The Taliban had just seized control of the country in August and many Afghans were desperately trying to flee.
Two-month-old Sohail Ahmadi was handed to an American soldier over a fence, to protect him from the crush as thousands pushed to get into Kabul airport.
But once his family were inside, Sohail was nowhere to be found.
After a frantic but futile search for the infant, his father Mirza Ali Ahmadi, who had worked as a security guard at the US embassy, mother Suraya and their four other children were put on an evacuation flight to the US.