We played a significant role supporting the enactment of theEmergency Security Supplemental Appropriations Act (Public Law 117-31),which improved the Afghan SIV program and was signed into law on July 30, 2021. Noor, who began working with the Australian army in 2010, says initially only his wife knew about his work. 
You need the third-party contractor who physically cut your paycheck to also verify your service. KHAN: The guy who was interviewing me - I told him, I came here from Kandahar. KHAN: Yes, I know someone is asking God to help me. I was in Kabul at that time so it took me a month to collect all the letters. It has been three years now and I am still waiting. Men who risked their lives to help the British forces over the past 20 years say they are now in hiding with their families, and warn that without urgent assistance from the UK they will be killed. Theres no peace, no resolution and no harmony. But the Taliban have since returned, more powerful than ever, regaining almost all lost territory. The 31-year-old, who applied to the ARAP scheme earlier this year, but stopped receiving responses from the UK government several weeks ago, added: We cant stay here, its not safe. I was under the impression that they will only leave when there is absolute peace in Afghanistan, he says. They had taken over several key cities and were pushing towards Kabul.
MARTIN: We've been following the journey of Khan, an Afghan man who served as an interpreter for the U.S. military during the occupation of Afghanistan. Anyway, I still went ahead and they reopened my case in 2016 and told me that they will hold an inquiry again. He recently met with Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton and opposition leader Bill Shorten to press his case. After the U.S. drove the Taliban from power in 2001, Afghans extended the same hospitality to the Americans because most Afghans did feel liberated by the U.S. With the Taliban ousted, the soccer stadium in Kabul would no longer be used to publicly execute people who had committed petty crimes or women accused of infidelity. Australian forces had been deployed in Afghanistan since 2001, after US President George W Bush declared his 'war on terror' after the Sept 11 attacks. I personally served alongside many Afghans in Kunar, some of whom have made it out and others who've decided to stay behind or haven't yet found a way out.
France 24 is not responsible for the content of external websites. I sold that out. MARTIN: Matt Zeller is still working on getting Afghan interpreters out of the country. "It doesnt just affect the applicant - it affects our veterans that are waiting to make sure that those people who provided loyal service to them in areas of conflict that Australia keeps its promise - these guys are waiting for their interpreters to be resettled and provided safety here in Australia., "Im more worried about my children," says Abdul who says he last heard from the department in 2016. (Non-English language spoken). I talked with Khan for the first time in September of last year. Theres no safety, theres nothing. I think these are important. I went forward and picked him up and brought him back to the camp. Then those neighbors disappear for a day or two. His parents finally told him he had to leave for his own safety, somewhere where people didn't know him. People are literally clinging on to U.S. military aircraft as they try to take off. I received a reply from the department that they will conduct an inquiry into my case. Accuracy and availability may vary. They called me on the phone 10 days ago and asked where I was. His family, too, also called me personally to thank me for helping him out.
He says a number of ex-service and current serving members of the ADF have contacted him with concerns for their interpreters who have still not been resettled in Australia. "When he went back to Australia he still remembered me and brought me a lot of presents when he came back after his leave. And then unfortunately, I got disappointed and came back to Kandahar. I submitted my application to the Australian government in 2013. A third former staff member for the UK forces, who has fled to Pakistan but says he is still facing regular death threats from the Taliban and is afraid to go outside, said: Every day I am crying. Click on the player above to watch the report by Cyril Payen. And when he signed up, no one said, hey, sign on the bottom line, and we'll hand you a U.S. visa. Former defence minister Johnny Mercer said the figure was likely to be considerably higher, and accused the government of abandoning hundreds of former staff despite having had ample opportunity to get them out. MARTIN: I asked Matt Zeller what he thought of Tom West's remarks to me. Citing the recent murder, Mr Mercer warned: Its going to happen again. Our Refugees Welcome campaign is calling for the government to offer sanctuary to as many people as possible. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact MARTIN: Hi. MARTIN: I ask again if he's heard anything from the U.S. government. I am sick with fear. The Taliban are searching house by house, looking for men who worked for the coalition forces, especially for UK forces. Everyone was already carrying a lot of stuff and so no one was able to carry him.
People are very clear that the international forces left Afghanistan way before time. WASHINGTONThe U.S. estimates it left behind the majority of Afghan interpreters and others who applied for visas to flee Afghanistan, a senior State Department official said on Wednesday, despite frantic .css-1h1us5y-StyledLink{color:var(--interactive-text-color);-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;}.css-1h1us5y-StyledLink:hover{-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;}efforts to evacuate those at risk of Taliban retribution. MARTIN: Khan is scared, too.
Khan remembered a promise that he had heard over and over, that the U.S. government had his back. Go to such and such gate at the Kabul airport, and they will put you and your family on a plane. By clicking Register you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to ourTerms of use,Cookie policyandPrivacy notice. ZELLER: I don't want to say it was comical. This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. The Australian forces used to run a program called the Provincial Reconstruction Team through which they helped ordinary citizens. You had moved to a new neighborhood out of concerns for your own safety. is a 501(c)(3) organization. The Independent has backed calls for ministers to be more ambitious in its plan to resettle Afghans. Biden said he would pull all U.S. troops out of Afghanistan by September. 
There was just those of us on the mission. This means it has been almost six years. I guess last time that we talked with you, this was in September. This is a defined cohort thats not getting any bigger. And those conversations, which were really intelligence-gathering operations for the U.S., were impossible without the help of Afghan interpreters. They want to kill me. And the Afghans that we went through that with - you know, they might have started out as complete strangers to us upon arrival, but by the time it was time for our unit to leave, saying goodbye to those people was one of the most heartbreaking moments of my life. Khan constantly feared for his family's safety. 
Its going to keep happening. We haven't gotten an official communication in this regard, but it's a very worrying statement. He worked for a rotating cast of colonels and captains during the war, and no one had told him that he should get letters of recommendation from his U.S. supervisors or their contact information before they went back to the U.S. ZELLER: The next thing is not only do you need the American who served with you to write you a letter. ZELLER: Combat, war is the most intense experience a human can endure. Theres no future for us here. She was pregnant at the time and because of those threats, we couldnt leave the house. That's it. But first, you have to survive. There was nothing left for him to do, and he says all the while, the threats against him continued. Are you still living there? 2022 Copyright France 24 - All rights reserved. No one. Here's President George W. Bush in 2004. MARTIN: So at least you feel safer there and anonymous. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the GooglePrivacy policyandTerms of serviceapply. We're calling him that for his safety. MATT ZELLER: You kind of had to sort of laugh at just how awful they made the process of trying to get a lifesaving visa on these applicants. - and the instructions.
They trusted us with our information and interpretation when we would be out on missions and would act on our information. So if tens of thousands of people applied - and so I have to wait. That makes you feel you will be shot and dead every day you're living in Kandahar, where all the Taliban's around you. In 2021, we evacuated 493 Afghans to safety and provided $493,000 in resettlement assistance to 330 SIV families newly resettling in the United States. I request to the British government to help those who have been left behind.. KHAN: We were lucky we survived.
KHAN: Yes, I am in a car.
I need to get out of here as soon as possible.
What is America's responsibility to those people? The Biden administration clearly feels an obligation to help Afghanistan to get out of this humanitarian crisis that has emerged after the U.S. evacuation. No one else. Interviews by Abdullah Alikhil SBS PashtoWritten & produced by Maya Jamieson. I am still in touch with some of them through the internet.
How are you? Afghan interpreters who worked for the British army have told The Independent they are facing death threats from the Taliban after being left behind during the mass evacuation from Kabul. UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: It's heartbreaking, Rachel. All his emails to the State Department about his visa have gone unanswered.
KHAN: So now I'm living in a different area of the city within an apartment where my neighbors - they don't know what I'm doing. For five years Jason Scanes has been campaigning to bring his interpreter, Hassan, to Australia. Distribution and use of this material are governed by Then in 2009, he called Matt over Skype and said the Taliban had put him on a hit list. They sent me a 10-12 page form and asked me to fill it in.
KHAN: It was a time Kabul was collapsed, and I was stuck, and I was waiting at one of the hotel for a week.
This also included projects such as building schools and hospitals, but with their withdrawal, all these projects and progress stopped altogether. Theres no reason why these people shouldnt be getting a professional service.
He goes, there's this newly created visa called the special immigration visa. While Home Affairs is responsible for all necessary character, security and health checks its the Department of Defences role to verify that an applicant has worked for the ADF and assess whether there are valid reasons to believe they are at a risk of harm.
By working for the U.S. government, local interpreters and employees in Iraq and Afghanistan risked their lives for Americans. KHAN: I heard nothing. In my view its the least they deserve.. Who will listen to us? We work to ensure the United States honors its commitments to those who helped us in our time of need. Afghans could dance, play music. People are scared, especially those who work with the U.S. or other foreign troops. If you would please help to process my interview or visa application, the sooner you can - and he promised. MARTIN: In fact, he feels so unsafe, he drove to the outskirts of town to talk to me. MARTIN: Khan waited six years. "I have not been informed about the length of the process. I am hopeful for their support..
ZELLER: It is so powerful that you don't come back the same from it. I put myself on Afghan time so that I mirrored what time it was in Kabul so that I would be awake when they were awake. Download the France 24 app, I would have been killed: The plight of Afghanistans female artists, 'Now it's like a grave': Afghan women tell FRANCE 24 of their fears for the future, IS group claims responsibility for attempted rocket attack on Kabul airport, Crisis-hit Sri Lanka swears in new president, Sri Lankan parliament elects six-time PM Wickremesinghe as new president, Sri Lankan opposition leader drops candidacy, backs rival in presidential race, Sri Lanka declares fresh state of emergency ahead of key vote, Sri Lanka PM becomes acting president, election set for July 20, Intimidation, crackdowns blow the lid off Chinese rural banking scandal, Sri Lanka's president's resignation accepted, parliament to convene Saturday, Sri Lanka imposes curfew, protesters storm PMs office after president flees, Sri Lanka declares state of emergency hours after president flees for Maldives, Japan branch of Moonies church confirms mother of Abe suspect is member, Sri Lankan president in standoff with airport staff while attempting to flee, Mourners line up in Tokyo ahead of funeral for Abe, Japans longest-serving PM, Dissident Iranian film-maker Jafar Panahi arrested. Defences assessments are based on several factors including the applicants role, location, employment period and status of employment with the ADF, the Department told SBS Pashto. If the UK cant help us I will die.. Now I am happy and my family is feeling much more comfortable with our new life in the US. ZELLER: To put it succinctly, August felt like being on a deployment from my living room.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: There are scenes of panic and pandemonium at Kabul Airport today as desperate people pour onto the runway, trying to flee the country in what can only be described as a chaotic exodus. MARTIN: I want to introduce you to another voice here.
Majeed worked as an interpreter for Australian forces in 2010 but now lives in hiding because of threats to his family. Time is of the essence we have already seen the abduction or execution of those who partnered us in the fight against the Taliban..
BUSH: Yet our responsibilities to the people of Afghanistan have not ended.
We'll also hear from a U.S. official who acknowledges how hard this process has been. KHAN: Why did I help the U.S. Army? The same year Khan applied for the special immigrant visa, Matt and Janis created a nonprofit to help Afghans climb their way through the mountain of paperwork related to SIVs. The content you requested does not exist or is not available anymore. Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in, Please refresh your browser to be logged in. The Australian army personnel at the camp had never differentiated us from them.
It was the last plane out. In 2021, we evacuated 493 Afghans to safety and provided $493,000 in resettlement assistance to 330 SIV families newly resettling in the United States. I didn't sleep most of the time. The U.S. State Department set a time for his last immigration interview, which he believed meant he and his family would get out of the country before the U.S. left. I would ask - I'd hope that one day that the paradigm shift that we can hopefully achieve is that the government doesn't see this as a promise to try and help others but sees this as the same fundamental commitment that we make to American service members who go into harm's way that, we won't leave you behind. Once we were out patrolling. And since then, he has lived in fear of reprisals by the Taliban, who's going after anyone who worked with U.S. forces. In the early years, Afghans welcomed the troops into their homes with tea and small dishes of golden raisins and pistachios. It is a completely transformative experience. But the survivors of another war in a different part of the world are still desperate to get out. KHAN: How things are going somehow is getting worse because there are security incidents happening recently, food scarcity, spike of prices. That didn't happen. In December, though, the State Department said more than 60,000 Afghan interpreters and others who've applied for visas into the U.S. after working alongside American forces are still pending.
Who are the key members of the Talibans new all-male government? MARTIN: When I talked to Khan in January, I asked him if this whole experience had changed his opinion of America. Since then, I have sent them numerous emails, and each time they write back that my case is under investigation and that I should stay in touch with them and that the Minister has yet not made a decision on my application.
We appreciate it. With that car I work pizza and Amazon delivery.
I keep sending them emails but getting no reply.
It was when I returned home after their (Australias) exit that one day some friends saw my documents and certificates that I had kept away in a bag, and got to know that all this time I was not working at a factory, but with the Australian army as an interpreter.. He became a student and finished an undergraduate and a master's degree. our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. USand allied forces have mounted a massive two-week effort to ferry foreign nationals and tens of thousands of vulnerable Afghansout of the Taliban's reach. People know about my job with the Australian army as an interpreter. So it's something that really hurts. Scarcity of food is something very, very important, and people cannot buy flour or daily eating materials. His special immigrant visa was approved. This episode was produced by Rhaina Cohen and Lisa Weiner, edited by Jenny Schmidt. France 24 - International breaking news, top stories and headlines. In truth, all the Afghans will tell you that by far the most frustrating, most difficult thing they had to endure was trying to simply make it through the bureaucracy of proving that they had earned one of these visas and then getting it issued to them so they could get out. Personally, I think four years is enough time for any case to be processed. "Since then, I have been receiving the same reply every time I send in an inquiry, and it says that the case is in process and will take some time. They were based mainly in Uruzgan Province but they also worked together with Coalition forces in Kandahar. We'll bring you snapshots of his life from weeks after the Taliban took over the country and what it's taking for him to survive now. We advocate for the Special Immigrant Visa programs, help evacuate deserving SIV applicants to safety, and provide resettlement assistance to help them start new lives as Americans. There was no Afghan and American. As Western evacuations from Afghanistan wind down ahead of an August 31 deadline, FRANCE 24's senior reporter in Kabul speaks to Afghans who worked alongside the French military and now say they are being left behind. He's an Army veteran who worked closely with Afghan interpreters when he served in Afghanistan in 2008. Join over 165,000 petition signers telling Congress to Recognize Afghan & Iraqi Translators as Heroes, The car which was donated from No One Left Behind has really changed my life. I turned around, and I ran away, back to the shops, so I survived. Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit www.djreprints.com. We advocate for the Special Immigrant Visa programs, help evacuate deserving SIV applicants to safety, and provide resettlement assistance to help them start new lives as Americans. Check out CBSs The United States of Al, airing Thursdays at 8:30pm EST! They are safe for now, out of the shelling. Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later?
Daily newsletterReceive essential international news every morning, Take international news everywhere with you! "If I had the slightest idea about where this life and job would bring me, I would have never married,, I am very hopeful that the Australian people and the government will not let us down, and that they want the best for us in these times. Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number, Please enter a name between 1 and 40 characters, You must be over 18 years old to register.
Who is thinking about this human rights or women rights or schools - girl schools? We need your help today.
And then this. Ministers were warned about this, he told The Independent. Continue reading your article witha WSJ membership, Copyright 2022 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved, Save 15% or more on the Best Buy deal of the Day, Free $20 Home Depot coupon with Pro Xtra membership sign up, Black Friday in July: Extra 30% off sitewide - JCPenney coupon code, 60% off running shoes and apparel at Nike.
It's not an easy one to satisfy across the board, I have to tell you.
I dont know why everything has gone very slow.. Prime minister Boris Johnson admitted last month that 311 Afghans who were eligible under the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP) scheme set up to transfer those who helped the UK military to safety in Britain had been left behind in the country during the evacuation effort in August, known as Operation Pitting. OVER 2,500 SIV FAMILIES SERVED IN THE U.S. Help us keep Americas promise, donate today. They said Afghans can no longer leave the country without explicit permission from their government. Nothing is hidden from anyone. Taliban fighters are everywhere, he said. One day, I was just walking to my home.
The Taliban knows me. WEST: It's heartbreaking, Rachel. I reverted back to old military habits. Theyll be more than likely changing vehicles every couple of days, changing the routes they travel, basically a lot of them are in lockdown, like theyre in a prison; they cant communicate with family and friends for fear of putting them in danger and also themselves being targeted; they struggle to find jobs because nobody wants to employ an interpreter thats basically classified as a spy or having worked with coalition forces because then that business then becomes a target as well.". MARTIN: When we come back, what happens to Khan and his struggle to get out. MARTIN: Khan still thinks any day, the Taliban could knock on his door and arrest him for working with the enemy.
The Taliban knows me. I can now support my family. There are no strings attached, no expectations. It was a time of immense hope, and Afghans gave Americans credit. KHAN: Yeah. I had never even imaged a life where I would be receiving threats, and I had no plan B.. By now, the Taliban were making huge gains.
Theyre calling my friends, asking where I am. For Abdul, who applied for his protection visa in 2013, the Coalitions exit was premature. Some made it through without paperwork, while American citizens and visa applicants were unable to enter and board flights out.
I heard on the news that the UK was saying there are no military flights, dont come to Kabul airport, wait somewhere safe, and we will try to transport you later, he said. Americans hunted Taliban and al-Qaida and later ISIS, one village at a time. I think a lot of people have the misconception that interpreters are just standing there interpreting the spoken word, but it's a lot more involved than that. I was told to wait.
We are committed to ensuring that our allies and their families are evacuated to safety, and that when they arrive in the United States, they have adequate resources to contribute meaningfully to society as new Americans.
We've been in touch with an interpreter named Khan. We need to stop banging on about what a success this was and accept that we have abandoned the vast majority of our people. MARTIN: For Khan, it looked like things were finally falling into place. There was ample opportunity to get them out.
The family managed to escape, and is now in hiding close to the Uzbekistan border. I sent my documents in 2015. We survived around 12 ambushes. So where shall we start? KHAN: We were threatened directly and through phone calls, through letters. None of the people are thinking about us. He came back to Afghanistan in 2014, but the same threat was there. And while Matt Zeller says his organization No One Left Behind helped evacuate thousands of Afghans with special immigrant visas ZELLER: As we feared and have now confirmed, the vast majority of the people that we were trying to get out, that we sought to get out, the SIVs never made it even onto the airfield. "Due to a medical emergency, my wife gave birth to a stillborn baby. MARTIN: Four days later, the Taliban walked into Kabul and took over the government without firing a shot. We played a significant role supporting the enactment of the. Everyone knows about my past and the work Ive done..
KHAN: The first time I started my job as interpreter was December 2004. GEORGE W BUSH: The Taliban regime is coming to an end.
The form had questions about my job with the Australian forces as an interpreter, about me and my family. Federal Tax ID 47-1251659. I got them translated and certified and sent them the documents. If we cross, I know theres a UNHCR camp over there and they might help us, but the soldiers at the border wont let anyone cross without documents.
Our supervising senior producer is Bruce Auster, and our supervising producer is Liana Simstrom. https://www.wsj.com/articles/majority-of-interpreters-other-u-s-visa-applicants-were-left-behind-in-afghanistan-official-says-11630513321. He's the special representative to Afghanistan.
An MoD spokesperson said: During Operation Pitting we worked tirelessly to safely evacuate as many people out of Afghanistan as possible. The last I heard from them was in December 2016, asking me to inform them of any changes that may occur in my contact details or if my email address changes. In those 15 days, I think I got something like 30 hours total sleep, so I was averaging about two hours a day. And unfortunately, we're hearing this kind of message from a lot of Afghans who do feel in fear for their lives and want to leave. No one does. KHAN: Anonymous and safe and hidden till I hear something from the States that my applications or my visa is ready or, what should I do? I - that's all I have. KHAN: I'm driving (ph) on my savings, and I had a small piece of land where I had to build my house. Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in, We cant stay here, its not safe says one of hundreds of former interpreters left behind fearing for their lives, Find your bookmarks in your Independent Premium section, under my profile, One former interpreter and his family has to flee Kabul after they were unable to board an evacuation flight, and are now in hiding.