h******g
发帖数: 209 | 1 Afghan Interpreter Who Helped Rescue Biden in 2008 Left Behind After U.S.
Exit
Mohammed, stranded in Afghanistan and hiding from the Taliban, makes a White
House appeal: ‘Don’t forget me here’
Thirteen years ago, Afghan interpreter Mohammed helped rescue then- Sen. Joe
Biden and two other senators stranded in a remote Afghanistan valley after
their helicopter was forced to land in a snowstorm. Now, Mohammed is asking
President Biden to save him.
“Hello Mr. President: Save me and my family,” Mohammed, who asked not to
use his full name while in hiding, told The Wall Street Journal as the last
Americans flew out of Kabul on Monday. “Don’t forget me here.”
Mohammed, his wife, and their four children are hiding from the Taliban
after his yearslong attempt to get out of Afghanistan got tangled in the
bureaucracy. They are among countless Afghan allies who were left behind
when the U.S. ended its 20-year military campaign in Afghanistan on Monday.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki thanked the interpreter for his
service Tuesday and said the U.S. remains committed to getting Afghan allies
out of the country. “We will get you out,” Ms. Psaki said after a Wall
Street Journal reporter read Mohammed’s message to the president. “We will
honor your service.”
Mohammed was a 36-year-old interpreter for the U.S. Army in 2008 when two U.
S. Army Black Hawk helicopters made an emergency landing in Afghanistan
during a blinding snowstorm, according to Army veterans who worked with him
at the time. On board were three U.S. senators: Mr. Biden (D., Del.), John
Kerry (D., Mass.) and Chuck Hagel (R., Neb.).
As a private security team with the former firm Blackwater and U.S. Army
soldiers monitored for any nearby Taliban fighters, the crew sent out an
urgent call for help. At Bagram Air Field, Mohammed jumped in a Humvee with
a Quick Reaction Force from the Arizona National Guard working with the 82nd
Airborne Division and drove hours into the nearby mountains to rescue them,
said Brian Genthe, then serving as a staff sergeant in the Arizona National
Guard who brought Mohammed along on the rescue mission.
Mohammed spent much of his time in a tough valley where the soldiers said he
was in more than 100 firefights with them. The soldiers trusted him so much
that they would sometimes give him a weapon to use if they got in trouble
when they went into tough areas, Mr. Genthe said.
“His selfless service to our military men and women is just the kind of
service I wish more Americans displayed,” Lt. Col. Andrew R. Till wrote in
June to support Mohammed’s application for a Special Immigrant Visa.
Mohammed’s visa application became stuck after the defense contractor he
worked for lost the records he needed for his application, Mr. Genthe said.
Then the Taliban seized Kabul on Aug. 15. Like thousands of others, Mohammed
said he tried his luck by going to the Kabul airport gates, where he was
rebuffed by U.S. forces. Mohammed could get in, they told him, but not his
wife or their children.
Army veterans called lawmakers and issued dire appeals to U.S. officials for
help. “If you can only help one Afghan, choose [Mohammed],” wrote Shawn O
’Brien, an Army combat veteran who worked with him in Afghanistan in 2008.
“He earned it.”
During the 2008 presidential campaign, Mr. Biden, who was then running for
vice president, often spoke of the helicopter incident and the trip as a way
of burnishing his foreign-policy credentials.
“If you want to know where al Qaeda lives, you want to know where [Osama]
bin Laden is, come back to Afghanistan with me,” he said on the campaign
trail in October, just months after the February rescue. “Come back to the
area where my helicopter was forced down…in the middle of those mountains.
I can tell you where they are.”
The trip to Afghanistan was on one of the many overseas trips the three
senators took together.
Their Army helicopters’ emergency landing in a valley about 20 miles
southeast of Bagram Air Field wasn’t in an area that was Taliban-controlled
, but it wasn’t exactly friendly. The day before, the 82nd Airborne had
killed nearly two dozen Taliban insurgents in a major fight about 10 miles
away, said soldiers who fought there at the time.
While trying to stay warm in the helicopter, the three men joked about
throwing snowballs at the Taliban, the senators said later.
“We were going to send Biden out to fight the Taliban with snowballs, but
we didn’t have to do it,” Mr. Kerry said after they were rescued.
Instead, Mohammed joined the Army Humvees and three Blackwater SUVs as they
barreled through thick snow to find the helicopters. The senators were sped
back to the U.S. base with the convoy, said Matthew Springmeyer, who was
leading the Blackwater security in the helicopters that day.
Mohammed stood guard with Afghan soldiers on one side of the helicopters
while members of the 82nd Airborne protected the other side, said Mr. Genthe
. When curious locals came too close, Mohammed would use a bullhorn to tell
them to go away. They stayed out there for 30 hours in the freezing
temperatures until the U.S. military could get the helicopters back in the
air and the soldiers back to Bagram.
Now, Mohammed is in hiding. “I can’t leave my house,” he said on Tuesday.
“I’m very scared.”
http://www.wsj.com/articles/afghan-interpreter-who-helped-rescue-biden-in-2008-left-behind-after-u-s-exit-11630429285 | h******g
发帖数: 209 | 2 jb总统真不错，13年的恩都记得，没有派地狱火去把这翻译全家给炸了，只不过把他留
在阿富汗，顺便骂了阿富汗人一句懦夫就完了。真是滴水之恩，涌泉相报。这翻译应该
感谢jb总统不杀之恩。看了肯定让jb的败粉们感动，坚决要做它的铁票，死票。 | h******g
发帖数: 209 | 3 Afghan Interpreter Who Helped Rescue Biden in 2008 Left Behind After U.S.
Exit
Mohammed, stranded in Afghanistan and hiding from the Taliban, makes a White
House appeal: ‘Don’t forget me here’
Thirteen years ago, Afghan interpreter Mohammed helped rescue then- Sen. Joe
Biden and two other senators stranded in a remote Afghanistan valley after
their helicopter was forced to land in a snowstorm. Now, Mohammed is asking
President Biden to save him.
“Hello Mr. President: Save me and my family,” Mohammed, who asked not to
use his full name while in hiding, told The Wall Street Journal as the last
Americans flew out of Kabul on Monday. “Don’t forget me here.”
Mohammed, his wife, and their four children are hiding from the Taliban
after his yearslong attempt to get out of Afghanistan got tangled in the
bureaucracy. They are among countless Afghan allies who were left behind
when the U.S. ended its 20-year military campaign in Afghanistan on Monday.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki thanked the interpreter for his
service Tuesday and said the U.S. remains committed to getting Afghan allies
out of the country. “We will get you out,” Ms. Psaki said after a Wall
Street Journal reporter read Mohammed’s message to the president. “We will
honor your service.”
Mohammed was a 36-year-old interpreter for the U.S. Army in 2008 when two U.
S. Army Black Hawk helicopters made an emergency landing in Afghanistan
during a blinding snowstorm, according to Army veterans who worked with him
at the time. On board were three U.S. senators: Mr. Biden (D., Del.), John
Kerry (D., Mass.) and Chuck Hagel (R., Neb.).
As a private security team with the former firm Blackwater and U.S. Army
soldiers monitored for any nearby Taliban fighters, the crew sent out an
urgent call for help. At Bagram Air Field, Mohammed jumped in a Humvee with
a Quick Reaction Force from the Arizona National Guard working with the 82nd
Airborne Division and drove hours into the nearby mountains to rescue them,
said Brian Genthe, then serving as a staff sergeant in the Arizona National
Guard who brought Mohammed along on the rescue mission.
Mohammed spent much of his time in a tough valley where the soldiers said he
was in more than 100 firefights with them. The soldiers trusted him so much
that they would sometimes give him a weapon to use if they got in trouble
when they went into tough areas, Mr. Genthe said.
“His selfless service to our military men and women is just the kind of
service I wish more Americans displayed,” Lt. Col. Andrew R. Till wrote in
June to support Mohammed’s application for a Special Immigrant Visa.
Mohammed’s visa application became stuck after the defense contractor he
worked for lost the records he needed for his application, Mr. Genthe said.
Then the Taliban seized Kabul on Aug. 15. Like thousands of others, Mohammed
said he tried his luck by going to the Kabul airport gates, where he was
rebuffed by U.S. forces. Mohammed could get in, they told him, but not his
wife or their children.
Army veterans called lawmakers and issued dire appeals to U.S. officials for
help. “If you can only help one Afghan, choose [Mohammed],” wrote Shawn O
’Brien, an Army combat veteran who worked with him in Afghanistan in 2008.
“He earned it.”
During the 2008 presidential campaign, Mr. Biden, who was then running for
vice president, often spoke of the helicopter incident and the trip as a way
of burnishing his foreign-policy credentials.
“If you want to know where al Qaeda lives, you want to know where [Osama]
bin Laden is, come back to Afghanistan with me,” he said on the campaign
trail in October, just months after the February rescue. “Come back to the
area where my helicopter was forced down…in the middle of those mountains.
I can tell you where they are.”
The trip to Afghanistan was on one of the many overseas trips the three
senators took together.
Their Army helicopters’ emergency landing in a valley about 20 miles
southeast of Bagram Air Field wasn’t in an area that was Taliban-controlled
, but it wasn’t exactly friendly. The day before, the 82nd Airborne had
killed nearly two dozen Taliban insurgents in a major fight about 10 miles
away, said soldiers who fought there at the time.
While trying to stay warm in the helicopter, the three men joked about
throwing snowballs at the Taliban, the senators said later.
“We were going to send Biden out to fight the Taliban with snowballs, but
we didn’t have to do it,” Mr. Kerry said after they were rescued.
Instead, Mohammed joined the Army Humvees and three Blackwater SUVs as they
barreled through thick snow to find the helicopters. The senators were sped
back to the U.S. base with the convoy, said Matthew Springmeyer, who was
leading the Blackwater security in the helicopters that day.
Mohammed stood guard with Afghan soldiers on one side of the helicopters
while members of the 82nd Airborne protected the other side, said Mr. Genthe
. When curious locals came too close, Mohammed would use a bullhorn to tell
them to go away. They stayed out there for 30 hours in the freezing
temperatures until the U.S. military could get the helicopters back in the
air and the soldiers back to Bagram.
Now, Mohammed is in hiding. “I can’t leave my house,” he said on Tuesday.
“I’m very scared.”
http://www.wsj.com/articles/afghan-interpreter-who-helped-rescue-biden-in-2008-left-behind-after-u-s-exit-11630429285 | h******g
发帖数: 209 | 4 jb总统真不错，13年的恩都记得，没有派地狱火去把这翻译全家给炸了，只不过把他留
在阿富汗，顺便骂了阿富汗人一句懦夫就完了。真是滴水之恩，涌泉相报。这翻译应该
感谢jb总统不杀之恩。看了肯定让jb的败粉们感动，坚决要做它的铁票，死票。 |
|
