A West Texas family is praying they don’t get that late night call to receive news of their loved one, Najib Muhedi, dead in Afghanistan after months of trying to leave.
Najib Muhedi, 29, is a fighter pilot who trained in areas across the United States, including San Antonio.
Muhedi met his wife, Jerri Muhedi, here in the United States, and the pair was married in 2019.
After years of training to become a fighter pilot, he graduated in November 2020, then soon after went back to Afghanistan because he wanted to fulfil his commitment to his country.
That was the last time he has been back to the U.S. and the last time his wife and her family saw Muhedi in person.
“Three words that describe what is happening are blessed because we’re grateful to have him in our family, thankful because we have such supportive friends and family through this complicated and difficult time, and fearful because it is such a stressful scary time for our family. We want him to get out of this dangerous situation and come home,” Terri Holland, mother-in-law of Najib, said.
When Najib left to serve in Afghanistan, his in-laws began helping Jerri prepare the marriage visa with an immigration lawyer. Things stopped progressing with the paperwork as time passed.
“Marriage visas are very back-logged and could take months and even years before any change is made,” Holland continued.
January is when Holland decided to get help and contact Congressman August Pfluger to expedite the process of getting Muhedi back home. Pfluger says this case, as well as many others, is a representation of the issues the President and Vice President have not handled properly.
“This goes back months ago to a bipartisan effort I was apart of leading in regards to special immigrant visas. The Biden administration neglected to look at this issue. We looked at legislation and told them this needs to happen now because there are thousands of military personnel that need to be evacuated or otherwise they’re going to be murdered,” Pfluger explained.
After Pfluger and his team intervened into the Muhedi situation, they sped up what would have been a year-long process into a three-week process. On Thursday, Aug. 12, they were able to get the marriage application approved for the visa, which represents one step to the long process of getting his visa. The dark shadow of him still not being able to return to the U.S. yet hovers over his family in Texas.
Muhedi’s wife Jerri misses her husband so much and her mother says they’re the cutest, most in love couple ever. Before all of this, he and his wife used to talk non-stop, which is why this situation is so agonizing for her.
Holland said they have been in and out of communication with Muhedi since the Taliban takeover. Muhedi called his wife Saturday, Aug. 14 with screaming and gunshots in the background of the call. He told his wife he loved her and that was probably the last time he would speak to her.
Luckily Jerri got a call from her husband saying he was ok and no longer in Afghanistan. Right now, the goal is to get him to a United States installation or in the States where he’s safe.
Muhedi’s family and supporters in the U.S. are praying to God he makes it back to the States safely and believe it’s the grace of God he’s made it this far.