SACRAMENTO COUNTY, Calif. — California is a home to many, including a family that once led the country of Afghanistan.
Dr. Asad Mojadidi is the former senior advisor to the minister of health of Afghanistan. He opened the first full-fledged clinic in the country with funding from the United States. His brother is the former president.
While they were once at the top in terms of power, they are now exiled.
Over a cup of tea and some incredible hospitality, Dr. Asad Mojadidi took Political Reporter Morgan Rynor back 43 years to the Afghanistan war with Russia.
He was training to be a surgeon in Jacksonville, Florida at the time.
“I was going back and forth to help the so-called mujahideen building clinics and trying to support the cause,” Mojadidi said.
Following the war in 1989, the six leaders of the Afghanistan army decided to each be president for two months. At the end of the year, the country would vote to keep their favorite in.
His brother, Sibhatullah Mojadidi, was the first president.
“The people didn't want him to leave, because after the war there were so many good things happening,” he said. "Peace."
It’s the president right after his brother who decided he wasn’t leaving office. He held power for four years. Eventually, the Taliban took over.
“Which is a completely different picture," he said. "Now, very few people of the country are involved in the government.”
During the war with the United States following the attacks of 9/11, Mojadidi opened the first clinic funded by the U.S. It was once deemed a model for the country.
“I was coming back and forth every month, at least one time or two times, and taking supply from here (Florida),” he said.
Today, he said that clinic still stands, but it doesn’t have as much as Advil to hand out to patients.
“It's predicted that at least a couple of million children will be dead by the end of the winter,” Mojadidi said.
He said the U.S. needed to pull out of the country but could have handled it better.
“Because it was done at the very urgent situation," he said. "The planes came in, loaded Afghans, no paper, with no nothing.”
He hopes to return home one day.
“That will be always home for me as long as I live," he said. "Home is home no matter what.”
But he does not trust that the Taliban will change. As sad as it is, he doesn’t see him returning back home in this lifetime.
He plans on living in Sacramento for another two years so his wife can get her passport, but the state is just too expensive for him. They plan to move to Turkey afterward to be closer to home.
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