Najibullah, right, and Zaman set sail for eye-saving surgery in America, complete with new passports and US visas. The 16-year-old student was half blinded by a Taliban rocket which killed his little brother, Hamidullah. They were balanced together on a bicycle, on their way to vote in Afghanistan’s presidential elections, four weeks ago. A piece of shrapnel tore into Najibullah’s left eye and without a “posterior victrectomy” he will will lose his sight. None of the hospitals in Afghanistan, civilian or military, had the specialist equipment to help. Thanks to the tireless efforts of staff at Solace, surgeons in America have agreed to operate, while Solace helped Najibullah secure a visa and flights. Zaman, who has been to the US before, travelled with Najibullah as an escort. If you’d like to support Solace, or contribute to the costs of getting Najibullah to America, please click here. In his first heart-warming email from the States, Najibullah wrote: “We arrived the night of Friday and we had a nice trip. When I arrived I had dinner and now I am okay, I am very well, and I am very happy.” He meets the doctors today. “Unless they see something that surprises them at Monday’s morning’s eye evaluation, Najib will go into surgery on Tuesday,” said Solace director Patsy Wilson, who worked round the clock to arrange treatment in America. “It is scheduled to be out patient and everyone is very confident that all will go well.” She added: “I had the opportunity to spend several hours with Najib yesterday. He is a delightful young man – bright, eager to learn, optimistic in the face of incredible hardship.” A massive thank you also to Ted Achilles and Noah Newsome Ferguson in Kabul, who hammered down the US Embassy door to get the visas. They simply wouldn’t take no, or even tomorrow, for an answer. They arranged the flights, the escort, transfers and most importantly, they cared for Najibullah after he left the “Nato hospital” in Kabul. Countless others have also helped Najibullah, not least Nato who tried to operate, and diplomats in Kabul, London and America who explored all sorts of options to get him abroad for treatment. Thank you.

Najibullah, right, and Zaman set sail for eye-saving surgery in America, complete with new passports and US visas.

The 16-year-old student was half blinded by a Taliban rocket which killed his little brother, Hamidullah. They were balanced together on a bicycle, on their way to vote in Afghanistan’s presidential elections, four weeks ago.

A piece of shrapnel tore into Najibullah’s left eye and without a “posterior victrectomy” he will will lose his sight. None of the hospitals in Afghanistan, civilian or military, had the specialist equipment to help.

Thanks to the tireless efforts of staff at Solace, surgeons in America have agreed to operate, while Solace helped Najibullah secure a visa and flights. Zaman, who has been to the US before, travelled with Najibullah as an escort.

If you’d like to support Solace, or contribute to the costs of getting Najibullah to America, please click here.

In his first heart-warming email from the States, Najibullah wrote: “We arrived the night of Friday and we had a nice trip. When I arrived I had dinner and now I am okay, I am very well, and I am very happy.”

He meets the doctors today. “Unless they see something that surprises them at Monday’s morning’s eye evaluation, Najib will go into surgery on Tuesday,” said Solace director Patsy Wilson, who worked round the clock to arrange treatment in America. “It is scheduled to be out patient and everyone is very confident that all will go well.”

She added: “I had the opportunity to spend several hours with Najib yesterday. He is a delightful young man – bright, eager to learn, optimistic in the face of incredible hardship.”

A massive thank you also to Ted Achilles and Noah Newsome Ferguson in Kabul, who hammered down the US Embassy door to get the visas. They simply wouldn’t take no, or even tomorrow, for an answer. They arranged the flights, the escort, transfers and most importantly, they cared for Najibullah after he left the “Nato hospital” in Kabul.

Countless others have also helped Najibullah, not least Nato who tried to operate, and diplomats in Kabul, London and America who explored all sorts of options to get him abroad for treatment.

Thank you.