Reward increased to $170,000 for Afghan immigrant girl, 3, who disappeared from a San Antonio playground nearly 2 months ago

• Lina Sardar Khil, 3, disappeared from a San Antonio playground on December 20.
• On Wednesday, the reward for information leading to her safe return was upped to $170,000.

The reward for a missing girl in San Antonio, Texas, was increased to $170,000 this week, nearly two months after the Afghan immigrant vanished from a playground in the apartment complex where she lived with her parents and younger brother.

The Islamic Center of San Antonio announced on Facebook Wednesday that it was contributing $120,000 to a reward for information that leads to the safe return of 3-year-old Lina Sardar Khil. Combined with a $50,000 reward being offered by San Antonio Crime Stoppers, that brings the total reward amount to $170,000.

Insider reached out to the San Antonio Police Department on Friday to see if it had received more tips in the wake of the increased reward, but a spokesperson said that "there are no updates on Lina's case" at this time.

"The missing person case involving Lina Khil is still an active missing person investigation," the spokesperson told Insider. "The San Antonio Police Department, in partnership with our federal partners have worked tirelessly on finding Lina. We still encourage anyone with any information, to come forward and contact our missing persons unit at 210-207-7660."

Lina went missing around 5:40 p.m. on December 20, when her mother "took her eyes off her for a short period of time and was unable to find her again," according to a San Antonio police report obtained by the San Antonio Express-News last month.

The girl was playing on the playground, but wandered off into an adjacent parking lot, out of her mom's line of sight, family friend and interpreter Lawang Mangal told the Express-News. When she didn't reappear, Lina's mother went in search of her, but couldn't find her, Mangal said.

Subsequent searches by local police, the FBI, and volunteers have turned up no clues.

According to KEN5, Lina's parents believe that the girl was abducted, but police have only ever categorized her disappearance as a missing persons investigation and not a potential abduction case.

A representative for the family did not respond to Insider's request for comment on Friday.

Lina's father, Riaz Khil, previously told the Express-News of how his family escaped Afghanistan in 2019, after getting threats from the Taliban for supporting US troops.

Khil's father was a commander in the Afghan military, and Khil himself served in the country's armed forces at one point, the newspaper reported.

Khil told the Express-News that his daughter's disappearance came just a few short months after she survived a brush with death back in Afghanistan.

Khil's wife, Zarmeena, and children returned to the country to care for her sick parents when the Taliban recaptured the country, according to the Express-News.

Zarmeena Khil and her children were among the masses who gathered outside the Kabul Airport on August 26, trying to flee the country, when a suicide bomber detonated a device at the airport's gates, killing more than 180 people. Khil told the Express-News that Lina was knocked unconscious from the blast.

The family was eventually able to escape the country with the help of the US military, according to the newspaper.

When Khil was interviewed by the Express-News last month, he said that he and his wife were still holding out hope that their daughter would be returned to them.

"We fully trust in our God that Lina will come back home. That is giving us motivation," he said.