Baby lost at Kabul airport during chaotic U.S. airlift reunited with relatives

An infant boy handedin desperation to a soldier across an airport wall in the chaosof the American evacuation of Afghanistan has been found and wasreunited with his relatives in Kabul on Saturday.

The baby, Sohail Ahmadi, was just two months old when hewent missing on Aug. 19, 2021, as thousands of people rushed to leaveAfghanistan as it fell to the Taliban.

Following an exclusive Reuters storypublished in November with his pictures, the baby was locatedin Kabul, where a 29-year-old taxi driver named Hamid Safi hadfound himatthe airport and took him home to raise as his own.

After more than seven weeks of negotiations and pleas, andultimately a brief detention by Taliban police, Safi finallyhanded the child back to his jubilant grandfather and otherrelatives still in Kabul.

They said they would now seek to have him reunited with hisparents and siblings, who were evacuated months ago to the UnitedStates.

Fears infantwould be crushed incrowd

During the tumultuous Afghan evacuation over the summer,Mirza Ali Ahmadi the boy's father who had worked as a securityguard at the U.S. Embassy and his wife,Suraya, feared their sonwould get crushed in the crowd as they neared the airport gatesen route to a flight to the U.S.

Ahmadi told Reuters in early November that in his desperationthat day, he handed Sohail over the airport wall to a uniformedsoldier who he believed to be an American, fully expecting hewould soon make it the remaining five metres to theentrance to reclaim him.

Just at that moment, Taliban forces pushed the crowd back,and it would be another half hour before Ahmadi, his wife andtheir four other children were able to get inside.

But by then the baby was nowhere to be found.

Ahmadi said he searched desperately for his son inside theairport and was told by officials that he had likely been takenout of the country separately and could be reunited with themlater.

Family ended up at military base in Texas

The rest of the family was evacuated eventually ending upat a military base in Texas. For months they had no idea where the child was.

The case highlights the plight of many parents separatedfrom their childrenduring the hasty evacuation effort and withdrawal of U.S. forces from the country after a 20-year war.

With no U.S. embassy in Afghanistan and internationalorganizations overstretched, Afghan refugees have had troublegetting answers on the timing, or possibility, of complexreunifications like this one.

The U.S. Defence Department, the State Department and theDepartment of Homeland Security did not respond to requests forcomment on Saturday.

Baby alone, crying on theground, driver says

On the same day Ahmadi and his family were separated fromtheir baby, Safi, the taxi driver, had slipped through the Kabul airport gatesafter giving a ride to his brother's family, who were also set toevacuate.

Safi said he found Sohail alone and crying on the ground.After he said he unsuccessfully tried to locate the baby'sparents inside, he decided to take the infant home to his wifeand children. Safi has three daughters of his own and said hismother's greatest wish before she died was for him to have ason.

In that moment, he decided: "I am keeping this baby. If hisfamily is found, I will give him to them. If not, I will raisehim myself," he told Reuters in an interview in late November.

Facebook photos provided clues

Safi told Reuters that he took Sohailto the doctor for acheckup and quickly incorporated the childinto his family. They called the baby Mohammad Abed and postedpictures of all of the children together on his Facebook page.

After the Reuters story about the missing child came out,some of Safi's neighbours who had noticed his return from theairport months earlier with a baby recognized the photos andposted comments about his whereabouts on a translated version ofthe article.

Ahmadi asked his relatives still in Afghanistan includinghis father-in-law, Mohammad Qasem Razawi, 67, who lives in thenortheastern province of Badakhshan to seek out Safi and askhim to return Sohail to the family.

Razawi said he travelled two days and two nights to thecapital bearing gifts including a slaughtered sheep, several kilogramsof walnuts and clothing for Safi and his family.

But Safi refused to release Sohail, insisting he also wantedto be evacuated from Afghanistan with his family. Safi'sbrother, who was evacuated to California, said Safi and hisfamily have no pending applications for U.S. entry.

The baby's family sought help from the Red Cross, which hasa stated mission to help reconnect people separated byinternational crises, but said they received little informationfrom the organization. A spokesperson for the Red Cross said itdoes not comment on individual cases.

Family contacted police

Finally, after feeling they had run out of options, Razawicontacted the local Taliban police to report a kidnapping. Safitold Reuters he denied the allegations to the police and said hewas caring for the baby, not kidnapping him.

The complaint was investigated and dismissed, and the localpolice commander told Reuters he helped arrange a settlement,which included an agreement signed with thumbprints by bothsides.

Razawi said the baby's family in the end agreed tocompensate Safiabout100,000 Afghani ($1,200 Cdn) for expensesincurred looking after him for five months.

"The grandfather of the baby complained to us and ... based on the evidence we had, we recognized the baby,"said Hamid Malang, the chief area controller of the local policestation. "With both sides in agreement, the baby will be handedover to his grandfather," he said on Saturday.

In the presence of the police, and amid lots of tears, thebaby was finally returned to his relatives.

Razawi said Safi and his family were devastated to loseSohail. "Hamid and his wife were crying, I cried, too, butassured them that you both are young, Allah will give you malechild. Not one, but several. I thanked both of them for savingthe child from the airport," Razawi said.

Parents see son over video chat

The baby's parents told Reuters they were overjoyed, as theywere able to see with their own eyes the reunion over videochat.

"There are celebrations, dance, singing," Razawi said. "Itis just like a wedding, indeed."

Now Ahmadi and his wife and other children, who in earlyDecember were able to move off the military base and resettle inan apartment in Michigan, hope Sohail will soon be brought tothe U.S.

"We need to get the baby back to his mother and father. Thisis my only responsibility," his grandfather said. "My wish is thathe should return to them."