'I am living my American dream'
By: Michael Bottoms - USSOCOM Office of Communication - 3/9/2021
Born into the Hazara Tribe, the smallest tribe in Afghanistan, 4-year-old Sher Najafy and his family had to flee from Afghanistan to Pakistan because of the menacing Taliban threat in 1990. So began the life journey of now U.S. Army Capt. Sher Najafy.
“When my family and I moved to Pakistan it was the end of the Soviet Union occupation and the Taliban started to become powerful, so families began migrating to Iran, Europe, Turkey or Pakistan,†Najafy said. “I remember going through the Taliban checkpoints. I was part of Hazara Tribe, the minority tribe, so it was not safe because of the genocide against my tribe. That is why my parents decided to move to Pakistan.â€
Najafy and his family spent the next ten years living in Quetta, Pakistan, waiting for the Afghanistan civil war to be over. After 9/11 occurred and the Americans began dismantling the Taliban, his family decided to return to his hometown of Ghe Ghanto in the Ghazni province. A dedicated student, he earned his high school diploma at the age of 16, a significant achievement in Afghanistan considering UNICEF reports only 20 percent of the Afghan population had earned their diploma at that time.
https://www.socom.mil/pages/I-am-living-my-American-dream.aspx
