HOUSTON: An Afghan soldier who was arrested at the US-Mexico border after fleeing the Taliban has been granted asylum in the United States, Western media reported on Wednesday.
Abdul Wasi Safi, 27, is among thousands of Afghan citizens who fled to the US after Taliban takeover and withdrawal of US from Afghanistan in August 2021.
Family of Wasi was worried that he could be sent back to Afghanistan if he did not get asylum in the US.
The US Department of Justice’s Executive Office for Immigration Review, which caters immigration cases, however did not make any comment about Wasi Safi being granted asylum.
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Wasi Safi who served an intelligence officer for the Afghan National Security Forces, reached Brazil last year. Last summer, he began journey on foot and by boat to the US border crossing.
He was arrested in September 2022 while trying to enter US from the Mexican border.
According to the US Department of Homeland Security nearly 90,000 Afghans who worked with American soldiers as translators or in other capacities since 2001 have reached the US on military planes after the sudden withdrawal.
Wasi Safi’s would not be allowed to work in the US.
