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WENATCHEE - The fear of living or dying daily is now an afterthought for a Afghan family who are among Wenatchees newest residents. Today, their focus is getting back on their feet and make the best life possible for themselves in America.

An article written by independent journalist Dominick Bonny detailed the harrowing journey of the Noori family in their escape from the imminent danger posed by the Taliban in Afghanistan when the U.S. withdrew its remaining troops from the country as part of a 2020 peace treaty with the militant group.

Bonnys article reads that Reshad Ahmad Noori and his family arrived in Wenatchee in early July after their long and arduous trek from Kabul, Afghanistan in 2021.

Noori was a former employee at the U.S. Army base at the Kabul Airport. Noori was employed by NATO and the U.S. military selling retail items, clothes, managing laundry, customer service and was an engraving designer. However, Nooris gainful employment ended when American troops withdrew from the besieged country in 2021, putting the father of three in a tough spot.

Noori and his wife Fatima have three daughters Mehrin, 6, Maryan, 4, and Behtrin, who is 19 months. Noori was already granted clearance to leave the country because of his employment with the U.S. military, but the situation at the Kabul airport, he felt, was too dangerous to expose his family to. But when the Taliban asked to see him because of his American car that was sitting outside his apartment, he knew he had to leave immediately.

The watchman call me, he said. Here are some people from the new government, Taliban. They want to ask for the owner of the car.

Nooris father instructed him not to go and instead, Nooris older brother went to speak with the Taliban.

My father didnt let me to go, because they say its not safe for you to go and speak with them if they know that you was working somewhere in NATO or for Americans, it can make you trouble, he said. And I didnt and they took the car.

Noori told Bonny that he and his family didnt go back to their apartment building and instead, went to his dads home outside of Kabul where they burned all the documents that connected him with NATO, other than a few papers he needed to have in order to leave the country.

After spending two nights huddled in a crowd at the Kabul Airport while the U.S. defended the wall surrounding the aviation facility, the Noori family caught a break and got onto an airlift.

It was a very bad situation, he said. I dont know, its not a gun, but theres a kind of gun, that its making kind of like a bullet sound. But its giving fire just to scare the people to not approach to the wall. So from that side US Army and other members of NATO who was firing to not make people crowd behind the wall, and from the other side Taliban.

He said the children were terrified, screaming and crying.

As a father I was, hm, I dont know enough English to explain, he said. But it was really, really scary time.

A short time later, the Nooris landed in Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates, where they were entered into a refugee camp. The family of five were relegated to a very small one-room shelter for months and couldnt leave due to COVID protocols. The camp was referred to as Abu Dhabi jail. After nine months, refugees began staging protests about the length of time they stayed and conditions, which got the attention of US officials prompting things to change from there.

There was 12,000 people and on June first they decide they would take out seven thousand people to the United States, he said. Then they bring us to Virginia.

The Nooris spent most of June in Virginia and eventually became connected with the Wenatchee Valley Afghan Support Circle.

Rashad Noori and his daughters in June in Virginia

Photo: Courtesy of Dominick Bonny

In a phone call, Noori said he told the Wenatchee-based group that he would be happy to move to Washington state, having a childhood friend of his living in Seattle.

I sign the paper and then after four or five days they call me and they told me that 'There is a team of the sponsor circle in Washington state, Wenatchee, Noori said. So they would like to take the responsibility to call you to that city. Are you ready to go? And I said, This is the first time in the United States, so all United States must be the same.

Noori learned quickly that the Wenatchee area was quite different from Virginia.

When I came here I see the mountains, river, green places same like Afghanistan, he said. I love it and I want to stay here. I am very happy, very glad to be here.

Today, the family is staying in a two-room hotel in Wenatchee, and are preparing to move into an apartment in August. The Wenatchee Valley Afghan Support Circle has set up a GoFundMe page for the family to help raise funds for furniture and monetary support.

The Nooris are also honing in on their English-speaking skills; their kids are attending a day camp at the Wenatchee Valley Museum and Cultural Center and will attend public school in the fall.

See the article here:
Goodbye Afghanistan: Chaos created by Taliban back east forces family to flee to Wenatchee - iFIBER One News