ST. LOUIS — Customers continue to carry orders out of the front door of Sameem Afghan Restaurant in the Grove until just moments before the restaurant's 9 p.m. closing.
Having left Afghanistan when he was just 17, co-owner Qayum Mohammad said he's living the American dream but adds that he is watching events abroad and keeping in contact with family still there.
"I even warned him about a week ago," Mohammad said of a conversation with his uncle. "I told him 'for God's sake, get out the first opportunity you get.' But it is what it is."
Mohammad left his homeland, concerned about Soviet control, first finding shelter in Pakistan then building a life in the U.S.
"As a kid growing up honestly when I saw an airplane in the air I said, ‘oh this is my plane that is going to take me to America,' and you know what that actually happened," he said with a laugh.
Mohammad said he's had two family members work for the US military overseas but is now watching from afar, remarking, like so many, about how quickly everything changed.
"You know it's just like everybody else,” he said. “I could not believe how quickly this happened. I mean, our Pentagon predicted 90 days, but it was more like 90 hours.”