In late April, Albina Roman and her daughter landed at Los Angeles International Airport and saw the rest of their family for the first time in nearly three years.
In the terminal, 8-year-old Muhsenat ran toward her father, shaky cell phone video captured by Ahmad Roman shows. Albina and Ahmad鈥檚 youngest son, who was barely walking when he was separated from his mother in Kabul, was now 4.
鈥淢ama!鈥 Rahman shouted.
鈥淭hey are in my hug now,鈥 Albina Roman told CNN of the moment 鈥 after so much anxiety and heartache 鈥 she, her husband and both her sons were finally together again.
鈥淚 just cry a lot,鈥 she went on, 鈥渁nd all the pain come out.鈥
The Roman family had separated among the throngs at the Kabul airport in August 2021, during the chaotic U.S. withdrawal days before the Taliban reclaimed control of Afghanistan. They had momentarily lost sight of their older son, Uzair 鈥 so his parents, with Muhsenat holding her mom鈥檚 hand, had split up to look for him.
By the time he was found, Albina and her daughter had been pushed beyond the airport gates, unable to get back in. They stayed behind, while the two boys boarded a crowded cargo plane with their father 鈥 who had worked for the Afghan government and so feared for his family鈥檚 safety under the new regime 鈥 and headed to the United States.
For the next 32 months, Ahmad would struggle 鈥 first as a humanitarian parolee under U.S. immigration rules, then after being granted indefinite asylum 鈥 to navigate a nebulous bureaucracy, working to bring his wife and daughter to the United States. All the while, Albina and Muhsenat faced a new life under the radical extremist group and tried to stay in touch with Ahmad and the boys from half a world away.
鈥淚 see my kids on camera,鈥 the mother told CNN early last year from Afghanistan, 鈥渂ut I cannot touch them.鈥
鈥榊ou don鈥檛 have the freedom鈥
As a woman and a young girl suddenly living under the Taliban, Albina and Muhsenat stayed indoors as much as possible.
鈥淵ou鈥檙e a human, and you鈥檙e a woman, and you don鈥檛 have the freedom in a country,鈥 the matriarch said. 鈥淵ou cannot study because you鈥檙e a girl. You cannot go to the park, because you鈥檙e a girl. You cannot work. It鈥檚 so hard.
鈥淭hink about those women who don鈥檛 have anyone to help them 鈥 like, they don鈥檛 have husbands, or maybe they don鈥檛 have fathers or brothers to work and bring them food or money,鈥 she continued. 鈥淪o, how could they handle?鈥
Albina did not take Muhsenat to the park, since there were no parks for girls. They only frequented a restaurant for women, where all service staff were female. Muhsenat went to third grade in Kabul; she only would have been allowed to continue until sixth.
Albina developed severe anxiety, she said: 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 go outside for months. Because (the Taliban) took girls 鈥 Because they say, 鈥極h, your hijab is not good.鈥欌
She covered her face for an on-camera interview for fear being recognized could cause trouble for her relatives back in Afghanistan; Albina鈥檚 father and brothers had worked for the U.S. government for many years, she said: one as a driver transporting appliances onto the base, one as a kitchen manager, another as a security guard.
Amid the U.S. withdrawal, they too had been on a plane headed to the US. But when they realized Albina had gotten stuck behind the airport gates with Muhsenat, they got off the plane to stay.
Having male family members who could chaperone the mother and daughter out of the house was crucial to Albina and Muhsenat鈥檚 survival these past years, said Albina, who could not go anywhere without one of them. Even a trip to the bank with her brother seemed to rouse suspicion from Taliban authorities, who repeatedly asked to check their IDs and questioned the pair鈥檚 relationship, she said.
Every few months during the first year after they were separated, Taliban officials would come by to check documents and ask for whom the family had worked in the past. After each of those visits, Albina and her kin would move out, worried they鈥檇 be singled out.
She had a constant fear someone was following her whenever she was out.
A complex and befuddling process
All that time, Ahmad 鈥 with incredible persistence 鈥 was working in Los Angeles with an attorney, as well as U.S. Rep. Tony Cárdenas and the refugee aid organization Miry鈥檚 List, to bring his wife and daughter to him and the boys, the family explained to CNN.
Under his initial humanitarian parole status, Ahmad used the U.S. State Department鈥檚 new form DS-4317 to apply in early 2023 for Albina and Muhsenat to join him in the United States, he said. Then around that same time 鈥 after his own asylum application was approved 鈥 he applied on their behalf via the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services鈥 form I-730.
Mom鈥檚 and daughter鈥檚 ability to leave their native country also was an issue. Ahmad at one point upgraded the internet speed in his Los Angeles apartment after friends in Afghanistan tipped him off that an online portal for passport applications soon would open; after several nights of trying 鈥 the portal spontaneously closing and reopening 鈥 he managed to get them passports, he said.
Still, Ahmad struggled with a dearth of updates on how the U.S. applications were progressing, if at all, he told CNN. No matter how often he鈥檇 ask a case worker about his petitions, he would get very little information about the process or any expected timeline.
Delays, it turned out, had been plaguing the Citizenship and Immigration Services鈥 asylum application process. The government in the 18 months after the U.S. withdrawal had adjudicated only about 1,800 asylum applications from separated Afghan families, many of them pending well past Congress鈥 standard 150-day deadline, according to the law firm of Kirkland and Ellis LLP and the National Immigrant Justice Center, which sued in April 2023 over the delays.
It took until last July for Ahmad鈥檚 I-730 petition to be approved, just ahead of the lawsuit鈥檚 settlement in September. But even then, Ahmad鈥檚 family got little information on a timeline for next steps.
So, the former Afghanistan government worker reached out to Cárdenas.
鈥楶lease 鈥 follow up all left-behind people鈥
The congressman鈥檚 office helped expedite a consular appointment for Albina and Muhsenat, Ahmad said. Even with that boost, though, it wasn鈥檛 until early April that mom and daughter, with Albina鈥檚 brother as chaperone, traveled to Pakistan for a U.S. embassy interview, ushering in their arrival later that month at Los Angeles鈥 main airport.
Indeed, by late May 鈥 eight months after the federal court settlement 鈥 the U.S. government had cleared more than 90 per cent of the backlog of overdue asylum applications, adjudicating more than 18,000 under Operation Allies Welcome, the plaintiffs said in a statement.
Even with his own family reunited, though, Ahmad鈥檚 bureaucratic headaches over getting Albina and Muhsenat to America hadn鈥檛 ended 鈥 a reflection, perhaps, of the bureaucratic and diplomatic complexities some Afghan families still face as the U.S. withdrawal鈥檚 third anniversary approaches.
The State Department, weeks after Albina and Muhsenat got to the US, sent Ahmad an email following up on his DS-4317 petition and asking to schedule an interview as part of that process to try to bring his wife to the United States, according to the message he shared with CNN.
While it didn鈥檛 affect his own case, the email left Ahmad irked on behalf of Afghan families still in limbo.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 ridiculous,鈥 he said. 鈥淚 have this message to the U.S. government to please go and follow up all left-behind people who work at, who help U.S. government in Afghanistan, 鈥 they are in danger. They don鈥檛 have food. They don鈥檛 have safety.鈥
For its part, the non-profit Women for Afghan Women has seen little success with the State Department鈥檚 DS-4317 reunification process for humanitarian parolees, its senior immigration attorney Sanam Ghandehari told CNN. None of the 60 families it represents has been reunited through that avenue, while the Citizenship and Immigration Services I-730 process has helped half its eligible clients. Eight unaccompanied minors it represents have yet to be reunited with relatives, she added.
The State Department in response stressed President Joe Biden and his administration 鈥渉ave made it clear that our commitment to our Afghan allies is enduring,鈥 an agency spokesperson said, noting the U.S. government has resettled more than 140,000 Afghans 鈥 including hundreds of unaccompanied minors 鈥 since August 2021. 鈥淲e continue to fulfill our special obligation to the brave Afghans who stood side-by-side with our military service members, aid workers, and diplomats for two decades.鈥
Citizenship and Immigration Services, meanwhile, 鈥渁djudicates each Form I-730 asylee relative petition fairly, efficiently and humanely on a case-by-case basis to determine if it meets all standards and eligibility criteria required under applicable laws, regulations and policies,鈥 its spokesperson told CNN.
鈥淭he agency is committed to breaking down barriers in the immigration system, supporting Afghan nationals in the United States, promoting policies and procedures that strengthen family reunification efforts, and upholding America鈥檚 promise as a nation of welcome and possibility with fairness, integrity and respect for all we serve.鈥
鈥業 feel safe and feel so free鈥
Now in Los Angeles, Albina goes to the store on her own, without any anxiety or fear.
鈥淚 feel safe and feel so free in here,鈥 she said. 鈥淣o one to watch me, no one to follow me, like say, 鈥 鈥榃here are you going? What are you doing here? Why you came alone here?鈥欌
Still, she agonizes about her relatives in Afghanistan, she said 鈥 and feels some obligation for their continuing to live under Taliban rule.
鈥淎nd still, I鈥檓 worried about this. I just, I feel so bad that: Oh my god, because of me, they stay in Afghanistan,鈥 she told CNN.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e left in Afghanistan, and I come here.鈥
The Romans now have moved into a two-bedroom apartment that fits all five of them. Their new struggles are now similar to anyone else鈥檚 in Los Angeles: trying to afford the high cost of living. Ahmad works part-time for Miry鈥檚 List and also drives for Uber.
But challenges like these seem surmountable now that they鈥檙e together.
Here in California, Muhsenat 鈥 who turned 9 earlier this month 鈥 is free to kick a soccer ball around in the park with her brothers, her mom said.
And she鈥檚 already enrolled for the fall semester at the same elementary school as her older brother, Uzair. After that, of course, she鈥檒l be free to continue on to middle school, high school and beyond 鈥 perhaps to dental school, her latest aspiration.
鈥淪he can do anything,鈥 Ahmad said of his daughter. 鈥淪he can study, she can be journalist, a doctor, anything. And in Afghanistan, that was impossible.鈥
