An Afghan interpreter who helped rescue 13 years ago Senator and now president of the USA, Joe Biden, has asked for help to leave Afghanistan after the US retreat, in exclusive statements published on Tuesday by the Wall Street Journal.
“Hello, Mr. President: Save me and my family,” has asked the translator, who identified himself as Mohammed.
This man and his four children remain hidden in Afghanistan, where the Taliban recovered power in mid-August, after trying to leave the country unsuccessfully for a year.
His request for a special visa for Afghan immigrants, destined to the interpreters and those who have worked with the US government, was stuck because the American contractor for whom he worked lost the documents that supported his request.
He tried, like thousands of compatriots, to enter Kabul airport in recent weeks to get on one of the US military flights to leave Afghanistan, but had no luck: US forces allowed him to pass, but not his wife and
their children.
Now, according to the rotary, Mohammed is among one of the innumerable Afghan allies in the US that were left behind after the replication of US troops, which concluded on Monday.
“Do not forget me here,” he has asked for this man to Biden, while affirming “very scared” and not being able to leave home.
In 2008, Mohammed, then 36, helped rescue Biden and two other senators who traveled in two Black Hawk helicopters of the US Armed Forces who had to carry out a forced landing in a valley, 30 kilometers from the base
of Bagram, due to a snow storm.
Next to Biden, the then Senators John Kerry and Chuck Hagel were traveling.
Faced with a crew aid request, Mohammed traveled for hours in a Humvee military vehicle together with members of the rapid reaction force of the 82 Airborne Division to rescue them, tells Brian Genthe newspaper, at that time a sergeant who participated in the
mission.
After the rescue of the senators and their transfer to Bagram, Mohammed stayed, along with US soldiers, in the valley for about 30 hours in the middle of the icy temperatures to move the curious, megaphone in hand, from the Black Hawk.
