ISLAMABAD, Feb 11: An Afghan family that converted to Christianity left for the United States on Wednesday after waiting more than two years in Pakistan. Mohammad Sadiq Mir and his six children were stuck in Pakistan since September 2001 because of strict visa requirements in the United States.

Sadiq Mir was Muslim until 1982 when he converted to Christianity. Then in 1988 he and his family moved to Peshawar, after what he claimed was harassment by the Muslim community in Kabul, where he ran a food store.

His settlement in Chicago was recommended by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) after "determining it as legitimate case for it".

"In this case, we realized the easiest way was resettlement in a third country," said the a UNHCR official. "Thank God, we are able to get out of here safely," Mir told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa at the Islamabad airport shortly before boarding his flight. -dpa