Like thousands of Afghans now in the U.S., Hafiz Akbarzada has to start over thousands of miles from a home he may not be able to see again.
Hafiz Akbarzada, an Afghan refugee and former pilot, poses in his Colorado neighborhood on Sept. 12, 2022. Akbarzada, who dreams of flying once again, is soon starting a customer service job with United Airlines and plans to begin training to get back in the air.Abdul Hafiz Akbarzada packed to leave Kabul the day the U.S. completely withdrew its forces on Aug. 30, 2021. He knew this was his last takeoff from the country he had always called home.
“There was chaos everywhere,” Akbarzada recalled. He was scheduled to fly a plane to Ukraine the day Kabul fell. To get to the airport, he had to walk for an hour and a half because the roads to the airport were packed with cars. When he arrived, he found that nothing was the same anymore. Akbarzada never thought the Taliban would threaten a civilian pilot. He couldn’t help but think about his family, about his pregnant wife and his unborn child, about his younger siblings and their futures. “What would happen to them if I am threatened and not respected as a pilot at the airport?” he asked himself.
He decided to begin saving up to move abroad and train as a pilot. After talking it over with his boss and securing some funding, he eventually made it to the United States to complete his professional aviation education. In 2017, he completed a rigorous two-year training program in Daytona Beach, Florida, and earned his commercial pilot license from the Federal Aviation Administration. He returned home as a licensed commercial pilot and made his first flight as a trainee pilot for Kam Air.
Akbarzada said his position as a check-in agent for Kam Air"taught me to be patient and work towards my goal slowly and consistently."Akbarzada’s arrival in the United States, however, has given him renewed hope for a fresh start. Since he is a certified commercial pilot, he hopes to fly again in the U.S. He speaks fluent English, a skill many Afghans lack and that prevents them from getting better jobs in America.
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