• An Afghan household handed their child, Sohail, to a US soldier on the Kabul airport in August.

• Months later, they nonetheless have not discovered their toddler, even after being evacuated to the US.

• “All I’m doing is considering my little one,” Suraya Ahmadi advised Reuters.

It has been practically three months since Mirza Ali Ahmadi and his spouse Suraya have seen their child Sohail.

Ahmadi, Suraya, their 5 youngsters, and scores of different Afghan residents have been gathered exterior the Kabul airport on August 19 as US troops facilitated a chaotic military and civilian pull-out amid the Taliban’s hasty takeover, the dad and mom advised Reuters earlier this month.

The crowd was growing fast and the dad and mom of then-two-month-old Sohail feared the toddler would develop into crushed within the disarray. So when a US soldier standing behind a tall fence requested the couple in the event that they wanted any assist, Ahmadi and his spouse made a rapid choice: They handed their little one to the American, believing they’d be reunited with him monetarily as soon as they reached the doorway simply 16 toes away, based on the outlet.

Nevertheless it was at that very second, Ahmadi stated, that the Taliban started shoving again a whole bunch of the evacuees, delaying the household’s capacity to succeed in the opposite facet of the airport fence by greater than half-an-hour. Once they lastly obtained inside, Sohail was gone. They could not discover the child anyplace, Ahmadi advised Reuters.

Ahmadi, who stated he labored as a safety guard within the US embassy for a decade, requested any official he may discover about his lacking son, counting on his Afghan colleagues to assist translate. His search went on for hours. After which days.

I spoke to perhaps greater than 20 folks,” Ahmadi advised Reuters. “Each officer – navy or civilian – I got here throughout I used to be asking about my child.”

Ahmadi advised the outlet that he noticed different households handing their infants to US troops amid the airlift. Video footage of one such child being handed over the airport fence made headlines earlier this yr. That child was eventually reunited with her parents.

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Ahmadi stated a civilian official advised him that Sohail might have been evacuated by himself due to the approaching hazard on the airport.

Lastly, three days later, the household was evacuated on a flight to Qatar after which to Germany, based on the outlet. Ahmadi, 35, Suraya, 32, and their different youngsters, 3, 6, 9, and 17 years outdated, ultimately landed within the US, the place they’re now awaiting resettlement at Fort Bliss in Texas.

Since touchdown within the US, the household has continued to seek for Sohail, Ahmadi advised Reuters, asking any assist employee or official in the event that they’ve heard rumblings of a parentless little one.

“Everybody guarantees they’ll do their finest, however they’re simply guarantees,” he stated.

A spokesperson for the State Division advised Insider that the federal government is conscious of Sohail’s case, and is working with worldwide companions to “discover each avenue to find the kid,” together with having issued a global amber alert. In the meantime, an Afghan refugee help group is circulating a “Lacking Child” signal that includes Sohail’s image.

Suraya advised Reuters that she spends most of her time crying in Sohail’s absence.

“All I’m doing is considering my little one,” she stated. “Everybody that’s calling me, my mom, my father, my sister, all of them consolation me and say ‘don’t fret, God is sort, your son will probably be discovered.'”

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