A 16-day-old baby girl was passed through a razor-wire fence at the Kabul airport in a moment of desperation to flee the Taliban-controlled Afghanistan during the U.S. withdrawal.

Baby Liya, who became a symbol of the chaos in Kabul after going viral in a video that showed the incident, is now 8 weeks old and is reunited with her parents in Phoenix, AZ. She was passed by her mother to a Marine standing on a vehicle after Hameed, her father, saw his family on the other side of the airport’s fence.

Hameed’s last name has not been published due to security reasons, CBS News noted.

Liya’s parents did not know Liya’s video was being watched worldwide until they landed in the U.S. Now, they are telling their story of how they escaped.

"I'll tell her she's a fighter. She made it through the worst of times at the beginning of her life. So I'm thinking of putting Marine as her middle name," Hameed told Arizona Family, recounting his experience fleeing Afghanistan.

A linguist and cultural adviser, Hameed had been working at the airport during the U.S. withdrawal and had missed Liya’s birth. He also hadn’t seen his family for weeks since he could not leave the secure area.

On Aug. 19, he finally saw his wife and daughter on the other side of the airport fence trying to make it through into the evacuation plane.

"They were using water cannons and flashbangs to control the crowd. Every time a bang went off, I could see my daughter start screaming and crying. I couldn't do anything to help," Hameed said.

He was able to get a Marine who was standing on a vehicle to pick up his daughter and lift her over the fence. Hameed was able to hold his daughter for mere minutes before his time was cut short: he now had to rescue his wife.

Hameed then handed Liya over to another Marine so he could find his wife, who looked like she was about to be crushed to death by the thousands of Afghans also trying to flee the Taliban.

"That day I handed over my baby to a total stranger. The only thing I trusted is that he was a Marine and that my daughter would be fine," Hameed said.

His wife was able to make it hours later. Hameed and his family were eventually reunited and set in a plane to leave Afghanistan.

Now they are settled in the Phoenix area but have to navigate a new life far from their homeland, with no passports, insurance, social security and much more.

“What was heartbreaking is, I was inside and had somebody pull my daughter over the wire. There were thousands of others who didn't have that opportunity," Hameed said.

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Afghanistan Human rights U.S.