America's Promise to Interpreters

I have family there, I thought as I watched Mosul fall—again—from a television inside the Pentagon.

It was summer 2014 and I had thought, as much of the world did, that Iraq had been on the rise, or at least not on the decline. Then ISIS rolled in. Overnight, the terrorist group laid waste not only to the country’s bright future, but also to its past, destroying modern signs of progress and cultural heritage sites with equal ferocity: https://rly.pt/3dyHnQs.

Mosul, a city of majority Sunni Muslims, became ISIS’s home base. ISIS insurgents bunkered down at the University of Mosul Library, once one the largest libraries in the Middle East, and renowned for its periodicals from 1700 CE and versions of the Quran from the 19th century: https://rly.pt/3667V7t. The group promptly began to pillage it. They burned all of the books: https://rly.pt/365JO8P, that did not fit their barbaric ideology, destroying over 100,000 manuscripts. Now a terrorist base camp, the university became a valid military target and was struck by Coalition forces in 2016 in an effort to purge ISIS from the area. As of this writing, it has not been re-built.

A common enemy makes for strange bedfellows, as was the case with ISIS. As the group kept its hold, Iraq, desperate to dislodge it, invited its perennial foe Iran into the country to help defeat the terrorists. But a common enemy is not enough to overcome long-held hatred. The divide between Sunni and Shia has riddled the Middle East, and especially Iraq, with violence.
Iran’s presence in Iraq was ostensibly to fight ISIS, but Iran also used it as an opportunity to persecute its ancient Sunni enemies. Iran even went so far as targeting former Iraqi Army officers and pilots who served during the Iran-Iraq war—a vendetta that is still alive and well. Sunnis in Iraq feared sharing their identification cards at checkpoints because it would show their places of birth; if it said Mosul was their birthplace it was assumed they were Sunni. As Iran’s presence grew in Iraq, its proxies began to isolate Sunni Iraqis, who make up the majority of the people in Mosul. Iran even formed Shia Militia Groups or “SMGs”: https://rly.pt/3dz41rS, many of which make up Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces, to defeat ISIS and persecute Sunnis throughout Iraq.

In 2015, I received a text notifying me that my uncle, a Sunni, had been killed in Baghdad when Iranian Shia Militia Groups gunned down an entire market full of Sunni Iraqis. This was the same uncle who, after I was taken by my Iraqi father and left behind by my American mother, drove me to safety when I escaped Iraq as a young girl. He left behind three girls, a son, and a wife.

In 2014, as I sat in a nondescript Pentagon cubicle with four other service members watching the place I had once lived in be destroyed, I wanted to break down and cry in helplessness. Sure, I was a military officer, but other than providing intelligence to my comrades-in-arms, I could do little more than witness the catastrophe play out on the television along with everyone else. Instead of crying that day, I pushed the painful feelings away, sat back down at my desk, and stoically got to work on a general officer’s speech.

When I received the news about my uncle’s death a year later, I went for a walk in D.C. to help process what had happened, but I could barely keep it together on the walk. Just like that day in 2014, when I had watched ISIS roll into Iraq for the first time, the feeling of helplessness stung. Even worse, I felt both guilty and grateful because I was here, in the United States, and not there. I was one of the lucky ones, thanks to the help of individuals like my uncle.

In 2019, I finally found a way to give back. I joined a non-profit group called No One Left Behind: https://rly.pt/2UjwHOU, whose mission is to help Iraqi and Afghan interpreters resettle with grace into the United States through Special Immigrant Visa programs. Because of their work with the U.S. military during the campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan, these interpreters are targeted by America’s adversaries. They are called “traitors” and “infidels” within their respective countries. In Iraq, if ISIS does not kill you for working with the Americans, then Iran’s Shia Militia Group will get you. Shia Militia Groups were not the first to target interpreters; al-Qaeda in Iraq, and their successors ISIS, also targeted interpreters since the beginning of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Afghans are subject to the same merciless treatment by the Taliban.

Brown University, in partnership with No One Left Behind, recently published “The Costs of Working with the Americans in Afghanistan: The United States’ Broken Special Immigrant Visa Process”: https://rly.pt/3jzVFEm The study tracked over 300 cases of those killed for being associated with the U.S. We only know about these cases because they were publicized in the media, but the true numbers are more likely in the thousands. Perhaps the cruelest aspect of these attacks is the targeting not only of individuals who worked with the U.S. military, but also their families. This is the hell-on-earth many of these interpreters, who served valiantly next to U.S troops during the last 20 years of war, face every day.

With the U.S. officially withdrawing from Afghanistan by September 2021, my biggest concern is what the U.S. government will do for all these interpreters who have supported the U.S. government over the past two decades of conflict. Or, more ominously, what it might not do. Will it simply leave them for the Taliban to kill, as if they had somehow outlived their usefulness? Britain has signaled it will relocate Afghans: https://rly.pt/3wc1xWE, who worked with the United Kingdom to ensure interpreters and their families will not face persecution. I am hopeful America will do the right thing and keep our pledge to the interpreters who worked alongside us. I have faith we will not let these people be slaughtered because of their association with us.

The Taliban recently tweeted about interpreters who worked with the U.S. military in Afghanistan, stating they understand why interpreters would be scared, but interpreters need to show remorse for their actions because they were misled during the occupation of Afghanistan by the U.S. If interpreters show remorse and promise never to be treasonous again to their country, the Taliban said they can live free of danger in Afghanistan. But few believe this to be true—the Taliban will destroy those who have worked with the United States.

This all sounds too familiar. In Iraq, ISIS posted the names of interpreters who worked for the United States on mosque doors, warning them of death and asking them to repent. Some interpreters posted repentance letters out of fear saying that they would have nothing to do with the Americans anymore. Many were still killed later.

War is ugly and it makes for unimaginable ethical dilemmas. In an effort to bring awareness to what interpreters face and make the subject matter easier to digest, CBS recently produced a sitcom called “The United States of Al”: https://rly.pt/2UPltlg about a friendship between a U.S. military member and an Afghan translator who resettles in the United States (first episode here). Air Force jokes aside, it is a wonderful comedy and I hope it sheds some much-needed light on what these interpreters sacrifice by working with the U.S. military.

I think about my uncle all the time. I am fortunate his children—my cousins—are living in the United States as refugees, safe under the American flag. I know I can never bring back my uncle, but I can do something to save other people. Working with No One Left Behind is just one way to push back against that all-too-familiar feeling of helplessness—and to keep the promises made to those who fight shoulder-to-shoulder with us.

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the Department of Defense, RallyPoint or any agency of the U.S. government. This article was edited by Mr. Matthew Taylor, Ms. Sarah Maples, Mr. Phil Caruso and a Special Immigrant Visa holder who wishes to remain anonymous due to safety concerns.