An Afghan interpreter who worked alongside US troops for 13 years and participated in more than 500 combat missions has arrived in America with his family after a five-year struggle to obtain visas.
Fraidoon “Fred” Akhtari and his family were greeted at Dulles International Airport, just outside Washington, DC, by the veteran charity No One Left Behind and 25 Pennsylvania National Guard soldiers he served alongside in Afghanistan, reports Fox News.
Fred embraced each member of his old unit as they stood in honor formation. He explained what the Taliban did to him in Afghanistan after having worked for the US military.
“They shot my car two times with a rocket propelled grenade,” Akhtari said. “They shot me many times but couldn’t kill me. They sent a threat to my family a few times, but they couldn’t kill me because I had good friends with me here and in Afghanistan. They protect me, and I am here today.”
Sgt. Ryan Craig, one of the 25 soldiers from the Pennsylvania National Guard’s 103rd Armor Regiment, recalled an instance when Akhtari saved their lives at a remote outpost.
“Completely cut off, no air support, limited artillery support, and throughout the entire battle Fred was redirecting us, ‘Hey, they’re going to come from the east side. They’re going to come from the west side, you guys need to shift fire this way,’ said Craig, who recently separated from the Army. And just giving us that valuable actionable intelligence that single-handedly kept all of us safe.”
It took years of pushing an entrenched US government bureaucracy to get Fred and his family a Special Immigrant Visa to the US and out of harm’s way. Immigration lawyer Sari Long was given Akhtari’s case by the International Refugee Assistance Project. She argued his case with the US government for three years before finally getting Fred and his family into the country.
Visa Applications No Longer Accepted
Congress has approved a special immigrant visa program for those who courageously served as the eyes and ears of the troops, but problems remain. The point of the program and a parallel effort in Iraq is to provide visas to resettle in the United States for interpreters who have faced threats — or face them now — because of their association with the troops.
Under the law, those who seek the special immigrant visas must have demonstrated faithful and valuable service, have worked for the United States for a year or more, and show they have experienced or are experiencing a threat as a consequence of that employment.
However, Visas are running out for the US military’s Afghan interpreters. The US Embassy in Kabul has reportedly begun turning away applicants. It was unclear if the visa suspension was related to the president’s new ban, which, in addition to denying visas to citizens of six predominantly Muslim countries, also orders that the number of refugees allowed into America be cut by more than half, to 50,000 this year, from 110,000 in 2016.
Afghanistan was not included in either of the president’s travel bans, but his decision to reduce the overall number of refugees accepted by the United States would affect Afghans as well. Afghans are the second-largest group of refugees worldwide, after Syrians.
Officials at the International Refugee Assistance Project at the Urban Justice Center in New York said they had learned that Afghans were being told that applications were no longer being accepted, though the suspension had taken place on March 1. “Our worst fears are proving true,” said Betsy Fisher, the group’s policy director.
Mac McEachin, another official at the organization, said the decision could affect the 2,500 soldiers of the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division who might be deployed to Syria. “Now that the world has seen how we turn our backs on our Afghan allies, there is almost no chance that local allies in Syria will be inclined to work with us,” he said.
One of those affected by the shut-off of special visas is Mohammad Nasim Hashimyar. He worked for three years as an interpreter for American Special Forces in Oruzgan Province, and later for the American Embassy.
His visa was rejected because of a “lack of faithful and valuable service,” according to the letter he received from the American Embassy. He kept it along with a handful of certificates of appreciation and letters of recommendation from soldiers he helped, including one who wrote that Mr. Hashimyar was “the key to success” in many of their efforts. He has appealed his rejection.
Hashimyar currently lives in hiding in Kabul as he waits for his visa interview, which now appears unlikely to happen. Facing threats to him and his family, he said he avoids leaving his home when possible, and he carries a gun. “I wish I have never worked with them,” he said. “I destroyed my life.”
No One Left Behind
Matt Zeller, a veteran of the war in Afghanistan, knows firsthand how dangerous and important the role of a military interpreter is. As a US Army Captain, he embedded with the Afghan army in 2008 and he served in the US military for 12 years. In 2013, he co-founded No One Left Behind, a Washington, DC-based non-profit that advocates on behalf of the US military’s Afghan and Iraqi interpreters.
Interpreters during war are more important than weapons for soldiers, Zeller says. His interpreter, Janis Shinwari, saved his life during a firefight against the Taliban.
“He shot and killed two Taliban fighters who were about to shoot me in the back,” Zeller says. “Without him, I wouldn’t be around.”
Zeller says restricting the special visa program is a big mistake. The US made an agreement to help protect these interpreters who risked everything to support the American mission.
“It’s going to be a lot harder for us to win future conflicts,” he says. “If we don’t fulfill that promise, point-blank we’re going to be known around the world as a country of liars and no one is going to partner with us, and the implication of that is: More Americans are going to die in future conflicts.”
I know first-hand how important these people are to our mission and our soldiers’ lives. My husband spent the last five years in Afghanistan and Iraq and depended on, and was paired with, Afghan and Iraqi translators every step of the way. He is adamant he could not have completed his missions without them and repeatedly trusted them with his life.
Now they are trusting us to take care of them, protect their lives, and live up to the promises we made.
There should be an exemption in the VISA restrictions carved out for these heroic translators and interpreters that risk their lives and their family’s lives to support the US effort in combating the Taliban and terrorism. Just like the name of the organization co-founded by Matt Zeller, the United States government should take the name of his organization to heart and live by its title, No One Left Behind.
