Torn apart by chaos in Afghanistan, a refugee family is reunited in Bennington

To many in Vermont, Feb. 26 was just another Monday, the first day of another week at school or at work. To Musa Muslim Yar and his wife, Zakia, it was a day they’d been dreaming of for two and a half years, when they’d again be able to put their arms around the two sons who could not evacuate Afghanistan with them in 2021.

That morning, at New York City’s John F. Kennedy International Airport, the couple and the youngest of their three sons, Shahidullah, clutched bouquets of roses as they waited for the two teenage boys to arrive on a flight from the Middle East. After 90 minutes, they saw the boys walk through a pair of sliding glass doors.

Naweedullah, 17, hugged his father and then clasped his mother. Mustafa, 16, followed suit, with both teens also kissing their parents’ hands, a sign of respect in the Afghan culture. A cellphone video of the reunion captured several of them wiping away tears.

“There are no words to describe that moment,” Musa said in a recent interview, speaking in Dari through an interpreter. “We were very happy.”

In August 2021, as the Taliban advanced into the Afghan capital of Kabul, the family — Musa, Zakia and their three sons — prepared to board a plane to the United States. Musa had been serving as a security guard at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul for nearly a decade, and feared the Taliban would throw him in prison because of his American ties. The federal government had given their family permission to relocate to the U.S.

With thousands of people trying to flee Afghanistan that August, the airport was overrun with crowds. Naweedullah and Mustafa got separated from their parents and brother, and did not make it onto the flight out of the country. But they were able to safely return to relatives.

“I’m always thinking of Afghanistan, even when I’m working, because my two children remain there,” Musa told VTDigger during a 2022 interview in Bennington, where his family has resettled.

At that time, Zakia said that the separation from her sons created a hole in her heart. The couple worked not only to support their new lives in Vermont but also to send money back to their sons, including paying for their English language lessons.

Meanwhile, multiple individuals and organizations worked to bring Naweedullah and Mustafa to Bennington through the international migration system, according to people involved in the process.

These entities included the United Nations’ International Organizaton for Migration, Vermont’s congressional delegation and the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration.

Also part of the efforts were two organizations in Vermont: the Ethiopian Community Development Council, a federally contracted resettlement agency that brought the Muslim Yars to southern Vermont, and Bennington County Open Arms, a volunteer organization that supports international resettlers in the county.

Over the past couple of years, Musa and Zakia submitted documents, agencies coordinated up and down the chain, and volunteers helped the family make calls and write letters to officials.

“It really was a lot of different people,” said Bryan Dalton, a member of Bennington County Open Arms, who was closely involved in the process of reuniting the family. “They arrived properly vetted.”

As a retired U.S. foreign service officer, Dalton acknowledged that his professional experience enabled him to help the Muslim Yars navigate the system. “I did what I did,” he said, “but I did not singlehandedly bring the Muslim Yar boys to reunite with their parents.”

The Ethiopian Community Development Council coordinated with the International Organization for Migration to get Musa and Zakia permission to meet their sons at the airport in New York, said Jack Rossiter-Munley, a staffer with the development council. Under the usual process, he said, the parents would have met their sons in Bennington or at an approved location closer to Bennington.

“Musa and Zakia, for very understandable reasons, wanted to meet the boys as soon as possible in person,” said Rossiter-Munley, who was part of the group that went to the airport.

The Muslim Yars are among at least 115,000 Afghans who’ve come to the U.S. since the summer of 2021 through the federal government’s Operation Allies Welcome, based on data from the Department of Homeland Security.

Around 500 Afghans have been resettled in Vermont during this time, according to resettlement agency figures. The Ethiopian Community Development Council operates in Bennington and Windham counties while the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants encompasses the Montpelier area, as well as Chittenden and Rutland counties.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said Afghans now constitute one of the largest refugee populations in the world, with 5.4 million registered in Pakistan, and Iran alone.

Since moving to Bennington, Naweedullah has turned 18. He and Mustafa are now enrolled at the local high school, while 14-year-old Shahidullah continues to attend middle school.

The older boys are still adjusting to life in Vermont but said they’re happy to finally be reunited with their parents. “We were very lonely in Afghanistan without them,” Naweedullah said through an interpreter, in an interview at their house.

He and Mustafa said they now feel more hopeful about their future. They stopped formal education after the Taliban took over Afghanistan, an effort to keep a low profile and prevent themselves from being targeted because their parents and brother had fled to the U.S.

“We feel at peace here, mentally and physically,” Mustafa said in Dari. “There is no war. There is no fighting.”

Naweedullah spoke about his dreams of becoming a doctor. Mustafa wants to be a professional soccer player and Shahidullah, a police officer.

The youngest boy is pleased to have his brothers around again, saying they hang out together and he doesn’t feel so alone anymore.

Musa, 46, is now working for a local nonprofit organization, and Zakia, 38, just got licensed to start a home-based catering business. The couple has been looking forward to earning additional income through Zakia’s cooking since they’re no longer relying on government aid, as they did when they first arrived in Vermont in January 2022.

With the onset of warmer weather, the Muslim Yars are now planning family trips for the summer. They’re talking about seeing Niagara Falls and visiting Boston. 

“Life is going well,” Zakia said.