‘Right there with them’: Redmond Marine works to get translator out of Afghanistan

(Update: Adding video, interview with Marine)

'He's ultimately in imminent danger, every day'

REDMOND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- As Afghanistan’s capitol fell to the Taliban, one Redmond man's attention turned to his friend.

"Haji was there with them, in the dirt, going on every patrol, going on helo (helicopter) ops, right there with them taking fire,” Marine James Hurley told NewsChannel 21 on Monday.

Hurley served two tours totaling 12 months in Afghanistan. During one of his tours, his unit was aided for eight months by an Afghan translator named Haji.

"Even if we had, say, an app for translation, having that personal on-the-ground Afghan national to translate for us is a huge part of the mission," He said.

Hurley said Haji joked about coming to the U.S. eventually, but just a few months ago, it wasn't a joke any more.

"As we saw the withdrawal happening, we could see the imminent turmoil that was about to come to Afghanistan, the Taliban re-invasion -- we really started to pick up efforts," Hurley said.

But the process wasn't simple. His special immigration visa request was denied twice.

"The contractors that these interpreters worked through, the companies seemed to be, over the course of 10 years, dissolved or formed into other organizations," Hurley said.

And since Haji helped U.S. forces for more than 20 months, the clock is ticking to get him and his family out.

"He's ultimately in imminent danger, every day," Hurley said.

While the U.S. State Department works on stabilizing the situation at Kabul's airport, Hurley set up a GoFundMe for Haji, and it's already topped $20,000.

"The traffic to that was astonishing," he said.

But things became complicated again.

"I got an email Friday afternoon that the account withdrawing process was going to be temporarily locked until they could gather more information,” Hurley said. “Which Friday, Afghanistan was not -- I mean, it was in bad shape, but it was not where it was today."

His last email from GoFundMe was more positive, but they still need information Hurley said may be too complicated to get in such a fluid situation.

"Getting a plan established when you don't know what organization is going to fly him out, if there are even flights out, if the airport is even going to be standing in two days," Hurley said.

A GoFundMe spokesperson told NewsChannel 21, “We are currently in contact with this fundraiser’s organizer, and we are working with him to ensure the funds raised are sent as quickly as possible, while also maintaining compliance with all U.S. laws related to financial transactions.”

He said it's the only option.

"We owe it to them to protect them and get them out safely," Hurley said.