Toddler Reunited With Parents in US After Being Left Behind in Afghanistan in August

A 2-year-old Afghan boy has been reunited with his parents in the U.S. after having been stuck in Afghanistan for nine months, his father told NBC News.

The parents of Hanzala Hadi had to leave their son behind during the chaos at Kabul airport in August as U.S. troops withdrew and the Taliban seized control of the country, NBC News previously reported. But the boy was then barred from flying out to join them because he did not have an Afghan passport, a requirement set by Qatar, which oversees flights for all U.S.-bound Afghan refugees.

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The family appealed for help from the Biden administration and the Qatari government. But in January the Taliban halted all flights out for Afghan refugees bound for the U.S., and the flights resumed only about a month ago. The boy landed Wednesday in New York, where he was greeted by his parents.

Read the full story on NBCNews.com.

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Months after the United States pulled out of Afghanistan, the country is receiving international food aid — but much of it is being diverted to the Taliban, says Matt Zeller of No One Left Behind. Meanwhile, Afghan families who arrived to the United States need sponsors and translators to adjust to living here, and Congress is establishing a bipartisan Afghanistan War Commission to review the history of the 20-year war.