Ahmad Naeem Wakili has not been able to sleep well for days, worried that his wife and their 2-year-old daughter could soon be deported to Afghanistan.
While Wakili works to bring his family to safety in Tucson, they remain in Turkey facing a deadline that could send them back to Afghanistan and put their lives in danger, he says.
Wakili, 30, lived in Kabul working as a judge at the Bagram Detention Center located at the Bagram Airport. He says he was assigned to the United States military, working cases that involved crimes against security forces and terrorist activities.
Because of his position, Wakili’s life was put in danger multiple times by the Taliban. In 2020, his car was attacked by a rocket, which resulted in him spending 20 days in a coma. In the same year, a bomb was planted in his car, and he needed medical treatment for 15 days. More recently he lost a kidney in a shooting on his way home from work.
Wakili says threats also were made against his wife and child.
“They were warning me: I will catch your wife, and I will kidnap your daughter,” Wakili said. “Two times they attack my wife.” That’s when he decided to send his wife and daughter to Turkey.
They rented a house there and obtained a residency permit. While his wife and child stayed in Turkey, Wakili would travel to Afghanistan to work.
Afghan refugee Sosan Afzali packs up a blanket she found among the donated items being stored at the Tucson City Council Ward 6 office.
Wakili said things got very difficult for him once the Taliban came into power, and he decided to flee.
“I thought, I have all my German visa and my passport, let’s go to airport, maybe the American army can help me,” Wakili said.
Wakili said he was put on a plane to the United States. He wasn’t even able to say goodbye to his parents.
Wakili has been in Tucson for two months, where he works in a parking garage.
“I’m not ready for working because of my English language,” Wakili said. “I have to learn and study. I love learning, but I can’t because I have to send money to my wife.
It has now been almost nine months since Wakili has seen his family. On Dec. 15, the lease is up on their rental house in Turkey. To make matters worse, her residency permit expires Dec. 18.
“The most biggest problem is my wife,” Wakili said. “It’s difficult for her to stay in Turkey without anybody to take care of them. I don’t know what I should do, I lost my way.”
A friend of Wakili’s introduced him to Tucson Councilman Steve Kozachik, who has been trying to help Wakili reunite with his family.
Ahmad Naeem Wakili, left, and Tucson City Councilman Steve Kozachik are working to reunite Wakili's family.
If Wakili’s family isn’t able to come to the United States before Dec. 18, it will be a death sentence that our government will be responsible for, Kozachik says.
“We know there’s a meter running and there’s a deadline; somebody’s safety is in danger,” Kozachik said. “We put the rules in place. We have to be able to be flexible enough to find a way to make those rules work to keep his wife and his kid safe and get them over here. We’re responsible for him being here without his family. We got to fix that. That’s on us.”
Kozachik has sought the help from the congressional delegation along with the offices of Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick and Sen. Mark Kelly.
Kozachik is encouraging the community to call Arizona’s congressional delegation and tell them to help save Wakili’s family.
“We have 71,000 Afghan refugees in the country,” Kozachik said. “We can’t solve 71,000 problems, but we have to be able to solve one or two when they’re right in front of us.”
