They began falling from the above and it took a second for Najeebullah to appreciate what they had been. U.S. greenback payments. Coming from above his head within the baggage declare space of the Seattle, Washington, airport. Then he realized his buddies had been showering him with money, a standard Afghan celebration.
The reunion for Najeebullah was a very long time coming. It began lengthy earlier than the US pulled out of Afghanistan, leaving these with Particular Immigrant Visas scrambling to flee.
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The GPS man
In 2003, Najeebullah, then 24, began working as an interpreter for U.S. Special Forces throughout a number of the most harmful preventing in Afghanistan’s Nangarhar, Kunar, Kabul, Laghman, and Nuristan provinces. Higher identified to his buddies as Najeeb, he was nicknamed “The GPS man” as a result of he intuitively knew the terrain and methods to keep away from the enemy.
Najeeb’s final title has been withheld from this text to guard his relations nonetheless dwelling in Afghanistan.
The White Home had launched the invasion of Afghanistan as a response to the September 11, 2001, terrorist assaults, utilizing airstrikes and troops to attempt to eradicate al-Qaida’s base of operations in Afghanistan.
The U.S. Congress accredited the Particular Immigrant Visa (SIV) program in 2009 for former interpreters who had been in peril of retaliation for serving to U.S. forces. The method was anticipated to take lower than a yr. However securing one of many extremely prized visas can take a number of.
In Najeeb’s 2010 suggestion papers from commanders, a former officer described his “fearlessness” and wrote, “I’ve trusted him with my life in fight.”
One other complimented his “intimate information of the Northern Konar and Nuristan provinces.”
A 3rd wrote about his “private braveness beneath hearth” and mentioned it was his “distinct honor” to work with Najeeb. His former officer, Colonel Stuart Farris, instructed VOA, “If there was one we’d do something for, he’s the man.”
One other former officer, Chief Warrant Officer 3 Jason Coombs, credited Najeeb with saving his life.
“He stopped me from going right into a compound as a result of there was an [enemy] inside,” Coombs wrote.
Regardless of 10 glowing suggestion letters shared with VOA for Najeebullah’s Particular Immigrant Visa, urging SIV approval “on the earliest doable alternative,” he by no means utilized, assuming the US and Afghan forces would defeat the Taliban.
Kidnappings and murders
In 2011, the Taliban kidnapped Najeeb’s 11-year previous son, Khalid, and demanded $150,000 ransom from his father, whom they thought-about a traitor. Najeeb left his interpreter job. The son was returned in a rescue 15 days later. Najeeb thought he ought to put together to depart Afghanistan to avoid wasting the remainder of his household, however for years he held out hope that the state of affairs would enhance.
That modified by 2017. Najeeb says determined to use for his Particular Immigrant Visa when he realized Afghanistan couldn’t be rebuilt to offer him the life he needed for his household. However essentially the most emotional toll was but to return. In April 2021, his 25-year-old son, Shaid, was on go away from the Afghan military and was touring to hitch his household on trip. The Taliban killed him.
“That was a really onerous time for me,” Najeeb mentioned, reducing his head, “to obtain his useless physique.”
Najeeb then lived in worry for his personal life because the Taliban tormented him with cellphone loss of life threats, calling him an “infidel” for working with the Individuals. VOA first reported his story in July 2021. Najeeb requested to make use of a pretend title within the report for defense.
He select “Haji,” a typical title for many who have made the spiritual Hajj pilgrimage. VOA additionally disguised his voice and face. Najeeb had been touring from metropolis to metropolis to flee the Taliban and their loss of life threats.
“They inform me, they know my place, they know the place I’m staying, they’re coming after me,” he mentioned on the time.
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Disappointment
In late August, the US instituted “Operation Allies Refuge” to evacuate Afghans beneath menace by the Taliban who had taken over the nation. Najeeb’s former officers networked to assist his quick household escape by means of the Pineapple Categorical, a volunteer group of veterans working aside from the U.S. authorities.
It was a harrowing expertise. Najeeb joined the group at Abbey Gate resulting in the Kabul Airport, waving his SIV utility and looking forward to code phrases. Out of the blue his toddler was knocked to the bottom unconscious by the surging crowd. He reached down to guard her and the stampeding mob dislocated his shoulder. The household returned to their home.
The subsequent night time, on August 26, one other group of Individuals was in place to rescue them. Najeeb and his household had been minutes away, strolling to the Abbey Gate, after they heard an explosion and gunfire. 13 U.S. service members and quite a few Afghans had been killed within the suicide bomb assault. Najeeb would name it “one of many worst nights of his life.”
Breakthrough
He and his household returned, dejected, to their everlasting house in Jalalabad. Col. Farris acknowledged the low morale and texted him this message, “Don’t surrender hope, maintain your religion in God. There shall be extra alternatives to get out.” Farris was proper.
In January, Farris labored with the non-profit No One Left Behind and former officer Jason Coombs to get Najeeb and household to the Kabul airport after which onto a flight to Pakistan, the place he would await approval of his SIV. They instructed him to get to Kabul, a troublesome activity for a needed man. Najeeb says the journey concerned circumventing or hiding contained in the automobile to keep away from detection at 12 Taliban checkpoints earlier than safely reaching his flight.
Coombs says the household with 5 kids was delayed in Pakistan by a Biden administration coverage requiring COVID vaccinations of youngsters.
“His medical prices and lodging had been $2,000,” says Coombs. “We needed to wire the cash and show it was not fraud. It was an ordeal.” Subsequent there have been points with flights out of Pakistan and No One Left Behind needed to pay for the airline tickets. However lastly in March, the visa was issued, the aircraft lifted off from Islamabad, and Najeeb felt huge aid.
‘They are going to be free perpetually’
Najeeb’s Particular Immigrant Visa extends to his household. He’s designated as a cq1, which means his visa permits him to use for everlasting U.S. residency, also referred to as a inexperienced card. After 5 years with the inexperienced card, he can apply for citizenship.
For now, the household of seven resides with a Seattle relative who additionally has 5 kids. Wherever Najeeb walks in the home, the infant toddler he saved on the Abbey gate is glued to his facet. She sleeps in his lap as he talks about his kids’s future.
“My daughters for the final two years didn’t go to the varsity,” Najeeb explains, “as a result of the Taliban … stopped the women from going to the varsity, so they’re very excited.”
Again in Afghanistan, he didn’t have any hope for his or her future or training. However dwelling in the US he says, “They’ll do something they need, go wherever they need, and be free perpetually.”
