Afghan Family Now 'Home' In New Haven Thanks To Efforts Of Many

NEW HAVEN, CT —Atifullah Ahmadzai and his family had just made it though the gates at Kabul International Airport when the photo was taken of him, and four of his five children accompanied by U.S. Marines.

Ahmadzai, an Army translator and resident of the U.S. since 2019, he'd returned to Afghanistan to continue the process of getting his wife and children out of the country when time became an enemy and he, as a U.S. ally, was a target.

Through the work of many, Ahmadzai and his family escaped and, after waiting for two months for approval, were just Monday finally at the place that would be their new home, in the Annex neighborhood of New Haven.

And it was his longtime friend Michael Kuszpa who was among those who worked tirelessly to help save the family, especially, as Kuszpa had written, it was Ahmadzai who "kept me alive."

Kuszpa, originally from Madison and a Daniel Hand High School graduate and U.S. Army commissioned officer who earned a master's and is working on his doctorate in education from Southern Connecticut State University, is a science teacher at Edgewood Magnet School in New Haven.

He first met Ahmadzai in Afghanistan in 2004 when he was an embedded as a US soldier while a tactical trainer in the Afghan National Army Infantry Company during Operation Enduring Freedom.

"Atif was my right-hand man who I spoke through while leading missions on the Afghan and Pakistan borders," Kuszpa wrote in a GoFundMe appeal. "Whether we were on foot patrols, aerial insertions by helicopter, or convoys in Ford Ranger pickups, Atif served as my voice."

And he did that despite the "dangers of improvised explosive devices and the constant fear that we would drive over another bomb."

Kuszpa said Ahmadzai's "selfless service and bravery allowed me to return home to my family."

The GoFundMe then, in early 2020, just as the pandemic tightened its grip, was an effort to help fund Ahmadzai's quest to find a safe home in the U.S. as he'd been granted a Special Interpreter VISA to immigrate to New Haven. But he could only "afford the medical physical fee and for himself and purchased his own plane ticket for fear that our borders may be closed again due to COVID."

At the time, the goal was to help fund the trip for in the summer of 2020 for Ahmadzai to find a place to quarantine for two weeks and to help bring his wife and five children to New Haven.

"Atif kept me alive overseas, I owe it to him to let his family live the rest of their lives in our safety," Kuszpa wrote.

By August 2021, everything had changed.

Ahmadzai had flown back to Afghanistan to guide his family through the requisite physicals and vaccinations in preparation for a flight to the U.S. just as the Afghan government collapsed. He and his family were stranded, Kuszpa explained.

It would take the efforts of "many people," including the U.S. military and others including University of New Haven Associate Professor of National Security and Political Science Matthew Schmidt, Ph.D., who Kuszpa said was "instrumental in getting the state department contacts on the ground in Kabul to get Atif and his into the airport to evacuate," to see Ahmadzai and his family made it safely to Kabul Airport, where they'd be evacuated on a U.S. military cargo plane to Qatar.

After days of travel and many more of "processing," the Ahmadzai family —his wife and five children; daughters ages 12 and 7 and sons ages 11, 9, and 2 —were soon safe at a Fort Lee, Virginia compound.

And there they waited.

"After 46 days of travel and waiting, Atif and his family landed in JFK and are now in a van headed to New Haven," Kuszpa wrote Sunday. "...exhausted but overjoyed."

Kuszpa created a new GoFundMe to help the family as it embarked on the beginnings a new, and safe life, in the U.S. To date it has raised around $12,000 to help the family with their immediate needs as they "start a new life in the United States."

Meanwhile, New Haven-based Integrated Refugee & Immigrant Services (IRIS), a non-profit agency whose mission is to help refugees and other displaced people establish new lives, secured the family a place to live in the Annex neighborhood and will assist in getting the children enrolled in school.

GoFundMe is a Patch partner.