According to his birth certificate, Hamdi was born to immigrant parents from Saudi Arabia in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on September 26, 1980.[1] As a child, he moved with his parents from the United States back to Saudi Arabia, where he grew up.[2] The Charleston Post and Courier reported that Hamdi ran away from home during the summer of 2001, when he was 20 years old, and trained at a Taliban camp. His family said that he spent only a few weeks at the camp, "where he quickly became disillusioned".[2] He was caught up in the fighting and chaos after the United States invaded Afghanistan.[2]