The parents of a 7-month-old baby still stranded in Kabul airport fear that she will never get to Britain.
Because of a five-month delay in receiving their child’s British passport, the little girl is still stuck in Afghanistan.
The baby girl’s mother, an Afghan national, traveled to Afghanistan last year to see her family. But when she lost her ID card during her trip, she couldn’t return to the UK before her child was born.
Her British husband flew to Afghanistan and she gave birth to their child in Kabul in January.
In May, the couple had to return to the UK to get a single-entry visa issued to the mother. Their baby, who couldn’t travel without a passport, had to stay with her grandparents while waiting for the document.
The couple applied for their daughter’s passport in March and they were hoping to return to Afghanistan as soon as the document was ready.
Although they already received their baby’s passport on Wednesday, there are no commercial flights operating into and out of Kabul due to events that took over.
In an interview with the BBC, the baby’s father said: “She is stuck in Afghanistan because of the passport delay. If the passport took less time, she would have been here with us.”
The couple also had concerns for the safety of their baby’s grandparents because they helped UK and US forces since 2001.
British forces and embassy staff reportedly left Kabul before the baby could be brought to Britain.
The Home Office said in a statement to BBC that the UK would continue to do “all we can” to deliver on an obligation to British citizens and eligible Afghans.
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