Reuters, Carlsbad
It was a bittersweet reunion in America for two Afghan brothers who have fled violence and threats in their country.
Sayed Abdul Wase Majidi, whose work as a translator for the US military could make him a Taleban target in his homeland, landed late on Thursday at Sacramento airport after being airlifted from Kabul and then going through US government processing at Fort Lee, a military base in Virginia.
He had to leave his mother, a brother, and two nephews behind.
Majidi was among 200 Afghans the United States brought out a week ago in an effort to protect translators and others who risk Taleban retaliation because they or their relatives helped the US military in a 20-year Afghanistan campaign that is now winding down.
Majidi was met on Thursday by another brother, Sayad Khalil Majidi, who arrived in Sacramento two years ago. Sayad Khalil Majidi, who is the older brother, said he was once a technician for Afghanistan's Tolo TV, the country's largest private broadcaster.
He fled, first to Turkey, after a Taleban suicide bomber rammed his car into a bus carrying Tolo employees in 2016, killing seven journalists. The Taleban said Tolo was producing propaganda for the US military and Western-backed Afghan government.
The older Majidi stared intently at the staircase where arriving passengers descended on Thursday night. When the younger brother finally arrived, they engaged in a subdued embrace. The older Majidi's two sons and Mohammad Safa, a childhood friend who also had worked as an interpreter for the US military, soon joined with more exuberant greetings.
"I am very thankful, but unfortunately my brother and my two nephews are in Afghanistan. It is very concerning," Sayad Khalil Majidi said in a telephone interview on Friday.
