TRANSCRIPT
The Inside Story: The Flight of the Translators
Episode 55 – September 1, 2022
KANE FARABAUGH, VOA Midwest Correspondent:
Amid the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, tens of 1000’s of Afghans who labored alongside the navy made determined makes an attempt to flee.
“James” Former US Interpreter:
It’s actually scary as a result of brutal Taliban, they always remember us.
KANE FARABAUGH:
For these in a position to go away, the troublesome journey to everlasting resettlement was simply starting.
U.S. President Joe Biden:
There’s a dwelling for you in the US, when you so select. We are going to stand with you, simply as you stood with us.
Ismail, Former Translator:
The method is so difficult.
KANE FARABAUGH:
A 12 months after the U.S. departure from Afghanistan, we comply with the journey of a number of former translators for the U.S. navy, and people making an attempt to assist them.
Brian Cole, Former U.S. Army Officer:
I’m hoping I can monitor him down and perhaps function a sponsor for him again right here in the US if he’s in a position to come to the US.
KANE FARABAUGH:
Why?
Brian Cole, Former U.S. Army Officer:
Oh I cherished him…. I imply…
Brigadier Basic Michael Greer, U.S. Army:
He saved our lives, and a minimum of prevented some actually dangerous issues from occurring throughout that and on different events as nicely.
Former US Special Forces Interpreter:
They saved me, I saved them as a result of we’re teammates.
KANE FARABAUGH:
The Flight of the Translators… now, on the Inside Story.
Thanks for becoming a member of us, I’m Voice of America Midwest correspondent Kane Farabaugh
Throughout the two-decade lengthy warfare in Afghanistan as many as 50,000 Afghan interpreters labored alongside U.S. forces.
Between 2008 and the summer season of 2021, about 70,000 interpreters and their households moved to the US after securing “particular immigrant visas” or S-I-V’s. It’s estimated as many as 300 interpreters died in Afghanistan throughout this time whereas ready for visas.
Because the Taliban closed in on securing the nation because the U.S. withdrew, roughly 20,000 interpreters and their households had been nonetheless making an attempt to succeed in the US.
Now, a 12 months after the ultimate U.S. troops left Afghanistan, we discover the troublesome journey of a number of interpreters Voice of America had unique entry to throughout and after the U.S. navy withdrawal.
We start twenty years in the past, throughout my first go to to Afghanistan initially of what would grow to be America’s longest warfare.
The U.S. navy had been in Afghanistan only a few months after I landed at Bagram Airfield in Might of 2002 on a reporting project for the American Forces Community.
Brian Cole, U.S. Army Officer:
I’m Main Brian Cole with the 489th Civil Affairs Battalion.
KANE FARABAUGH:
I first met Charles Brian Cole on a windswept mountain slope in rural Afghanistan, working together with his Afghan interpreter “Hyadet” to ship college provides and meals to native villagers as a part of the U.S. Army’s effort to win the hearts and minds of Afghans.
Brian Cole, U.S. Army Officer:
We’re serving as a cease hole till the non-governmental organizations get right here to allow them to take over our mission.
KANE FARABAUGH:
Cole’s mission at the present time was distributing provides at a not too long ago re-opened college shut down by the Taliban previous to the U.S. invasion, within the distant village of Karabagh Bazaar which, we had been instructed, had simply been cleared of landmines.
Brian Cole, U.S. Army Officer:
I have a look at what we’re doing as an extension of our international coverage of getting the folks come again from Pakistan and Iran again into Afghanistan and if we need to have the folks come again, we have to help them as soon as they get right here to assist them get established.
KANE FARABAUGH:
Working with native translators like Hyadet was key to Cole’s efforts.
Later that very same day, the duo delivered meals to a different distant village, all a part of the U.S. navy’s technique to win the “hearts and minds” of the Afghan folks.
Brian Cole, U.S. Army Officer:
And what we’re doing by bringing the college provides and meals now’s we’re serving as a cease hole till the non-governmental organizations get right here to allow them to take over our mission.
KANE FARABAUGH:
Practically twenty years since we met in Afghanistan, after some effort monitoring him down, I realized Cole safely returned dwelling.
We reconnected final summer season at Fort Boonesborough outdoors Lexington, Kentucky.
Brian Cole, Kentucky Park Ranger:
I’m a state park ranger now, and I’ve like a phobia towards trash as a result of that’s one factor they had been doing… they’d take MRE (meals able to eat) bins and put explosives in it, or simply roadside trash would impulsively grow to be a mine, would grow to be an explosive.
KANE FARABAUGH:
Regardless of the chance, Cole felt his unit’s goals had been clear.
Brian Cole, Kentucky Park Ranger:
Our mission was to assist – two issues – to realize help for us being there, and to place within the water wells and issues like that, and to realize acceptance for the U.S. forces being there, and in addition the larger image was to realize help for the newly established Afghan authorities.
KANE FARABAUGH:
Cole believes the “huge image” misplaced focus when the U.S. invaded Iraq in 2003.
Brian Cole, Kentucky Park Ranger:
You’ll be able to solely have one essential effort. And we tried to have two essential efforts and I feel we took our eye off the ball after we did that.
KANE FARABAUGH:
The warfare in Afghanistan took a private toll on Cole. His daughter was only a month outdated when he deployed, and his absence was troublesome for his household again in Kentucky.
Brian Cole, Kentucky Park Ranger:
My spouse by no means accepted me going and we by no means recovered from that, and I ended up divorced.
KANE FARABAUGH:
Cole says he made sacrifices to construct a greater Afghanistan however that that mission was by no means achieved
Brian Cole, Kentucky Park Ranger:
I feel a greater strategy to say it’s the mission is over.
KANE FARABAUGH:
Cole says the legacy of the U.S. navy in Afghanistan is greatest measured by what didn’t occur.
Brian Cole, Kentucky Park Ranger:
We had been in a position to maintain comparable 9/11 assaults from occurring and I feel they’d have had we not gone. The coaching camps would have flourished.
KANE FARABAUGH:
Which is why he feels the U.S. navy ought to have stayed in Afghanistan, pointing to forces stationed in international locations like Germany and Japan since World Struggle Two as a precedent.
Brian Cole, Kentucky Park Ranger:
For those who go away too quickly, you’re again too early.
KANE FARABAUGH:
Cole has since retired from the U.S. Army.
After we frolicked collectively final summer season, he shared he had few regrets about his service in Afghanistan.
However he was fearful in regards to the destiny of his Afghan interpreter – Hyadet.
Brian Cole, Kentucky Park Ranger:
I’m hoping to search out him – Hyadet – I’m hoping I can monitor him down and perhaps function a sponsor for him again right here in the US if he’s in a position to come to the US.
KANE FARABAUGH:
Why?
Brian Cole, Kentucky Park Ranger:
Oh I cherished him…. I imply…
KANE FARABAUGH:
Cole credit Hyadet with saving the lives of his fellow troopers, and his personal.
KANE FARABAUGH:
What’s going to you do if you will get him right here?
Brian Cole, Kentucky Park Ranger:
Give him a spot to reside.
KANE FARABAUGH:
How do you assume he would admire that?
Brian Cole, Kentucky Park Ranger:
Oh he’d adore it. We talked about that. Coming to the US.
KANE FARABAUGH:
As I left my assembly with Cole, I made a decision I’d attempt to assist him find Hyadet. The duty was daunting. With out a latest recognized location, and even his full title and birthday, there was not a excessive degree of confidence we might have the ability to find him.
I spent a number of weeks speaking with employees at VOA’s Afghan language companies utilizing the minimal quantity of data I needed to see if they may assist find Hyadet in Afghanistan.
We had been unsuccessful, and the trouble ended when a lot of VOA’s employees left Afghanistan because the Taliban regained management.
Interpreters like “Hyadet” had been invaluable to American troops throughout their practically two decade presence in Afghanistan. As U.S. forces accomplished their withdrawal in August of 2021, these Afghans left behind feared for his or her lives.
VOA’s Carolyn Presutti spoke to a number of interpreters because the nation fell to the Taliban, engaged in a harmful effort to outlive till they may flee.
CAROLYN PRESUTTI, VOA Senior Washington Correspondent:
Haji could possibly be right here. Or he could possibly be right here. Or right here. He strikes from metropolis to metropolis for security from the Taliban.
For 11 years he labored as an interpreter for US Special Forces… braving firefights throughout Afghanistan — as he instructed VOA through Skype.
Former US Special Forces Interpreter:
Lugar Province and Kabul, Lot of those locations, Nuristan, Kunar, Nangarhar Province.
CAROLYN PRESUTTI:
Haji, the title we use to guard his identification, has awards for his shrapnel wounds and for saving the lives of two military captains.
Former US Special Forces Interpreter:
They saved me, I saved them as a result of we’re teammates.
CAROLYN PRESUTTI:
In 2010, the Taliban kidnapped Haji’s 9-year-old son due to his job and requested for ransom.
Former US Special Forces Interpreter:
They know I’m working with American forces and [they said,] “they’re infidel and you’re infidel since you are working with them and you’re offering every kind of assist to them.”
CAROLYN PRESUTTI:
The Afghan police rescued his son just a few weeks later in a gun battle together with his kidnappers. He says they killed an older son just a few months in the past. Now Haji is making an attempt to avoid wasting his personal life after cellphone threats from the Taliban.
Former US Special Forces Interpreter:
They inform me they know my place, they know the place I’m staying, they’re coming after me.
CAROLYN PRESUTTI:
Haji utilized for a Particular Immigrant Visa—an SIV— greater than three years in the past. The embassy instructed him processing is delayed. President Biden stated this about interpreters like Haji.
U.S. President Joe Biden:
There’s a dwelling for you in the US, when you so select. We are going to stand with you, simply as you stood with us.
Ismail Khan, Former US Interpreter:
The method is so difficult.
CAROLYN PRESUTTI:
Ismail Khan got here to the US on an SIV seven years in the past. He was an interpreter alongside Haji whom he nicknamed “GPS” when he spoke with VOA on Skype.
Ismail Khan, Former US Interpreter:
He knew the place to go, what path to take, what can be the best, the place are doable locations for them to ambush us – to be sure that they [we] are alert. He tried all the things to be sure that his crew would survive and achieve success.
CAROLYN PRESUTTI:
However Khan worries for his colleague.
Ismail Khan, Former US Interpreter:
They’re after him, he’s going to get killed if he doesn’t get out.
CAROLYN PRESUTTI:
Those that helped the Individuals typically protested in Afghanistan for protected passage out. On the time of the U.S. withdrawal… the Biden administration had permitted 25-hundred particular visas for Afghans who assisted the navy and one thousand like Khan settled within the U.S. However as many as 25,000 nonetheless remained, together with an interpreter we are going to name James.
CAROLYN PRESUTTI:
James has been denied the particular visa as a result of he can not present paperwork proof of his employment.
“James” Former US Interpreter:
It’s actually scary as a result of brutal Taliban, they always remember us.
CAROLYN PRESUTTI:
James instructed VOA that fears for his security – and that of his household — maintain him awake at evening. And, like Haji, he fears what’s going to occur after the whole withdrawal of U.S. troops.
KANE FARABAUGH:
Across the identical time final 12 months, U.S. Army Brigadier Basic Michael Greer rigorously scanned information studies as U.S. forces discovered themselves engaged in a chaotic withdrawal culminating on the Kabul airport.
He too was involved in regards to the destiny of the Afghan translator who labored with him throughout a 2004-2005 deployment, named “Hedayat.”
Brigadier Basic Michael Greer, U.S. Army:
We clicked virtually instantly. He was a few years older than a lot of the different interpreters. He made an ideal first impression. He was very mature. All the time on time, able to go. A part of our mission was to exit and communicate to village elders and authorities officers. We is perhaps gone for five or 7 or 9 days at a time. Hedayet was all the time the one I selected to go on these missions. He had an ideal sense of route. And judging distance, totally different areas. He had an actual eager sense of situational consciousness, I’d say just like road smarts however in Afghanistan.
KANE FARABAUGH:
Greer recalled one second specifically when he believes Hedayet’s road smarts saved their lives.
Brigadier Basic Michael Greer, U.S. Army:
We had been assembly with some village elders in an open air market, and there had been some Taliban exercise in that space not too long ago. Throughout the assembly Hedayet grabbed me by the arm and stated, “We should go now!”
KANE FARABAUGH:
Greer says Hedayet overheard conversations relaying their place to others outdoors the realm, and feared the worst.
Brigadier Basic Michael Greer, U.S. Army:
He saved our lives, and a minimum of prevented some actually dangerous issues from occurring throughout that and on different events as nicely.
KANE FARABAUGH:
Though Greer spent virtually each day of his deployment with Hedayet, after he departed Afghanistan in 2005, they misplaced contact. Web entry at the moment in Afghanistan wasn’t dependable, and Greer had problem monitoring him down.
Brigadier Basic Michael Greer, U.S. Army:
At the moment I unsuccessfully tried to search out contact data for Hedayet, and I wasn’t capable of finding something.
KANE FARABAUGH:
However a reference to one other former Afghan translator on social media who Greer helped resettle in the US surprisingly had Hedayet’s contact data, and shared it with Greer in 2020.
Brigadier Basic Michael Greer, U.S. Army:
So I reached out to Hedayet, 5 minutes after I received that contact data. He instructed me he was in Kabul, that he was making an attempt to get a visa.
KANE FARABAUGH:
Greer and Hedayet stayed linked as he gathered documentation wanted for a visa. Because the scenario in Afghanistan deteriorated amid the withdrawal of U.S. forces, Greer’s concern for Hedayet’s security grew.
Brigadier Basic Michael Greer, U.S. Army:
One night I noticed a information report that the Taliban had been going to cease permitting folks come to the airport. So I texted Hedayet, and instructed him to go to the airport instantly, to take the letters that he had and present the letters to an American. He didn’t reply to that textual content.
KANE FARABAUGH:
That’s as a result of Hedayat – who’s full title is Hedayatulloh Hesari – and his household of 6 had been desperately making an attempt to enter the Kabul Airport. He determined one of the best ways to get contained in the safety perimeter was to supply help to the U.S. Marines maintaining the crowds at bay.
Hedayatulloh Hesari, Former Translator:
I requested one of many U.S. troopers, and I instructed him – you need assistance? He requested are you able to communicate English, I instructed him I used to be an interpreter and I used to work with the U.S. Army for 9 years.
KANE FARABAUGH:
Amid the crush of 1000’s of Afghans making an attempt to get into the airport, the Marines accepted Hesari’s assist.
Hedayatulloh Hesari, Former Translator:
I did the interpretation for five hours. Lastly, I requested one of many captains, he was the chief of these troopers, I instructed him I used to work with the U.S. Army please assist me.
KANE FARABAUGH:
As Hesari stood in a ditch among the many throng for practically six hours translating, his personal pleas had been no totally different than most making an attempt to enter the airport at the moment. However the former Afghan translator had connections.
Brigadier Basic Michael Greer, U.S. Army:
I feel you need to put it in perspective, the six hours he was standing in a ditch it wasn’t a ditch, it was a sewage canal.
KANE FARABAUGH:
Simply inches away from security behind the airport fence and in a remaining, determined try, Hesari positioned a cellphone name to Greer.
Brigadier Basic Michael Greer, U.S. Army:
I woke as much as the cellphone ringing, and the Caller ID was an Afghan quantity. I may hear crowd noise, I may hear background static, after which the decision dropped. After which virtually instantly, the cellphone rang once more, and it was Hedayet, in that damaged English, he stated – I’m on the gate.
KANE FARABAUGH:
Hesari gave the cellphone to a close-by U.S. Marine.
Brigadier Basic Michael Greer, U.S. Army:
I recognized myself and instructed the Marine that Hedayet had a letter from me and that he was who he stated he was. The Marine stated, I received it… then the decision ended.
KANE FARABAUGH:
It took two extra days earlier than Hesari texted Greer to verify they had been safely contained in the airport, nevertheless it quickly turned clear their path to the US was simply starting.
Hesari and his household had been amongst an estimated 116-thousand Afghans fleeing the nation final August because the Taliban gained management. One other was “Najeeb” – one of many interpreters profiled by VOA’s Carolyn Presutti.
CAROLYN PRESUTTI:
When VOA first spoke to Najeeb final July, he was focused for loss of life by the Taliban as a result of he was an interpreter for U.S. Special Forces. We didn’t reveal his face or actual title.
Najeebullah, Interpreter Who Escaped Afghanistan:
They inform me they know my place, the place I’m staying and they’re coming after me.
CAROLYN PRESUTTI:
Exterior the Kabul airport, Najeeb’s toddler was knocked unconscious within the chaos as they tried to flee.
The household of seven was left behind as the ultimate American planes left Afghanistan. So, they returned to their dwelling in Jalalabad.
Najeebullah, Interpreter Who Escaped Afghanistan:
At the moment, I used to be utterly hopeless.
CAROLYN PRESUTTI:
With out the federal government’s assist, Najeeb’s former officers stepped in with private cash, as did the nonprofit No One Left Behind. However as a wished man, Najeeb needed to discover a strategy to get his household previous 12 checkpoints to return to the capital.
Najeebullah, Interpreter Who Escaped Afghanistan:
They’re searching for me, they don’t know my household. So I’d get out of the automobile and go across the checkpoints — half-hour to 45 minute stroll.
CAROLYN PRESUTTI:
The household flew out of Afghanistan and waited in Pakistan for his or her Particular Immigrant Visas. Then final month, lastly touching down on U.S. soil, they had been greeted by Individuals and American cash.
Najeebullah, Interpreter Who Escaped Afghanistan:
It appeared like a dream however after I get to the states and see my mates right here, now I consider I made it.
CAROLYN PRESUTTI:
Najeeb, {an electrical} engineer by commerce, has discovered work at a pal’s home. He plans to return to high school for a certification. He’s not the one one headed to high school.
Najeebullah, Interpreter Who Escaped Afghanistan:
Her title is Sahar she’s three, three and a half years outdated. This one’s title is Anbubika he’s six years outdated, my different son…
CAROLYN PRESUTTI:
His 5 youngsters have missed just a few years of faculty. Due to COVID, then due to the Taliban’s restrictions on ladies. However right here…
Najeebullah, Interpreter Who Escaped Afghanistan:
They will do something they need, anyplace they need to go. They are going to be free endlessly.
CAROLYN PRESUTTI:
Najeebullah can’t consider what he sees within the Seattle sky. His first snow. He calls his dwelling to inform his youngsters to look outdoors.
It’s one in every of many firsts for a person who thought he’d be useless by now.
And Najeeb is now free to go anyplace, too, at the same time as he seems over his shoulder. It’s one other first – his first drive with a U.S. license … steering his life freely, with out loss of life threats.
KANE FARABAUGH:
As soon as Hedayatullah Hesari and his household efficiently sought refuge on the Kabul airport, it was only the start of an extended course of that may ship them all over the world.
Over the subsequent a number of months, the Hesari household flew to Germany with solely the garments on their backs and the small quantity of private objects they may convey. They processed by Ramstein Air Base, and at last reached the US at a brief resettlement web site at Fort Dix, New Jersey.
That’s the place they waited, as Hesari’s software for a Particular Immigrant Visa, or S-I-V, wound its method by the U.S. State Division, solely to be rejected.
That’s when legal professional John Bellinger picked up their case.
John Bellinger, Arnold and Porter Legislation Agency:
I’ve been engaged on Afghan points for greater than 20 years. I used to be within the White Home on the day of 9/11 as the overall counsel to the Nationwide Safety Council, and spent a lot of the subsequent 8 years after I was on the White Home and State Division engaged on varied Afghan points for the U.S. Authorities. So when the U.S. determined to depart Afghanistan final 12 months, ensuing within the flood of refugees, I used to be very anxious to assist out.
KANE FARABAUGH:
Bellinger turned conscious of Hesari’s visa points by contact with Army Brigadier Basic Michael Greer.
John Bellinger, Arnold and Porter Legislation Agency:
A basic within the U.S. Army who I didn’t know reached out to me to ask if I may help Mr. Hesari if I may work on the enchantment of the denial of his visa. And I used to be joyful to assist as a result of our agency has a really lively professional bono follow.
KANE FARABAUGH:
Bellinger defined the rationale for denying Hesari’s visa was the dearth of proof he truly labored as an interpreter for the U.S. navy.
John Bellinger, Arnold and Porter Legislation Agency:
What the U.S. authorities was apparently missing was extra documentary proof that he had served as an interpreter for the U.S. authorities for the required time period and naturally it’s very troublesome for someone like Mr. Hesari to gather all of the data, to contact witnesses, however that’s the kind of factor we as legal professionals are in a position to assist with.
KANE FARABAUGH:
Whereas Greer had maintained contact with Hesari, retired U.S. Army Main Charles Brian Cole was in Kentucky, nonetheless unable to hint his lengthy misplaced Afghan interpreter, Hyadet.
Charles Brian Cole, Kentucky Park Ranger:
After I noticed the collapse of the Afghan authorities, and the takeover by the Taliban and issues like that I actually fearful about him and his household as a result of we had been excessive profile, and I’m certain that he labored in different capacities in different excessive profile positions and his working with us most likely wasn’t seen favorably by the Taliban, after which I noticed the chaos on the airport and the video of all of the chaos of all of the folks making an attempt to get by, and I actually didn’t assume so. It was one in every of this stuff the place I hoped for the perfect however anticipated the worst.
KANE FARABAUGH:
Then, in December, Cole acquired a cellphone name, due to a small however necessary gesture he made with Hyadet within the final moments they had been collectively in Afghanistan virtually twenty years earlier.
Charles Bryan Cole, Kentucky Park Ranger:
Once I left Hyadet I left him a letter of introduction, and he produced that letter to point out that he had labored with us, so this immigration legal professional from Washington D.C. contacted me.
KANE FARABAUGH:
That legal professional was working with Bellinger and his agency to make contact with quite a few potential contacts who may assist with Greer’s interpreter – Hesari’s case.
John Bellinger, Arnold and Porter Legislation Agency:
This affiliate of mine tracked all of them down on-line by LinkedIn and Google. My associates labored extraordinarily exhausting to attempt to discover these names.
KANE FARABAUGH:
That’s when it turned clear that the person Cole affectionately known as “Hyadet” which Greer knew as “Hedayet” was truly the identical individual – Hedayutullah Hesari, who labored for each officers at totally different occasions in Afghanistan.
Cole defined to the attorneys making an attempt to assist Hesari not solely may he personally vouch for him and the work he did for the U.S. navy, he had video proof.
Hesari and Cole are seen working collectively on this authentic footage I gathered in 2002 throughout my first protection project to Afghanistan for the American Forces Community.
Charles Bryan Cole, Kentucky Park Ranger:
We had video footage – there he was – working with me. He’s actually my proper hand man. The footage of that video truly confirmed him within the classroom, serving as an interpreter for me, passing out reduction provides, which we couldn’t do with out him.
John Bellinger, Arnold and Porter Legislation Agency:
Actually if there have been movies that had been carried out on the time, maybe that could possibly be useful as nicely. That is definitely a well-documented story.
KANE FARABAUGH:
Bellinger says the outpouring of help by these Hesari labored with is boosting their efforts to lastly safe his Particular Immigrant Visa.
John Bellinger, Arnold and Porter Legislation Agency:
After we reached out to the entire individuals who he had helped, all of them jumped to attempt to assist him.
KANE FARABAUGH:
Whereas Hesari’s software continues to wind its method by the enchantment course of, he and his household have settled close to family members in Clearwater, Florida.
Charles Bryan Cole, Retired U.S. Army Veteran:
I really feel type of anxious to see him and see how issues are going, nevertheless it feels prefer it’s come full circle to after I first met him there at Bagram airfield.
Hey Hyadet, yeah I’m in your car parking zone… I’m making an attempt to determine which is your constructing …
Hedayatulloh Hesari, Former Translator:
Yeah… yeah… I’m behind you…
Charles Bryan Cole, Retired U.S. Army Veteran:
Oh man… hey!
KANE FARABAUGH:
After being separated for practically twenty years, and after months of agonizing uncertainty, Cole made the eleven hour drive from Kentucky to Florida for an extended overdue reunion.
Charles Bryan Cole, Retired U.S. Army Veteran:
Oh man… it’s nice to see you. Good to see you. Boy it’s certain been a battle.
Hedayatulloh Hesari, Former Translator:
Yeah, very long time.
Bryan Cole, Retired U.S. Army Veteran:
After we labored collectively in Afghanistan in 2002, his son was the identical age – about six months outdated as my daughter was after I was there, so it’s type of neat to see him now as a 20 12 months outdated grown man.
Hedayatulloh Hesari, Former Translator:
First time we got here right here, we’re fascinated with our future. However the folks right here and the company assist us.
KANE FARABAUGH:
As he and his household modify to life in United States, Hesari is anxious for these left behind dwelling beneath Taliban rule.
Hedayatulloh Hesari, Former Translator:
Most people they misplaced their work, their job, and all the things. The folks’s poor proper now. They don’t have any wage, no meals, nothing.
KANE FARABAUGH:
Whereas Hesari’s flight from Afghanistan to the US has been troublesome and unsure, as we speak he’s settling into a brand new condo and a brand new job, grateful for the alternatives made doable by the help of these he as soon as served and guarded, like Greer and Cole.
Hedayatulloh Hesari, Former Translator:
It’s after twenty years, we meet right here, and I’m very joyful… it’s a very long time. He’s my greatest pal.
Bryan Cole, Retired U.S. Army Veteran:
Of everyone I met in life, I feel he’s extra honorable than anyone I’ve ever met or labored with.
KANE FARABAUGH:
Thanks for becoming a member of us for this particular version of “Inside Story” I’m Kane Farabaugh.
Join with us on Instagram and Fb @VOANews.
And keep updated on-line at VOANews.com.
See you subsequent week for The Inside Story.
