OUR STORIES

A RESCUED INTERPRETER'S STORY

Happy Endings

I will not use not my name due to security reasons for the rest of family still in Afghanistan. I worked with Special Forces Green Beret as an interpreter/translator.  My job had established and maintained contacts with local Afghan people and bridging the communication gap between US forces and local community people. When the Taliban occupied Afghanistan by force and President Ashraf Ghani government were pulled down, I thought our life would be easy targets by different insurgents' groups inside Afghanistan that were in battle from the last 20 years in Afghanistan who fought against Afghanistan Republic Government. 

I want to write the names of Afghan Allies and Advocate Volunteers from the first day Ashraf Ghani government being pulled down.  The first honorable, close to my heart, Ms. Pamela Smith, was there to take my hands and assisted me to evacuate through Afghan allies' evacuation manifest However, after military evacuation in August 2021, the manifest were slow and organizations that were manifesting Afghan allies, were out of funding…

Therefore, I left Afghanistan late end of august 2021 through informal route to Pakistan. I stayed there for a long time until I received my SIV along with my pregnant wife from the US Embassy Islamabad, Pakistan. There were lots of ups and downs, due to security in Pakistan for our safety as I was former Interpreter with Green Berets.  Secondly, jobless in Pakistan there were no source to support my family financially to pay for rent, utilities bills, medical, VISAs groceries, our survival...  

After long waiting for bureaucracy process of Special Immigrant Visa, for Afghans took much time. But finally, I received our US Visa in January 2023, and I couldn’t waited the 30-45 days for International Organization for Migration (IOM) air tickets to be arranged due to my wife pregnancy couldn’t wait for much time… So, thanks to my friends arranging air ticket to get out of Pakistan, I arrived in Dallas Fort Worth Dallas, TX. International Airport and am forever grateful.  

We were met by our extended family and truly felt honored and respected. My family and I really appreciate those who helped us to reach freedom and the land of opportunities . Thank you all and God bless you all! Long live our Americans Brothers. Also, we appreciate my mentor Col Mark Lisle Rathburn and his honorable Supporting Afghan Families charity team and Congressman Bentz Office that worked with and funded our survival from the eight months to the end of our journey.

Thanks America for helping and providing such awesome SIV Program for such Afghan allies put their lives at risk. 

SHAHAB'S FAMILY STORY

A Letter From Shahab

Mohammad Nadir Shahab worked with me in 2006 during my Afghanistan deployment and had been working with United States Government (USG) for around two decades. Shahab’s family story;

My family and I were scheduled on August 17th of 2021, by the U.S Embassy in Kabul to complete our medical examinations and receive our Special Immigration VISAs (SIV). Unfortunately, the Afghan government collapsed and Taliban took power on August 15th 2021 and I, my wife and eight children had remained unsure of our survival. I called my former mentor who lives in America and asked what we can need to do to get my family out from Afghanistan.

As an Interpreter, our lives were in serious danger. My mentor advised me to please give him time to find out how to get my family out from Afghanistan. On 19th of August, he called and advised me to go HKIA and someone is waiting for you and your family. We went to HKIA and waited outside the airport. I called the person who was supposed to get us inside the airport. He replied stating, come to the Abbey Gate and i told him it’s so very difficult for us to get to the Abbey Gate because thousands of people there crowded in front of the gate, trying to get inside the airport. When we got there and I saw the situation, we returned back to my father In-law’s house and stayed there for a few days.

Again, I received call from my former mentor saying go to airport, someone is waiting for you to get you inside the airport. We spent around 30 hours with my family under hot sun without enough food and water and were unfortunately, not able to get inside the airport.

We returned to our home in Kabul, where we saw everything was stolen from our home. I called my brother in-law and told him, all our house furniture and most personal belongings were stolen and asked him bring us some food, mattresses and pillows for sleeping. Several times we tried to get back to the airport. Unfortunately, we couldn't succeed to get inside the airport.

Then on the 29th of August, I received call from my former mentor and he advised us to go to Mazar-e Sharif (Mez), and they will work to get our family on a flight from Mez to Qatar. My family and I went to the Kabul Bus Station, rented a car with 25,000 Afgs and went to Mez. When we got to Mez, my former mentor called stating, the flight was postponed for 24 hours and went to a guesthouse to rent two rooms. We remained in Mez for 3 months and spent all our money on rent and food. During our stay in Mez, we were searched and held by the Taliban.

We were eventually released, then moved to another location in hiding. On October 26th, I contacted another mentor I had worked with in Helmand, Province. He provided me his friend’s contact information and I talked with them and sent all of our family immigration documents. Fortunately, she added our family to a manifest with a Department of State (DoS) safe house.

On the 3rd of December, I was called and advised to come back to Kabul within 15 hours for yet another flight. We packed everything, got on a bus and moved back to Kabul. The safe house staff advised us, we would be evacuated in 3 days. Unfortunately we spent over 40 days... Then, my most recent employer, where I worked as cultural advisor and Interpreter, realized we are still in Afghanistan. They advised me to get ready and they would move my family to Pakistan.

Once we arrived in Islamabad, Pakistan, we were released on our own and spent the next 40 days in Pakistan. During this time the charity Supporting Afghan Families sent us money to survive and contacted the US Embassy there on our behalf. In January 2022, the DoS Immigration Offices emailed me, advising our immigration case was moved to the US Embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan.

Both our Pakistan visitor’s VISA and SIVs processing was so slow and we worried what would happen to us with expired VISAs in a foreign country. Fortunately, the Embassy scheduled our interview for the 15th and on the 19th of February, we received our family SIVs from the U.S Embassy in Pakistan. Our flight tickets were purchased by the charity No One Left Behind (NOLB) and now my family lives in Houston.

Once landing, we were met our extended family and friends. We truly felt honored and respected. My family and I really appreciate those who helped us to reach freedom. Thank you all and God bless you all. Long live our Americans Brothers. Also, we appreciate my former mentor Col Mark Lisle Rathburn and his honorable network team, that worked with us from the beginning to the end of our journey.

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God bless you all!

A FATHER AND HIS TWO DAUGHTERS

A Letter From Nesar

These days, what threatens the survival of the Afghan people more than any crisis or problem in a terrible and catastrophic way is that there is no hope.

Poverty can be overcome somehow,

the lack of freedom can be hardly tolerated, it can be survived in the shadow of extremism and strict laws, it can survive, girls and boys can grieve and breathe with the pain of deprivation of the right to education.

The burden of losing everything has been and will be, and the achievements of the last twenty years of Afghanistan can be borne with grief and pain. But if there was never any hope. Without hope, there is nothing in the present and the future. Along with other serious and important human needs, the people of Afghanistan must be given hope. Otherwise everything is possible and the possibility of any misfortune and catastrophe is not unlikely.

With the fall of the Afghan government, my wife and I and our two twin daughters had lost hope of survival, we changed positions in the evenings out of fear and during the day so that we would not fall into the trap of the enemy.

From time to time, news sources reported the arrest of US allies and members of the previous government administration. The feeling that I am forgotten was getting stronger and stronger.

Thanks to coordinate efforts, we left

Kabul at two o'clock in the evening in late October, we reached the Afghan-Pakistani border crossing by land and passed through seven Taliban checkpoints.

Until we crossed the land border and I felt we would at least survive.

Thank you so much for your humanitarian efforts to save our lives.

Our trip from Kabul to Pakistan and from there to Qatar and finally to the United States took more than two months. And that gave my family the greatest hope of survival.

I truly thank and am grateful for accomplishments which once again fueled hope.

As we are being resettled here in the US, I left behind my parents and siblings in the middle of survival and dismay.     

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Respectfully,

Nesar

AN INTERPRETER'S STORY

A Letter From Sadid

The 15th of AUGUST was a black day in Afghanistan that changed the life of millions of Afghans, and I am one of those whose life is changed. I had no freedom of life; the pain of losing every thing in one night is really hard. I was the first Albino translator in Afghanistan, and I've worked in different locations with different offices.

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When there is no hope, there is no life.

For two and one-half months, I lived my life in fear. I've lived in hell. Thankful for the efforts of our advisors, and that they did their best to support me.

I left Afghanistan late OCTOBER at around 2:00 am early morning by crossing the border. I didn't even get my laptop -- I was afraid of a search. We had to pass several Taliban check points while going to the border. One night staying inside the border was equal to life in prison. It was the darkest night of my life.

After crossing the border we stayed in Pakistan for more than 15 days, and we stayed in QATAR for one month. And after that we arrived to America.

Thank you dear advisors for the best support, and not leaving us behind.  Thank you America for saving us, and not leaving us behind. My hope is that one day my family will join me as well. 

Regards 

Sadid