The United States reveals the fate of an Afghan child who crossed the fence at Kabul airport

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A senior US official has revealed the return of an infant who was seen from a wall at Kabul airport, and has been reunited with his family.

Images of parents trying to hand their children over to soldiers have become a defining picture of the chaotic end of the West’s involvement in Afghanistan.

One of the videos showed a US soldier reaching into a barbed wire wall to hold a child in one hand and carry him to the protected compound.

A Pentagon spokesperson has now provided an update on what happened to the infant.

John Kirby told reporters: “The video you’re talking about, the parents asked the Marines to take care of the baby because the baby was sick, so the soldier you see hitting the wall took him to a Norwegian hospital located at an airport.

“They treated the child and returned the child to their father.”

He said he was “only aware of the single incident” of Afghan children being taken by US forces and described it as “an act of sympathy because there are concerns about the child”.

The image of the child being handed over to soldiers has been widely shared online (Image: Reuters) Images of children being evacuated from Afghanistan have shocked the world in recent days (Image: Reuters) Some desperate families have been camping in or around the airport for several nights (Image: Reuters).

Kirby was unable to give more answers about whether the child’s family would qualify for a US visa or whether they would remain in Kabul.

He said: I don’t know… I give the child back to his father, and I don’t know where they are now.

We clearly have a responsibility to return the child to the child’s parents.

I don’t know who the parents are or if they are [Special Immigrant Visa] Applicants, I don’t have that level of detail.

Western forces assist with humanitarian efforts while maintaining security at the airport to allow the evacuation to proceed (Image: Reuters) Thousands of Afghan families are eligible for resettlement in the United States and Europe (Image: Reuters)

Tens of thousands of people crowd the gates of Hamid Karzai International Airport, many waiting to see if they have a seat on one of the last flights departing from Afghanistan.

It is unclear whether the previous August 31 deadline will be met or whether US forces will continue to control the airport after that date.

US forces have flown nearly 10,000 people in the three days through Friday, but some estimate there are still 15,000 US citizens in the country, and many eligible Afghans.

More: the world

British forces evacuated 1,000 people on Friday and Saturday as the UK races to meet its obligations to eligible citizens and Afghans.

Chairing an emergency cabinet meeting on the situation, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said, “We went to Afghanistan to support the United States and help protect it.

“So when the United States decides to categorically withdraw the way it has, obviously we will have to manage the consequences.”

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