Baby lost in the chaos of the Afghanistan airport is found and returned to his family

(Reuters) -- A baby desperately given to a soldier across an airport wall in the chaos of the U.S. evacuation from Afghanistan was found and reunited with relatives in Kabul on Saturday.

The baby, Sohail Ahmadi, was just two months old when he went missing on August 19, as thousands of people rushed to flee Afghanistan as it fell into the hands of the Taliban.

Following an exclusive Reuters report published in November containing his photos, the baby was located in Kabul, where a 29-year-old taxi driver named Hamid Safi found him at the airport and took him home to raise as his own.

After more than seven weeks of negotiations and pleas, and a brief detention by Taliban police, Safi finally returned the baby to her 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.

During the tumultuous Afghan evacuation that summer, Mirza Ali Ahmadi — the baby's father, who had worked as a security guard at the US embassy — and his wife Suraya feared their son would be crushed by the crowd as they approached their home. the gates of the airport to take a flight to the USA.

In early November, Ahmadi told Reuters that, in desperation that day, he handed Sohail over the airport wall to a uniformed soldier he believed to be American, fully hoping that he would soon make it across the airport. remaining five meters to the entrance to claim it.

Just then, Taliban forces pushed back the crowd and it would be another half hour before Ahmadi, his wife and four other children could enter.

But by then the baby was nowhere to be found.

Ahmadi said she desperately searched for her son inside the airport and was told by officials that he had probably been flown out of the country separately and could be reunited with them later.

The rest of the family was evacuated, eventually ending up on a Texas military base. For months they did not know where their son was.

The case highlights the plight of many parents separated from their children during the hasty evacuation and withdrawal of US forces from the country after 20 years of war.

With no US embassy in Afghanistan and international organizations overwhelmed, Afghan refugees have struggled to get answers about the timing of, or the possibility of, complex reunifications like this one.

The US Department of Defense, the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security did not respond to requests for comment on Saturday.

Alone at the airport in Afghanistan

On the same day that Ahmadi and his family were separated from their baby, Safi slipped through the gates of the Kabul airport after taking her brother's family, which was also to be evacuated.

Safi said she found Sohail alone and crying on the ground. After saying that he tried unsuccessfully to locate the baby's parents inside, he decided to take the child home with his wife and his children. Safi has three daughters and said her mother's greatest wish before she died was for her to have a son.

At that point he decided: "I'm keeping this baby. If his family is found, I'll give it to them. If not, I'll raise him myself," he told Reuters in an interview in late November.

Safi told Reuters that she took him to the doctor for examination after he was found and quickly added the boy to her family. He named the baby Mohammad Abed and posted photos of all the children together on his Facebook page.

After the Reuters story about the missing child broke, some of Safi's neighbors - who had noticed her return from the airport months earlier with a baby - recognized the photos and posted comments about her whereabouts in a translated version of the article. .

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

Razawi said he traveled two days and nights to the capital with gifts - including a slaughtered sheep, several kilograms of nuts and clothes - for Safi and her family.

But Safi refused to release Sohail, insisting that he also wanted to be evacuated from Afghanistan with his family. Safi's brother, who was evacuated to California, said Safi and his family do not have any pending applications to enter the United States.

The baby's family appealed to the Red Cross, whose stated mission is to help reconnect people separated by international crises, for help, but said they received little information from the organization. A Red Cross spokesman said he does not comment on individual cases.

Finally, feeling that they had run out of options, Razawi contacted the local Taliban police to report a kidnapping. Safi told Reuters that he denied the accusations to the police and that he was caring for the baby, not kidnapping it.

The complaint was investigated and dismissed, and the local police commander told Reuters he helped reach an agreement, which included an agreement signed with fingerprints by both parties. Razawi said the baby's family eventually agreed to compensate Safi about 100,000 Afghanis ($950) for the expenses incurred in caring for him for five months.

"The baby's grandfather reported us and we found Hamid and based on the evidence we had, we recognized the baby," said Hamid Malang, chief area controller for the local police. "With both parties agreeing, the baby will be delivered to his grandfather," he said Saturday.

In the presence of the police, and amid many tears, the baby was finally returned to its relatives.

Razawi said Safi and her family were devastated by the loss of Sohail. "Hamid and his wife were crying, I cried too, but I assured them that they are both young, Allah will give them a son. Not one, but several. I thanked both of them for saving the boy from the airport," Razawi said.

The baby's parents told Reuters they were very happy because they were able to see the reunion with their own eyes through a video chat.

"There are celebrations, dancing, singing," said Razawi. "It's like a real wedding."

Now Ahmadi, his wife and other children, who were able to leave the military base and resettle in an apartment in Michigan in early December, hope that Sohail will arrive in the United States soon.

"We have to return the baby to his mother and father. This is my only responsibility," said his grandfather. "My wish is that he return to them."