, Carney discuss Golden Dome and defense cooperation

Sohail Ahmadi was only two months old when he was handed over to a US soldier on August 19 as thousands of people fled Afghanistan when it fell to the Taliban.

The baby was found in Kabul by a 29-year-old taxi driver named Hamid Safi who found him abandoned and stranded at the airport, so he took him home to raise as his own, according to an exclusive Reuters story published in November with his pictures. Little did Safi know that baby Sohail was left behind by the US soldiers who were hailed in the western media as his "saviors". 

Family shattered

After more than seven weeks of negotiating and pleading and brief detention by Taliban police, Safi finally returned the child to his grandfather and other relatives still in Kabul. They said they would now try to reunite him with his parents and siblings, who were evacuated to the United States months ago.

How did baby Sohail get lost?

During the summer's tumultuous Afghan evacuation, the boy's father, Mirza Ali Ahmadi, who worked as a security guard at the US embassy, and his wife Suraya, feared their son would be crushed in the crowd as they approached the airport gates en route to a flight to the US.

  • Baby lost in chaos of Afghanistan airlift found
    Baby Sohail

In early November, Ahmadi told Reuters that in his desperation that day, he handed Sohail over the airport wall to a uniformed soldier, fully expecting he would soon make it the remaining five meters (15 feet) to the entrance to reclaim him.

Just then, Taliban forces pushed the crowd back, and it would be another half an hour before Ahmadi, his wife, and their four other children could enter. But by then the baby was nowhere to be found.

Safi finds Sohail

Safi stated that he found Sohail alone and crying on the ground. He took the baby home to his wife and children after claiming he tried unsuccessfully to locate the baby's parents. Safi has three daughters of his own and stated that his mother's last wish before she died was for him to have a son.

At that point, he made a decision, "I'm keeping this child. If his family can be found, I will return him to them. If that doesn't work, I'll raise him myself," he told Reuters in an interview in November.

  • Baby lost in chaos found by Safi.
    Baby Sohail and Safi.

Following the publication of the Reuters story about the missing child, some of Safi's neighbors, who had noticed his return from the airport months earlier with a baby, recognized the photos and commented on a translated version of the article about his whereabouts.

Ahmadi asked his relatives still in Afghanistan, including his father-in-law Mohammad Qasem Razawi, 67, who lives in the north-eastern province of Badakhshan, to seek out Safi and ask him to return Sohail to the family.

Indeed, in the presence of the police, and amid lots of tears, the baby was finally returned to his relatives.

Now Ahmadi and his family, who resettled in an apartment in Michigan in early December, hope Sohail will soon be brought to the US. “We need to get the baby back to his mother and father. This is my only responsibility,” his grandfather said. “My wish is that he should return to them."

  • Afghanistan
  • United States
  • US withdrawal From Afghanistan

Most Read

Tucker Carlson speaks at a memorial for Charlie Kirk, Sunday, September 21, 2025, at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona (AP)

Tucker Carlson: Israeli officers gave orders on Iran inside Pentagon

  • Politics
  • 2 Oct 2025
A Hamas fighter in combat fatigues stands before the ceremony for the handover of Israeli captives to the Red Cross in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip, Saturday, February 22, 2025 (AP)

Hamas responds to Trump plan, backs Gaza withdrawal, exchange

  • Politics
  • 3 Oct 2025
ap

'Israel' pays influencers $7K per post to whitewash Gaza genocide

  • Politics
  • 1 Oct 2025
Mossad’s secret role in Aldo Moro’s 1978 murder revealed

Mossad’s secret role in Aldo Moro’s 1978 murder exposed

  • Politics
  • 5 Oct 2025

Coverage

All
War on Gaza

Read Next

All
In this May 20, 20201, photo Marine Gen. Frank McKenzie, the head of US Central Command, arrives in Baghdad, Iraq (AP)
Politics

US spent $33 billion on post-Oct.7 genocide, wars, Brown Uni reports

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., holds a news conference to mark the seventh day of the government shutdown, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2025. (AP)
Politics

US troops face unpaid wages as government shutdown drags on

Mourners wave Hezbollah and a Palestinian flag during the funeral of Hezbollah former leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and his successor Sayyed Hashem Safieddine in the Sports City Stadium in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, February 23, 2025 (AP)
Politics

Hezbollah voices support for Gaza, Resistance on October 7 anniversary

Al-Aqsa Flood restored Palestinian cause on the global stage: Hamas
Politics

Al-Aqsa Flood restored Palestinian cause on the global stage: Hamas

Al Mayadeen English

Al Mayadeen is an Arab Independent Media Satellite Channel.

All Rights Reserved

  • x
  • Privacy Policy
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Authors
Android
iOS