An interpreter who reportedly helped save Joe Biden and Antony Blinken after their helicopter was forced to make an emergency landing during a snowstorm was left behind in Afghanistan following the U.S. withdrawal, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported Tuesday.
“I can’t leave my house. I’m very scared,” the interpreter, identified only as Mohammed, told WSJ. Mohammed added that although he, his wife, and his four children were able to make it to the gates of Hamid Karzai International Airport (HKIA), his wife and children were denied entry.
He helped rescue Sen. Joe Biden from a snowy Afghan valley in 2008. Now he’s asking President Biden to save him. Back then, M. was an Army interpreter. Now he’s in hiding from the Taliban after being left behind when US withdrew. “Don’t forget me here.”https://t.co/hpNZGF0S0H
— Dion Nissenbaum (@DionNissenbaum) August 31, 2021
Mohammed was serving at Bagram Air Base in 2008, when a pair of Black Hawk helicopters carrying then-Democratic Sens. Joe Biden of Delaware and John Kerry of Massachusetts, and then-Republican Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel, was forced by a snowstorm to land in a valley that was near the site of a recent battle. Blinken, then a foreign policy adviser to Biden, was also on the trip, according to CNN.
The translator joined the 82nd Airborne Division, driving into the mountains to rescue the group.
Mohammed reportedly fought in more than 100 firefights along with American troops.
“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 support of Mohammed’s Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) application.
Hundreds of Americans and thousands of Afghan green card and SIV holders were left in Afghanistan after the last U.S. plane left HKIA. Biden promised ABC’s George Stephanopoulos during an Aug. 19 interview that “if there are American citizens left, we’re going to stay until we get them all out.”
“We’re going to do everything in our power to get all Americans out and all our allies out,” he said. (RELATED: Blinken Says US Gave Americans In Afghanistan ‘Every Opportunity’ To Leave)
Afghan allies of the U.S. and NATO are at risk of torture and murder at the hands of the Taliban. The group has already been accused by Human Rights Watch of conducting revenge killings in Kandahar.
“Hello Mr. President: Save me and my family,” Mohammed said. “Don’t forget me here.”