Story of Azim Kakaie, first Afghan refugee in Utah since the Taliban takeover

Azim Kakaie became the first-ever Afghan refugee to arrive in the state of Utah in the United States after the Taliban took control of Kabul, according to US media reports.

Kakaie, a member of the Hazara minority in Afghanistan, was struggling to find educational opportunities in the country. Due to this, the Afghanistan resident took up a job at the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul to explore his interest in aviation. He worked in the Air Traffic Control Department at the airport, according to reports from Associated Press.

Kakaie said that he had to abandon everything he had done for himself in the last 34 years and will now have to start everything from scratch.

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In addition to abandoning his job in Afghanistan, he also had to leave behind his family for some time. Kakaie was directed to board an evacuation plane as he was already at the airport on the day the Taliban took control of Kabul.

He said his wife had to try for days, enduring beatings from Taliban fighters at checkpoints that blocked her from the airport, according to reports from Associated Press.

Days after the takeover, Kakaie’s wife got an opportunity to flee the country on an evacuation aircraft and entered the airport just minutes before a deadly attack was carried out by the Islamic State, that claimed dozens of lives.

She’s now in Germany, along with her mother and his brother, who hopes to join him in Salt Lake City. He landed late Wednesday night in Utah’s capitol, where the jagged mountains and desert climate reminded him of home. He’s looking forward to building a life in the US and finding a job, but he’s still concerned for his family back home, including his mother, according to reports from Associated Press.

“I’m worried a lot. I cannot say when I am by myself, how much I cry. I don’t know what’s going to happen. That’s the only time that I’m deep under pressure,” he said.