Taliban hunts down American collaborators - shocking eyewitness accounts

The Taliban's lightning-fast seizure of Afghanistan against the backdrop of the still-ongoing evacuation of American citizens and local residents who helped them has been the main topic of all world media for several days. US military fearthat their Afghan assistants and colleagues will not be able to leave the country in time, and the American authorities will not take the necessary steps to evacuate the allies. The officers admit that they feel traitors towards people who were once promised security and who sometimes saved their lives.

Photo: Shutterstock

Meanwhile, the Taliban, during their first press conference after the takeover of the country, made quite peaceful statements, promising an amnesty for all those who took part in the fight against him, as well as the participation of women in the work of the government. Is it possible to believe the promises of the organization, which is still recognized as terrorist in many countries, how the evacuation actually proceeds and what threatens the American allies who have not managed to get out of Afghanistan? ForumDaily talked about this with people who are directly trying these days to help their loved ones in Kabul: the American military, worried about the fate of their sources, and Afghans who managed to move to the United States, who have families in Afghanistan.

The Taliban have already come for my brother. "

We met Manzur in 2017, shortly after he and his family moved to the United States from Afghanistan. Manzur was lucky - he managed to get a green card under a special program designed for translators from Afghanistan and Iraq who collaborated with the Americans. According to him, in those years such cooperation was literally deadly. Nevertheless, Manzur planned to go home and visit relatives, observing every conceivable precaution and choosing a route only through territories controlled by Americans and government forces.

Today, there can be no question of any trips to Afghanistan for Manzur, and he has to worry about the fate of his relatives from afar.

«I do not believe in any assurances of the Taliban, because I know for sure: now the Taliban is doing everything to prevent people from leaving the country. And then they will start looking for those who worked for the former Afghan government and foreigners and kill them.“- he is sure.

One of those who worked for the fallen government was Manzur's brother. He was less fortunate - formally, he helped not the Americans, but the Afghan authorities. Although Brother Manzura has served side by side with the US military for years, he is not officially eligible for an immigrant visa and is therefore not eligible for evacuation programs.

On the subject: How much money and lives the United States lost due to the war in Afghanistan and what will happen next

«Two days ago, the Taliban already came to my relatives' home and asked about my brother. I understand that now his whole family is in danger, and I do not know how to help them.", - the man confesses.

"He was one of us and we betrayed him."

This story was told to me Peter Is a former army helicopter pilot and United States intelligence officer with five combat missions to Afghanistan. He had to live among Afghans for a long time, participating in NATO and US special operations forces.

The hero of this story, an Afghan major Habibullah Naim Bahiri, found himself in the same situation as brother Manzura - according to formal criteria, he did not fall into the category of those who had the right to obtain an immigration visa to the United States, although he worked directly for the Americans. The fact is that Bahiri was a pilot, not a translator, and besides, he received rewards from the British, not the Americans. According to Peter, he was one of the best pilots and his help was invaluable. However, this could in no way break the faceless bureaucratic procedures.

Worst of all, several American officers, who took turns in command posts for several years, irresponsibly promised Bahiri that he was about to receive a visa and move with his family to a safe place in the United States. None of them even bothered to check whether the pilot is fit for formal criteria to receive a green card. On the contrary, they assured him that a decision would be made soon.

Manzour in San Francisco, 2018. Photo from the personal archive of Ksenia Kirillova

Due to the negligence of the Americans, Bahiri's identity was revealed to the Taliban, and the militants took his family hostage: his wife and four minor daughters. By some miracle, the hostages were freed, after which Khabibullah took his family to India. He sold his real estate in Afghanistan to pay the visa fee, and even successfully completed several interviews at the US Embassy before learning that he could not apply for a visa. The first person to understand the pilot's situation in essence was Peter. It was he who had to take on the agonizing mission of informing Bahiri that he could never apply for an American visa and, frankly, no one had the right to promise him that. The military man admits that he still cannot forget that conversation.

«He was one of us and we betrayed himPeter repeats.

Bahiri never received a visa. Constant disappointment, fatigue and separation from his family did their job: he began to drink and eventually had an accident. Peter continued to work in the armed forces, and at the same time began to write stories about the experienced and rethought front-line experience. He dedicated one of his stories to Bahiri, calling it "Moral Commitment."

"He will die if he does not get out of Afghanistan"

Today, people like Bahiri have a chance to fly to the United States, the former US Army sergeant hopes. Eric... According to him, they need to come to the evacuation point and ask for political asylum, even if they do not formally have the right to obtain a visa. True, Eric admits: no one can guarantee what the result of this request will be.

The fact that Eric really cares about his Afghan associates, his actions speak even more than words. On August 15, the day of the Taliban seizure of Kabul, a former sergeant wrote to me with a request to give all the contacts I have at the embassies of post-Soviet countries in order to help make at least a temporary Ukrainian visa for an Afghan who was once his translator and a valuable source. Formally, Eric is already a civilian, but he considers it his personal duty to do everything possible to save the person who once believed him. Like his colleagues, he does not believe the Taliban's peace promises and is confident that his former source will almost certainly be killed if he remains in the country.

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«I was in Afghanistan in 2017 and this person was in danger even then. The Taliban have already hunted him, and there is no reason to believe that they have changed.”, - explains Eric.

Even then, 4 years ago, the sergeant began the process of obtaining an American visa for his source, who, as a translator, formally had the right to it. However, the bureaucratic procedure dragged on, and the Afghan did not receive documents to this day. Eric now hopes that American troops will still be able to organize his evacuation. The latest information he received is encouraging: an Afghan source told Eric that the Americans asked him to fill out special forms that, in theory, should precede the evacuation. Eric, in turn, promises that he will fight for his man to the last.

According to him, such a chaotic evacuation is the result of gross mistakes made by the American government.

«Of course, we could have taken action in advance, and that was our responsibility. Unfortunately, even the best military intelligence and CIA analysts predicted that the fall of Kabul was expected within six months to a year. In fact, it happened in less than two weeks. Nevertheless, the intelligence insisted that measures be taken in advance, and I think in this case we are talking about the mistake of the current administration, which did not listen to this advice."- Eric believes.

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