Community Corner
Skokie Family Narrowly Escapes From Afghanistan: Report
The wife and three children of a Skokie man managed to make it onto a flight to Qatar over the weekend, he said.
SKOKIE, IL — The family of a Skokie man managed to escape Afghanistan after the country's capital fell to Taliban control while they were on summer vacation, he told a radio station.
Ali, identified only by his last name, had feared the worst as the Taliban swept into power in Kabul last week. He and his wife are native Afghans and U.S. citizens, and their three children were all born in the United States.
The Skokie dad told WBEZ that his family had been scheduled to return three days after Tuesday's deadline for full U.S. troop withdrawal.
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The Aug. 31 withdrawal date was announced by President Joe Biden in April when he unilaterally extended the deadline negotiated with the Taliban by former President Donald Trump.
Ali said his family was hiding or going house to house last week as the U.S. airlift from the Kabul airport began on Aug. 14.
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First they needed to acquire special paperwork to be evacuated as U.S. citizens, and even then, he told WBEZ, the U.S. embassy could not guarantee it could get Americans to the airport.
“So it’s up to them on their own, pretty much,” Ali said.
Related: Skokie Father Fears For Family In Afghanistan
U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said there were an estimated 6,000 American citizens attempting to escape Afghanistan when the airlift began. About 1,500 were thought to still be in the country Wednesday, he said.
A Pentagon spokesperson said about 5,400 U.S. troops remained at the airport Wednesday.
Afghans who do not have green cards or U.S. citizenship — but who have received special visas to settle in the United States after working the U.S. military — have been turned away at the airport, a State Department official told the New York Times on Monday.
American officials say the first 12 days of round-the-clock evacuations since the Taliban took control of Kabul have flown more than 82,000 Afghans, Americans and others out of the country.
Ali's family managed to catch a flight to Qatar on Saturday. But, he told WBEZ, he is unsure when they will be able to make it back home to Skokie.
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