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SALT LAKE CITY — Zalmai Faraz and his family came from a life under constant threat by Taliban forces in Afghanistan to one filled with appreciation of the outdoors in southern Utah. Their new home came after a long journey.
As a young man, Faraz earned a degree in civil engineering from Shaikh Zayed University in Khost, Afghanistan.
Shortly after graduation, he began working as a general contractor for a U.S. company, Technologists Inc. While he had a strong desire to help rebuild his country, Faraz also knew it would make him and his family a target of the Taliban — or the "bad guys," as Faraz called them.
From 2009 to 2012 Faraz helped with the construction of training facilities for the Afghan National Security Force in Wardak, Afghanistan, a province that was under active Taliban influence.
The completed project would bring in thousands of Afghan security forces at a time, making the worksite a prime target for the Taliban. Because of this, many workers in the area feared the job. Roadside ambushes, kidnappings and rocket attacks weren’t uncommon for Faraz’s team.
"Every day was a new challenge and lots of uncertainties," Faraz said. "You would never know what the next day or even the next minute would bring in."
Each April, the warmer months welcomed prime construction time and launched "fighting season." Those months are when Taliban forces were the most active.
Josh Haines, director of construction over the project and Zalmai's current boss, said the worksite received 357 rockets attacks during the project's construction. During his first six months, Haines told KSL.com attacks occurred every two to three days. These attacks killed a total of 32 people, according to Haines.
"It took a huge amount of courage on (the workers') parts," Haines said.
Many workers lived on-site to avoid traveling the main highway from Kabul that the project is near.
“That 30 miles — if you were commuting, it was not fun,” Faraz said.
He still recalls the day he lost his driver during an attack in 2011. While passing through a small town about 2 miles south of the worksite, a shot killed his security driver. Other security personnel sustained injuries too before they escaped.
"It wasn’t less than a miracle to escape alive in that ambush," Faraz said. "It was pretty intense on that road.”
Being a leader over a large workforce made Faraz a prominent figure in the area. Once his contract with Technologists, Inc. ended, Faraz was confident his family would be an easy target for the Taliban.
“Once you start working with a U.S. contractor in Afghanistan, it's not about you,” Faraz said. “It's about your whole family — your wife and kids.”
“We decided to immigrate to the U.S. to get a safe and secure future for our kids and family,” Faraz told KSL.com.
Faraz’s eight years of support and time working for the U.S. made him and his family eligible for Special Immigrant Visas. Haines was able to help with the necessary paperwork.
“When I got my visa, it was just like a dream come true," Faraz said.
In June 2014, he and his family left almost everything behind and traveled 19 hours from Afghanistan to Richardson, Texas. Among Faraz’s limited belongings were some clothes, cash and jewelry.
After Texas, the Faraz family came to Utah, where they now live in Washington City in southern Utah.
“For a guy who's from Afghanistan and ran into all these different things in life, to come to the U.S. and get to live here and get a job here — it's amazing,” Faraz said.
On Jan. 6, he and his family, along with about 120 other people, became naturalized citizens after taking the oath of allegiance at the Utah Capitol.
The biggest difference Faraz can see between Afghanistan and the U.S. is the culture and feeling of freedom.
“If we were living in Afghanistan, we were pretty much confined to that one house, one town,” said Faraz. In the U.S., his wife and three kids can now move freely.
Faraz's wife, Palwasha Faraz, can now drive around and visit friends. Their kids can also attend school and play outside.
“They're connected to the world right now, rather than being connected to just a single house and four walls.”
These days Faraz enjoys his freedom through biking in the southern Utah mountains. Though the state often reminds him of Afghanistan. Though, "you couldn’t take your bike into Afghanistan’s desert,” he said.
