Man desperate to get family out of Afghanistan as Taliban take hold

By Brian MacMillan

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    PORTLAND, Oregon (KPTV) — An interpreter who helped the United States military in Afghanistan is now desperate to get his family out of the country.

The Oregon man says his family is in grave danger with the Taliban takeover, including two brothers who also worked for the U.S. military.

“I was trying to go to sleep and I’m still thinking it’s a dream. I don’t think it really happened, but it did,” John said. FOX 12 will not be using John’s last name or show his face to protect his family overseas.

Over the past week this former U.S. military interpreter has watched his country be taken over by the Taliban.

“I ended up talking to one of my brothers today,” John said. “He was crying and couldn’t say anything. He finally told me that there was a girl shot by the Taliban this morning probably half a mile away from our house.”

John now lives in Oregon, but he was born and raised in Afghanistan. As a teenager, he got a job with the United States military. In late 2008, he became an interpreter, becoming the middleman between the Afghan townspeople and local officials, and the U.S. soldiers on the ground.

“We were happy when the U.S. military came in and they needed help, they needed support, and I was one of those guys who jumped in and said, ‘I will do it,’” John said.

Retired U.S. Army Staff Sergeant David Benson was in John’s first platoon.

“John was real instrumental in forming a bond between the people of Afghanistan and the U.S. forces,” Benson said. “He worked with us, he slept with us, he ate with us, we teased him like we tease anybody else.”

“I’m proud to call them my brothers. We’re family,” John said.

Benson says John’s work was invaluable. He helped save soldiers’ lives on multiple occasions.

“His life was on the line just like any U.S. soldier when we’d go out of the wire,” Benson said.

After eight years of service, John was given what he was promised. He earned a visa to live in the United States and a chance to start a new life.

John says in 2014 the Taliban killed his brother-in-law and his seven-year-old nephew. They also shot his sister. She’s alive after fleeing to another country. The rest of his family, including two of his brothers who also worked for the United States, are still stuck in Afghanistan. He knows there are many others who helped the U.S. who are stranded and scared.

“I’m mad. I can’t even stop thinking about those people who supported the us military,” John said. “They are left behind to the mercy of the Taliban. They’re going to go after them, and they are going to kill each and every one of them.”

Benson is part of a group of soldiers writing to government officials pleading to help John’s family.

“They took care of us for 20 years. They put their life on the line for us. It’s the least we can do for them,” Benson said.

John says he is proud of his work and thankful for everything the United States did for his country over the past twenty years. I asked john if he blames the united states for everything that has happened over the past week. He says the U.S. pullout may have been too hasty, but he blames the Afghan government for not taking advantage of the money and support the U.S. provided.

He is now leaning on his American family, his brothers in arms, for support. For his family, all John can do is pray and hope.

“I’m always worrying about them. And now, I’m very, very worried about them, because there’s not a single day that I talk to them that they were not crying. All of them,” John said.

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