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Afghan Interpreter Living In Massachusetts Fears For Safety Of Loved Ones Left Behind

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The fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban has set off a frenzy at Kabul International Airport — where the U.S. is trying to evacuate not just its own citizens, but vulnerable Afghans.

Those include Afghans who helped the U.S. government during the two-decade war, doing things like translation.

Sibghatullah Nooristani, who goes by Sabib, was one of those translators for American troops on the ground in Afghanistan. The U.S. granted Nooristani a special visa last year, and he resettled in Revere with the help of a local veteran whose unit he had assisted in Afghanistan. His family followed.

Nooristani told Jack Lepiarz on WBUR's All Things Considered that it's difficult to see the news reports coming out of Afghanistan.

"It's horrible. I see those footage. It's a really scary thing," Nooristani said. "People, they afraid from the enemy."

Nooristani said he believes that before the U.S. pulled troops out of Afghanistan, it should have evacuated the tens of thousands of Afghan citizens who had worked for it. Nooristani's process to get a special visa took six to seven years, he said. Now, he's worried about the safety of his loved ones left behind in Afghanistan, who are relaying reports to him.

"I heard very bad situation is going on," he said. "Especially the Taliban, they come, you know, check — they come [to the] door and check the people. They try to find who worked for the government, for the U.S. forces ... So this looks like a threat."

He doesn't trust the Taliban's pledge of amnesty for Afghans who worked for the U.S. during the war, and he says he's struggling to feel any optimism for his native country.

"Right now I don't see any hope, because everything is gone," Nooristani said. "The country has fallen into the hands of the enemy, and right now there's not any expectation from them."

But, he added, he does not feel any regret for assisting the U.S. military.

"... the U.S. [and] the other countries, they came to Afghanistan for a hope for the people of Afghanistan — to re-build the nation, to help the people, to make a good economy and find for the people ... good jobs," Nooristani said. "And a lot of progress is seen. But unfortunately they left, you know, very [quickly]. People were not expecting ... how soon they left, and these things happened."

This segment aired on August 17, 2021.

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Jack Lepiarz Reporter and Anchor
Jack Lepiarz was a reporter and anchor at WBUR.

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Lynn Jolicoeur Producer/Reporter
Lynn Jolicoeur is the field producer for WBUR's All Things Considered. She also reports for the station's various local news broadcasts.

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