Afghan Baby Who Disappeared After Flying with US Soldiers Finally Reunites with Family
- Mirza Ali Ahmadi and his wife Suraya are very lucky and happy parents as they have reunited with their child who was missing
- Little Sohail got lost as his parents and four other siblings scrambled to get into the Kabul airport just after the Taliban takeover of Afghan government
- The boy who got lost in August was rescued by a taxi driver who had chosen to raise him as his own
- Initially, the taxi driver had refused to hand over the boy back to his parents, but the Redcross and Taliban government intervened
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A baby boy who was handed to US soldiers during the chaotic evacuation after the Taliban takeover of the Afghanistan government has been reunited with his family.
Handed over a wall
The boy, who went missing on August 19 at only two months old, was handed to the troops over a wall at the Kabul Airport during the evacuation of Afghans that was nothing but chaotic.
According to the New York Post, Sohail Ahmadi who is the son of a former US embassy guard Mirza Ali Ahmadi and his wife Suraya disappeared as his parents and four other siblings were unable to find him while entering the airport.
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Raised him as his own
It turns out that baby Sohail had been rescued by a 29-year-old taxi driver Hamid Safi, who took him to raise him as his own child.
“I am keeping this baby. If his family is found, I will give him to them,” he told Reuters in November.
“If not, I will raise him myself," he added
Unwilling to hand over the child
After the story was published by an outlet, the baby was found with Safi but he was initially unwilling to hand over the child.
Man abducted at age 4 reunited with his mum after 33 years through map of his village he drew from memory
However, Safi finally relented on Saturday after weeks of negotiations, help from the Red Cross — and an arrest by the Taliban for kidnapping.
Images of children being passed over the airport fence were widely circulated in the last days of the war which lasted for 20 years and ended last year after President Joe Biden chose to end it.
Contact made with South Africans in Afghanistan
Earlier, Briefly News reported that South African authorities say that contact has been made with South African citizens that are currently in Afghanistan in the wake of the takeover by the Taliban on Sunday.
The Department of International Relations and Co-operation (Dirco) has been in communication with the South African High Commission in Pakistan and indicated that plans to return South Africans home were in motion, according to TimesLIVE.
South African citizens who also wished to escape Afghanistan and return to South Africa are encouraged to contact the South African High Commission or Dirco to make arrangements.
Source: Briefly News
Kelly Lippke (Senior Editor) Kelly Lippke is a copy editor/proofreader who started her career at the Northern-Natal Courier with a BA in Communication Science/Psychology (Unisa, 2007). Kelly has worked for several Caxton publications, including the Highway Mail and Northglen News. Kelly’s unique editing perspective stems from an additional major in Linguistics. Kelly joined Briefly News in 2018 and she has 14 years of experience. Kelly has also passed a set of trainings by Google News Initiative. You can reach her at kelly.lippke@briefly.co.za.
Tshepiso Mametela (Head of Current Affairs Desk) Tshepiso Mametela is a seasoned journalist with eight years of experience writing for online and print publications. He is the current affairs Head of Desk at Briefly News. He was a news reporter for The Herald, a senior sports contributor at Opera News SA, and a reporter for Caxton Local Media’s Bedfordview and Edenvale News and Joburg East Express community titles. He has attended media workshops, including the crime and court reporting one by the Wits Justice Project and Wits Centre for Journalism in 2024. Email: tshepiso.mametela@briefly.co.za