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An Afghan family handed their baby to a US soldier during the chaotic Kabul airport pullout. Months later, their child is still missing.

Nov 9, 2021, 21:03 IST
Insider
Sohail Ahmadi, around two-months-old, is seen in this handout picture taken August 2021 in Kabul, Afghanistan. Courtesy of the Ahmadi family/Handout via REUTERS
  • An Afghan family handed their baby, Sohail, to a US soldier at the Kabul airport in August.
  • Months later, after their evacuation to the US, they still haven't found Sohail.
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It's been nearly three months since Mirza Ali Ahmadi and his wife, Suraya, have seen their baby, Sohail.

Ahmadi, Suraya, their five children, and scores of other Afghan citizens were gathered outside the airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, on August 19 as US troops facilitated a chaotic military and civilian pullout after the Taliban's hasty takeover, the parents told Reuters earlier this month.

The crowd was growing fast, and the couple feared that Sohail, then 2 months old, would be crushed in the disarray. So when a US soldier behind the fence asked if they needed help, Ahmadi and Suraya handed their child over, believing they would be reunited once they reached the entrance 16 feet away, the Reuters report said.

But then the Taliban began shoving back hundreds of people, Ahmadi said, and the family couldn't reach the other side of the airport fence for more than half an hour. When they finally got inside, Sohail was gone. They couldn't find the baby anywhere, Ahmadi told Reuters.

Ahmadi, who said he worked as a security guard in the US Embassy for a decade, asked any official he could find about his missing son, relying on his Afghan colleagues to help translate. His search went on for hours, and then days.

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"I spoke to maybe more than 20 people," Ahmadi told Reuters. "Every officer - military or civilian - I came across I was asking about my baby."

Ahmadi told the outlet that he'd seen other families handing their babies to US troops during the airlift. Footage of one child being passed over the airport fence made headlines; that baby was eventually reunited with her parents.

Ahmadi said a civilian official told him that Sohail may have been evacuated by himself because of the imminent danger at the airport.

Three days later, the family flew to Qatar and then to Germany, Reuters said. Ahmadi, 35, Suraya, 32, and their other children - 3, 6, 9, and 17 years old - eventually landed in the US; they're awaiting resettlement at Fort Bliss in Texas, the report said.

The family has continued to search for Sohail, asking aid workers and officials if they've heard rumblings of a parentless child, Ahmadi told Reuters.

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"Everyone promises they will do their best, but they are just promises," he said.

A spokesperson for the State Department told Insider that the government was aware of Sohail's case and working with international partners to "explore every avenue to locate the child," including having issued an international Amber Alert. Meanwhile, an Afghan refugee support group has circulated a "missing baby" sign featuring Sohail's picture, Reuters reported.

Suraya told Reuters that she spent most of her time crying in Sohail's absence.

"All I am doing is thinking about my child," she said. "Everyone that is calling me, my mother, my father, my sister, they all comfort me and say 'don't worry, God is kind, your son will be found.'"

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