THE Afghan couple whose reunion story captured the hearts of Scots are building a life together in the country’s biggest city.

Our sister title The Sunday National revealed Zabidullah Rasoli’s struggle to secure the evacuation from Kabul of his new wife Tabasum amidst the chaos of the Taliban takeover.

He’d left her there before trouble emerged in order to begin the legal immigration application from Scotland, where he’s lived since childhood, but the sweeping changed threatened to cut them off from each other indefinitely.

We later told how solicitor Lisa McGuigan of McGlashan MacKay (below) had secured not only her rescue, but also that of her eight members of her family, including her mother and young nephews, in an immigration victory that defied the odds.

Glasgow Times:

This week STV News broadcast footage of the family walking and playing football in the sunshine in Glasgow after the completion of their 10-day hotel quarantine.

More than 13,500 people have since liked the clip, as posted on social media, with welcoming comments posted by people all over the country in a response that’s delighted the couple.

“This makes my heart so warm,” wrote one poster, “wish you so much happiness” said a second, while another said that it was “so nice to see the children happy”. Dundee-based Health and Sport Secretary Shona Robison simply wrote: “Welcome to Scotland.”

Meanwhile, McGuigan, without whom the reunion may not have happened, said it was “lovely to finally meet everyone” in Glasgow together and that she “can’t wait to see them settle into life in Scotland”.

“Not sure I have the words to express how happy we all were,” she added.

At home in the city’s Townhead district, they are busily trying to adjust to their new circumstances, with taxi driver Zabidullah, who travelled to London to collect his family, turning his bachelor flat into a home fit for two and Tabasum continuing to practise her English.

Other relatives have temporarily moved in with Zabidullah’s brother nearby while they seek tenancies of their own and build new lives.

Zabidullah says the response to the TV footage has been “great”, but they’ve been so busy there’s been little time to enjoy it.

Days have been filled with meetings as Tabasum and her family integrate into local and national systems. They’re missing the food of Afghanistan, but they’ve tried pizza and KFC. “They like it a lot,” Zabidullah says.

He’s juggling his new responsibilities with work and trying to eke out time to take his wife and in-laws further afield. A trip to Fort William is planned, as are others to Loch Lomond and Largs – places where there’s plenty for the kids to enjoy. And he’s still painting his home, where green walls have been coated in a fresh white, carpets have been replaced and there’s new furniture. “Tabasum is very happy,” he says. “She never thought she’d get to have her family here.

“This life is something new, everything in it is new; things they have never seen, never known about, even the food. It will take time but they are very happy.”