Posted on Jun 19, 2021
Afghan Interpreters Who Await Visas After Helping The U.S. Now Fear For Their Lives
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https://www.npr.org/2021/06/19/ [login to see] /afghan-interpreters-who-await-visas-after-helping-the-u-s-now-fear-for-their-liv
On a warm May night, the sound of footsteps and a stranger's voice in the darkness outside his home startled a man in Afghanistan. Alarmed, he went to investigate. He saw that someone had affixed something to his door.
He found a handwritten note: "You have been helping U.S. occupier forces and ... you are an ally and spy of infidels, we will never leave you alive."
Khan, in his early 30s, is only using his middle name out of fear for his life. He had already received a series of death threats — which came, he says, in the form of phone calls to his father from the Taliban. That night in May, insurgents made it clear they knew where he lived.
Khan inspected his home's main gate and found a grenade wired to the doorknob, set to explode if someone opened the gate from inside. He and his father managed to dispose of the device before it could be triggered.
"Fortunately, no one was harmed," Khan tells NPR. He has a three-year-old son, and his wife is pregnant.
On a warm May night, the sound of footsteps and a stranger's voice in the darkness outside his home startled a man in Afghanistan. Alarmed, he went to investigate. He saw that someone had affixed something to his door.
He found a handwritten note: "You have been helping U.S. occupier forces and ... you are an ally and spy of infidels, we will never leave you alive."
Khan, in his early 30s, is only using his middle name out of fear for his life. He had already received a series of death threats — which came, he says, in the form of phone calls to his father from the Taliban. That night in May, insurgents made it clear they knew where he lived.
Khan inspected his home's main gate and found a grenade wired to the doorknob, set to explode if someone opened the gate from inside. He and his father managed to dispose of the device before it could be triggered.
"Fortunately, no one was harmed," Khan tells NPR. He has a three-year-old son, and his wife is pregnant.
Afghan Interpreters Who Await Visas After Helping The U.S. Now Fear For Their Lives
Posted from npr.org
Afghanistan
Immigration
Foreign Language
Taliban
Threat
Posted 3 y ago
Responses: 3
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
A pathway to safety, hampered by delays
In Afghanistan, a crisis is mounting. Taliban and other insurgents are targeting Afghan citizens like Khan who aided U.S. forces. As U.S. and NATO troops completely withdraw from Afghanistan within the next few weeks — the U.S. symbolic deadline is Sept. 11, but forces are expected to be out next month — thousands of Afghans who worked as interpreters, translators, drivers, cooks, cultural advisors and staff for the U.S. military and other U.S. government agencies fear being stranded.
The nonprofit No One Left Behind, which works to help interpreters secure visas, says several hundred Afghan interpreters and their family members have been killed since 2001 because of their association with the United States. The exact number is unknown, as neither the Pentagon nor the State Department keep track.
Afghans who supported the U.S. mission were offered a pathway to safety more than a decade ago. Special immigrant visas are available to those who worked with the U.S. and faced serious threats as a result of their employment. The U.S. has allowed 50 special visas per year to be issued to Afghan and Iraqi interpreters and translators, and has allocated 26,500 visas since December 2014 for Afghans employed by or on behalf of the U.S. government.
But the SIV program, administered by the State Department, is slow and hampered by administrative problems. The process is intended to take nine months to complete, but some applicants have waited years. A 2020 review by the State Department's Office of the Inspector General cites insufficient staffing and the absence of a centralized database.
Today, there are over 18,000 SIV applicants in Afghanistan waiting for approval to come to the U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said about half of these are in the early stages of the application process.
A pathway to safety, hampered by delays
In Afghanistan, a crisis is mounting. Taliban and other insurgents are targeting Afghan citizens like Khan who aided U.S. forces. As U.S. and NATO troops completely withdraw from Afghanistan within the next few weeks — the U.S. symbolic deadline is Sept. 11, but forces are expected to be out next month — thousands of Afghans who worked as interpreters, translators, drivers, cooks, cultural advisors and staff for the U.S. military and other U.S. government agencies fear being stranded.
The nonprofit No One Left Behind, which works to help interpreters secure visas, says several hundred Afghan interpreters and their family members have been killed since 2001 because of their association with the United States. The exact number is unknown, as neither the Pentagon nor the State Department keep track.
Afghans who supported the U.S. mission were offered a pathway to safety more than a decade ago. Special immigrant visas are available to those who worked with the U.S. and faced serious threats as a result of their employment. The U.S. has allowed 50 special visas per year to be issued to Afghan and Iraqi interpreters and translators, and has allocated 26,500 visas since December 2014 for Afghans employed by or on behalf of the U.S. government.
But the SIV program, administered by the State Department, is slow and hampered by administrative problems. The process is intended to take nine months to complete, but some applicants have waited years. A 2020 review by the State Department's Office of the Inspector General cites insufficient staffing and the absence of a centralized database.
Today, there are over 18,000 SIV applicants in Afghanistan waiting for approval to come to the U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said about half of these are in the early stages of the application process.
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