TULSA, Okla. — In August, Faramarz Afshar, his wife Kristy and their daughter rushed to the airport in Kabul in hopes to be airlifted to safety. They were able to leave Afghanistan in the first days of the chaos and received priority travel because Kristy is an American citizen who worked in Kabul as an English teacher. Both Kristy and their daughter were U.S. passport holders.

By the time the family arrived in the U.S., Afshar was told he needed to stay in the refugee camps established at U.S. military bases. While the mother and daughter could travel to Oklahoma to stay with relatives, Afshar couldn’t be with them.

Catholic Charities of Eastern Oklahoma worked to reunite the family. Afshar told Catholic Charities via text messages that he’d never been apart from his family before. He also said that the transition has been really hard on them, and how emotionally draining the separation has been on the family.

“My daughter cries after time,” Afshar explained.

He was originally scheduled to arrive in Tulsa Monday at around 4 p.m., but his flight was changed. Facilitated through Catholic Charities of Eastern Oklahoma, Afshar will be reunited with his wife and daughter Tuesday afternoon.

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