FRISCO, Tex. — As American troops withdrew from Afghanistan and Kabul fell to the Taliban in August, Mina Sediqi, 23, weighed the kind of decision that might come only once in a lifetime.
Her cousin, Saeed Sharifi, had been approved to evacuate to the United States, yet he was only 15 and needed a chaperone. On a frantic, evening phone call, their aunt, Atefa Sharifi, 37, insisted Sediqi accompany him. But Sediqi was hesitating.
Unlike Saeed, who had waited eight desperate years to join Sharifi in Texas, Sediqi had not dreamt of a life outside Kabul. She was enrolled in the Afghan capital’s most prestigious university and treasured spending time with her large, close-knit family.
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