Locals view a vehicle damaged by a rocket attack in Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday, Aug. 30, 2021. Rockets struck a neighborhood near Kabul's international airport on Monday amid the ongoing U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. Many former US Army interpreters say their families remain stranded after the American military left Kabul. (AP Photo/Khwaja Tawfiq Sediqi)
SALT LAKE CITY — As the US military finishes its evacuation mission Monday in Afghanistan after 20 years of war, an interpreter, who joined the US Army in Afghanistan and now lives in the United States, still hopes to rescue his family, stranded in Kabul, before the Taliban find them.
The interpreter, Fardeen, spoke on Dave & Dujanovic on KSL NewsRadio Monday. He said he has not received any help from the State Department on evacuating his family. Others continue to reach out via text and Facebook message with offers to help from Afghanistan, but his family remains in Kabul.
Fardeen said the Taliban have begun searching the houses of Afghans whose relatives worked for the Afghan government.
“My family is in the same situation, and I’m not able to do anything. Nothing,” he exclaimed.
Host Dave Noriega pointed out that the Taliban recently vowed not to seek retribution and give blanket amnesty and forgive everybody who may have helped the US government.
“The Taliban are full of liars. They will never stand by what they say; they will never honor their words — not even one of them,” Fardeen replied. To make matters worse, he said the Taliban now looks much as it did after the Twin Towers bombings in New York City on Sept. 11, 2001: a terrorist organization.
He said hundreds of interpreters’ families remain left behind. They too will suffer the consequences of leaving Afghanistan to the Taliban.
Fardeen added that he received a text from the US State Department, saying up to 90 other countries are willing to resettle Afghan evacuees. As an interpreter, he said his paycheck came from the US government; he wants his family relocated from Afghanistan to the United States.
“I think that it’s the US government’s responsibility to . . . help us out, not just let my family and other interpreters families get left behind,” he said.
“Our hearts are breaking right along with you,” Dave told Fardeen.
Dave & Dujanovic can be heard weekdays from 9 a.m. to noon. on KSL NewsRadio. Users can find the show on the KSL NewsRadio website and app, a.s well as Apple Podcasts and Google Play.