混乱のアフガン空港で不明の乳児、５か月ぶりに親族と再会

【カブールＡＦＰ＝時事】アフガニスタンの首都カブールの空港で昨年８月、米軍撤収に伴い何万人もの国外退避希望者が殺到して起きた混乱の中で行方不明になっていた乳児が、５か月ぶりに親族と再会を果たした。祖父がこのほど、ＡＦＰに明らかにした。（写真はアフガニスタン・カブールの空港で、ソハイル・アフマディちゃん＜左＞を保護したハミド・サフィさん＜右＞。ソハイルちゃんの祖父の自宅で）
　イスラム主義組織タリバンがカブールを制圧した後、多数の市民が国外へ避難しようと空港に集まった。そのうちの一人、父親のミルザ・アリ・アフマディさんは、当時生後２か月だったソハイルちゃんを外国人兵士に預けた。
　父子が離れ離れになった直後に何が起きたかは分かっていない。だがタクシー運転手のハミド・サフィさん（２９）によると、ソハイルちゃんは父親と別れたその日に空港の床に放置され、独りで泣いていたという。
　国外へ退避する家族を手助けするために空港にいたというサフィさんは、乳児の「家族を捜し回った」が見つからず、妻に電話したところ、家に連れて帰るよう促されたという。
　その後も両親の捜索を続けたものの、発見に至らなかったサフィさん夫婦は、自分たちで乳児の世話を始めた。
　一方、父親のアフマディさんは、外国人兵士に預けて行方が分からなくなってしまったソハイルちゃんを空港で３日間捜し続けたが、やむなく妻と残る４児を連れて渡米することを決断した。
　しかしソーシャルメディアと警察の協力により、カブール市内に住むソハイルちゃんの親族が数日前に見つかり、ソハイルちゃんは祖父のミルザ・モハマド・カセミさんに引き渡された。サフィさん夫婦と４人の娘にとっては、胸が締め付けられるようなつらい別れとなった。
　ソハイルちゃんは「夜中に何度も起きることがあった」と振り返った妻のファリマさんは、「今では自分が起きてもあの子はいない。それで私の方が泣いてしまう」と心境を吐露した。
　ファリマさんはＡＦＰに対し「私も一人の母親として、あの子がいつまでも私たちといることはできないし、実の親の元にいるべきだと理解している」と述べた。
　９日には祖父のカセミさんがサフィさん一家を自宅に招き、ソハイルちゃんと面会して共にひとときを過ごした。
　自身も孫の行方を捜していたというカセミさんは、ソハイルちゃんがこれから米国にいる両親と再会できることを喜んでいると話した。
　ＡＦＰの電話取材に応じた父親のアフマディさんは「これまでの５か月間はひどい状況だった…しかし息子が見つかった時、神があの子をわれわれの元に返してくれたのだと思い、うれしかった」と語った。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】

〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2022/01/11-11:31）

A baby lost during the chaotic evacuation of tens of thousands of Afghans at Kabul airport has been reunited with his relatives after five months, his elated grandfather has said.
The boy's father handed two-month-old Sohail Ahmadi to a foreign soldier among jostling crowds desperate to flee the Taliban after the Islamists seized the capital in mid-August.
The pair were separated, and what happened next is unclear -- but taxi driver Hamid Safi said he found the baby crying and alone on the floor of the airport the same day.
I took him to some women to breastfeed him but they would not... I kept looking for his family, said Safi, who had gone to the airport to help his brother with evacuation.
I then called my wife and she said to bring the baby home.
The couple said they kept searching for the boy's parents but on failing to find them, gave him the name Mohammad Abed and began to care for him.
If we had not found his family then we would have protected and raised him as our own child, Safi, 29, told AFP.
Meanwhile, Sohail's father Mirza Ali Ahmadi searched for three days at the airport for his missing son, finally choosing to board a flight to the United States with his wife and four other children.
Kabul's only airport was trashed in August when tens of thousands of people scrambled to evacuate on any available flight as the United States wrapped up their withdrawal from Afghanistan after 20 years of war.
Many Afghans feared a return to the Taliban's hardline rule of the 1990s or retribution for working with the US-backed government or foreign forces.
- 'Responsible like a mother' -
It was only days ago that relatives of Sohail's were tracked down in Kabul with the help of social media and police, and the boy was handed to his grandfather in a heart-wrenching goodbye for the Safi couple and their three daughters.
I felt responsible for him like a mother, said Safi's wife Farimah.
He used to wake up a lot at night... Now when I wake up he is not there and that makes me cry.
I'm a mother. I understand he will not be with us always and he needs to be with his parents, she told AFP.
Her husband said handing back the baby was very difficult and he was sorely missed.
On Sunday, Sohail's grandfather Mirza Mohammad Qasemi invited the Safi family to his home in Kabul to spend time with the boy, who was showered with affection.
They looked after him for five months and were very attached to him, he told AFP, adding that the couple had initially been hesitant to hand him over.
Qasemi, who said he too had been searching for his grandson, is excited that Sohail will now be able to join his parents in the United States.
It was hard for my daughter. She was crying and not eating anything, Qasemi said, wiping his tears as he watched Sohail sleep in Farimah's lap.
Until Sohail joins his parents he will be looked after by his aunt, Qasemi said.
We were in a bad condition these past five months ... But when we found our baby we were happy that God had given our child back to us, father Ahmadi told AFP by telephone from America.