‘US born citizens’: Refugees in Afghanistan receive newborns in the US | Refugee Stories

Fort McCoy, Wisconsin, US – Ahmadzai * thought the birth of her first child as a story of an Afghan family with relatives who would go to her home in Kabul to donate baby clothes and other gifts and recite the Koran for fun.

But Ahmadzai’s first child was born at a hospital in Wisconsin and was resuscitated Photos of Fort McCoy soldiers, where his family and thousands more Refugees in Afghanistan awaiting repatriation from Afghanistan when the Taliban seized control.

Ahmadzai, 25, like other parents of babies at Fort McCoy, said welcoming a new baby to the camp was a great experience.

“It would have been better if we had a baby in Kabul and lived with my family,” he told Al Jazeera. “Our happiness would have been doubled.”

He appreciated the security and opportunities that his new space offers; he also lamented the absenteeism and shared the joy of a large family that comes with the birth of a new baby in Afghanistan.

Ahmadzai’s new baby, Yasir, is one of more than 250 babies born to Afghan refugees in the US military base from the United States. the soldiers left from Afghanistan in late August, according to US troops.

“Families of newborns receive basic services such as formulas, diapers, towels and clothing from various governmental and non-governmental organizations,” a spokesman for the United States Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) told Al Jazeera in an email.

At Fort McCoy, families ask the U.S. military for anything they want. The Red Cross is also working on a foundation to provide humanitarian assistance.

Missing family

Ahmadzai, a former US soldier in Afghanistan, said he had no choice but to flee his country. The Taliban took power the Kabul capital during August when US and NATO troops withdrew.

He and his family now live in one of the two high-rise buildings housing the thousands of Afghans in Fort McCoy. Each family hangs curtains provided by the Red Cross with blankets to create a secret space inside of houses.

About 30 people sit down. Families are provided with beds and small spaces for socializing and eating.

“We are happy that our baby was born healthy, but we are sad that we are now in a foreign country,” Ahmadzai said.

In Kabul, relatives bring gifts to newborn babies – clothes, swings, hikes, blankets, blankets and toys.

The couple also gather to recite the famous Qur’an “Khatm ul Quran” on the sixth night of the child’s life.

In the US, Ahmadzai’s family received a lot of benefits from their friends who were displaced.

“Everyone’s things are the same here – what we wear and eat here, everyone does the same, so there are no complaints,” he said.

Another baby, Mohammad, was born on November 2. Abad, his father, said he was grateful for the medical care his wife received during and after her pregnancy.

Mohammad is the third child in the family; has two daughters aged 5 and 3.

“I am happy that my son was born a US citizen,” Abad told Al Jazeera. “When he grows up, he will be in a mixed group of Afghans and Americans, which will be good for him.”

He also said he hoped to organize a ceremony and invite Afghan and American neighbors to a festive meal after settling in the US.

“It would have been difficult for my son to get a good education and become a successful person in Afghanistan because of the war and destruction there,” Abad said. “They have very good schools to study here and my son can get them.”

Hailing from the eastern part of Khost in Afghanistan, Abad said he had worked hard to instill in his children Afghan culture and customs.

“I think my son has a chance to be born here; “We were born and raised in war, and we have seen bloodshed all over our country for the rest of our lives, so it is an opportunity to be born into a peaceful world,” he said.

Disruptive migration

While Abad and his family consider themselves fortunate, the removal of the chaos from the US left many Afghan people who worked with the American military. Taliban’s rapid progress in Kabul in August prompted a major expedition to expel US citizens to help US citizens, allies and third citizens from the country.

Although U.S. officials are said to have assisted in transporting more than 124,000 people from Kabul between the occupation of the Taliban and the departure of the last American soldier from the country, the operation was marred by violence and unrest.

The pictures show the Afghan people clinging flights departing from Kabul airport a few days after Taliban took over the city. A suicide in public at one of the airport gates killed at least 175 people on August 25, including 13 US members.

About three babies were born during the migration. An Afghan woman was carrying a C-17 cargo plane on a flight, and two others were at the US military base in Ramstein, Germany. U.S. State Department policy means that none of these three citizens are U.S. citizens only because airplanes and overseas are not considered U.S. soil.

An Afghan family brought her to the US during the operation did not find her newborn baby after passing a two-month-old baby to the US military during a riot at Kabul airport.

Immigrant Promoters blames Washington for failing to speed up the process of obtaining special visas for US allies after it decided to withdraw its troops from the country.

Back in Fort McCoy, families say they are comfortable living in the US.

Safi, an Afghan refugee who had worked with US troops, is expecting a baby within two months. He said that he and his wife were happier that their baby would be born in a peaceful environment than they had been growing up.

“Look, I have been working with the American military for many years, and I have been waiting for four years to get Special Immigration Visas but in the end they were relocated to a very bad place,” Safi told Al Jazeera. “But my daughter will be a US citizen at birth.”

The expected child will be the second daughter and fourth child in the Safi family.

“I have always dreamed of a world of peace and freedom, where my children can learn and build their own lives,” she said. “Now my dream has come true and I am coming to America.”

* All interviewees are identified by name or surnames for security reasons.