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 thousands of Afghans who worked alongside the military made desperate attempts to flee.
“James” Former US Interpreter:
It’s really scary because brutal Taliban, they never forget us.
KANE FARABAUGH:
For those able to leave, the difficult journey to permanent resettlement was just beginning.
U.S. President Joe Biden:
There is a home for you in the United States, if you so choose. We will stand with you, just as you stood with us.
Ismail, Former Translator:
The process is so complicated.
KANE FARABAUGH:
A year after the U.S. departure from Afghanistan, we follow the journey of several former translators for the U.S. military, and those trying to help them.
Brian Cole, Former U.S. Army Officer:
I’m hoping I can track him down and maybe serve as a sponsor for him back here in the United States if he’s able to come to the United States.
KANE FARABAUGH:
Why?
Brian Cole, Former U.S. Army Officer:
Oh I loved him…. I mean…
Brigadier General Michael Greer, U.S. Army:
He saved our lives, and at least prevented some really bad things from happening during that and on other occasions as well.
Former US Special Forces Interpreter:
They saved me, I saved them because we are teammates.
KANE FARABAUGH:
The Flight of the Translators… now, on the Inside Story.
Thanks for joining us, I’m Voice of America Midwest correspondent Kane Farabaugh
During the two-decade long war in Afghanistan as many as 50,000 Afghan interpreters worked alongside U.S. forces.
Between 2008 and the summer of 2021, about 70,000 interpreters and their families moved to the United States after securing “special immigrant visas” or S-I-V’s. It’s estimated as many as 300 interpreters died in Afghanistan during this time while waiting for visas.
As the Taliban closed in on securing the country as the U.S. withdrew, roughly 20,000 interpreters and their families were still attempting to reach the United States.
Now, a year after the final U.S. troops left Afghanistan, we explore the difficult journey of several interpreters Voice of America had exclusive access to during and after the U.S. military withdrawal.
We begin twenty years ago, during my first visit to Afghanistan at the beginning of what would become America’s longest war.
The U.S. military had been in Afghanistan just a few months when I landed at Bagram Airfield in May of 2002 on a reporting assignment for the American Forces Network.
Brian Cole, U.S. Army Officer:
I’m Major 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 with his Afghan interpreter “Hyadet” to deliver school supplies and food to local villagers as 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 stop gap until the non-governmental organizations get here so they can take over our mission.
KANE FARABAUGH:
Cole’s mission this day was distributing supplies at a recently re-opened school shut down by the Taliban prior to the U.S. invasion, in the remote village of Karabagh Bazaar which, we were told, had just been cleared of landmines.
Brian Cole, U.S. Army Officer:
I look at what we are doing as an extension of our foreign policy of having the people come back from Pakistan and Iran back into Afghanistan and if we want to have the people come back, we need to assist them once they get here to help them get established.
KANE FARABAUGH:
Working with local translators like Hyadet was key to Cole’s efforts.
Later that same day, the duo delivered food to another remote village, all part of the U.S. military’s strategy to win the “hearts and minds” of the Afghan people.
Brian Cole, U.S. Army Officer:
And what we are doing by bringing the school supplies and food now is we’re serving as a stop gap until the non-governmental organizations get here so they can take over our mission.
KANE FARABAUGH:
Nearly twenty years since we met in Afghanistan, after some effort tracking him down, I learned Cole safely returned home.
We reconnected last summer at Fort Boonesborough outside Lexington, Kentucky.
Brian Cole, Kentucky Park Ranger:
I’m a state park ranger now, and I have like a phobia against trash because that’s one thing they were doing… they would take MRE (meals ready to eat) boxes and put explosives in it, or just roadside trash would all of a sudden become a mine, would become an explosive.
KANE FARABAUGH:
Despite the risk, Cole felt his unit’s objectives were clear.
Brian Cole, Kentucky Park Ranger:
Our mission was to help – two things – to gain support for us being there, and to put in the water wells and things like that, and to gain acceptance for the U.S. forces being there, and also the bigger picture was to gain support for the newly established Afghan government.
KANE FARABAUGH:
Cole believes the “big picture” lost focus when the U.S. invaded Iraq in 2003.
Brian Cole, Kentucky Park Ranger:
You can only have one main effort. And we tried to have two main efforts and I think we took our eye off the ball when we did that.
KANE FARABAUGH:
The war in Afghanistan took a personal toll on Cole. His daughter was just a month old when he deployed, and his absence was difficult for his family back in Kentucky.
Brian Cole, Kentucky Park Ranger:
My wife never accepted me going and we never recovered from that, and I ended up divorced.
KANE FARABAUGH:
Cole says he made sacrifices to build a better Afghanistan but that that mission was never accomplished
Brian Cole, Kentucky Park Ranger:
I think a better way to say it is the mission is over.
KANE FARABAUGH:
Cole says the legacy of the U.S. military in Afghanistan is best measured by what didn’t happen.
Brian Cole, Kentucky Park Ranger:
We were able to keep similar 9/11 attacks from occurring and I think they would have had we not gone. The training camps would have flourished.
KANE FARABAUGH:
Which is why he feels the U.S. military should have stayed in Afghanistan, pointing to forces stationed in countries like Germany and Japan since World War Two as a precedent.
Brian Cole, Kentucky Park Ranger:
If you leave too soon, you’re back too early.
KANE FARABAUGH:
Cole has since retired from the U.S. Army.
When we spent time together last summer, he shared he had few regrets about his service in Afghanistan.
But he was worried about the fate of his Afghan interpreter – Hyadet.
Brian Cole, Kentucky Park Ranger:
I’m hoping to find him – Hyadet – I’m hoping I can track him down and maybe serve as a sponsor for him back here in the United States if he’s able to come to the United States.
KANE FARABAUGH:
Why?
Brian Cole, Kentucky Park Ranger:
Oh I loved him…. I mean…
KANE FARABAUGH:
Cole credits Hyadet with saving the lives of his fellow soldiers, and his own.
KANE FARABAUGH:
What will you do if you can get him here?
Brian Cole, Kentucky Park Ranger:
Give him a place to live.
KANE FARABAUGH:
How do you think he would appreciate that?
Brian Cole, Kentucky Park Ranger:
Oh he’d love it. We talked about that. Coming to the United States.
KANE FARABAUGH:
As I left my meeting with Cole, I decided I would try to help him locate Hyadet. The task was daunting. Without a recent known location, or even his full name and birthday, there was not a high level of confidence we would be able to locate him.
I spent several weeks communicating with staff at VOA’s Afghan language services using the minimal amount of information I had to see if they could help locate Hyadet in Afghanistan.
We were unsuccessful, and the effort ended when much of VOA’s staff left Afghanistan as the Taliban regained control.
Interpreters like “Hyadet” were invaluable to American troops during their nearly two decade presence in Afghanistan. As U.S. forces completed their withdrawal in August of 2021, those Afghans left behind feared for their lives.
VOA's Carolyn Presutti spoke to several interpreters as the country fell to the Taliban, engaged in a dangerous effort to survive until they could flee.
CAROLYN PRESUTTI, VOA Senior Washington Correspondent:
Haji could be here. Or he could be here. Or here. He moves from city to city for safety from the Taliban.
For 11 years he worked as an interpreter for US Special Forces… braving firefights across Afghanistan -- as he told VOA via Skype.
Former US Special Forces Interpreter:
Lugar Province and Kabul, Lot of these places, Nuristan, Kunar, Nangarhar Province.
CAROLYN PRESUTTI:
Haji, the name we use to protect his identity, has awards for his shrapnel wounds and for saving the lives of two army captains.
Former US Special Forces Interpreter:
They saved me, I saved them because we are teammates.
CAROLYN PRESUTTI:
In 2010, the Taliban kidnapped Haji’s 9-year-old son because of his job and asked for ransom.
Former US Special Forces Interpreter:
They know I am working with American forces and [they said,] “they are infidel and you are infidel because you are working with them and you are providing all kinds of help to them.”
CAROLYN PRESUTTI:
The Afghan police rescued his son a few weeks later in a gun battle with his kidnappers. He says they killed an older son a few months ago. Now Haji is trying to save his own life after cellphone threats from the Taliban.
Former US Special Forces Interpreter:
They tell me they know my place, they know where I am staying, they are coming after me.
CAROLYN PRESUTTI:
Haji applied for a Special Immigrant Visa—an SIV--- more than three years ago. The embassy told him processing is delayed. President Biden said this about interpreters like Haji.
U.S. President Joe Biden:
There is a home for you in the United States, if you so choose. We will stand with you, just as you stood with us.
Ismail Khan, Former US Interpreter:
The process is so complicated.
CAROLYN PRESUTTI:
Ismail Khan came to the United States on an SIV seven years ago. He was an interpreter alongside Haji whom he nicknamed “GPS” when he spoke with VOA on Skype.
Ismail Khan, Former US Interpreter:
He knew where to go, what route to take, what would be the easiest, where are possible places for them to ambush us - to make sure that they [we] are alert. He tried everything to make sure that his team would survive and be successful.
CAROLYN PRESUTTI:
But Khan worries for his colleague.
Ismail Khan, Former US Interpreter:
They are after him, he is going to get killed if he doesn’t get out.
CAROLYN PRESUTTI:
Those who helped the Americans often protested in Afghanistan for safe passage out. At the time of the U.S. withdrawal… the Biden administration had approved 25-hundred special visas for Afghans who assisted the military and one thousand like Khan settled in the U.S. But as many as 25,000 still remained, including an interpreter we will call James.
CAROLYN PRESUTTI:
James has been denied the special visa because he cannot provide paperwork proof of his employment.
“James” Former US Interpreter:
It’s really scary because brutal Taliban, they never forget us.
CAROLYN PRESUTTI:
James told VOA that fears for his safety – and that of his family --- keep him awake at night. And, like Haji, he fears what will happen after the complete withdrawal of U.S. troops.
KANE FARABAUGH:
Around the same time last year, U.S. Army Brigadier General Michael Greer carefully scanned news reports as U.S. forces found themselves engaged in a chaotic withdrawal culminating at the Kabul airport.
He too was concerned about the fate of the Afghan translator who worked with him during a 2004-2005 deployment, named “Hedayat.”
Brigadier General Michael Greer, U.S. Army:
We clicked almost immediately. He was a couple of years older than most of the other interpreters. He made a great first impression. He was very mature. Always on time, ready to go. Part of our mission was to go out and speak to village elders and government officials. We might be gone for 5 or 7 or 9 days at a time. Hedayet was always the one I chose to go on those missions. He had a great sense of direction. And judging distance, different locations. He had a real keen sense of situational awareness, I would say similar to street smarts but in Afghanistan.
KANE FARABAUGH:
Greer recalled one moment in particular when he believes Hedayet’s street smarts saved their lives.
Brigadier General Michael Greer, U.S. Army:
We were meeting with some village elders in an open air market, and there had been some Taliban activity in that area recently. During the meeting Hedayet grabbed me by the arm and said, “We must go now!”
KANE FARABAUGH:
Greer says Hedayet overheard conversations relaying their position to others outside the area, and feared the worst.
Brigadier General Michael Greer, U.S. Army:
He saved our lives, and at least prevented some really bad things from happening during that and on other occasions as well.
KANE FARABAUGH:
Even though Greer spent almost every day of his deployment with Hedayet, after he departed Afghanistan in 2005, they lost touch. Internet access at that time in Afghanistan wasn’t reliable, and Greer had difficulty tracking him down.
Brigadier General Michael Greer, U.S. Army:
At that time I unsuccessfully tried to find contact information for Hedayet, and I wasn’t able to find anything.
KANE FARABAUGH:
But a connection with another former Afghan translator on social media who Greer helped resettle in the United States surprisingly had Hedayet’s contact information, and shared it with Greer in 2020.
Brigadier General Michael Greer, U.S. Army:
So I reached out to Hedayet, five minutes after I got that contact information. He told me he was in Kabul, that he was trying to get a visa.
KANE FARABAUGH:
Greer and Hedayet stayed connected as he gathered documentation needed for a visa. As the situation in Afghanistan deteriorated amid the withdrawal of U.S. forces, Greer’s concern for Hedayet’s safety grew.
Brigadier General Michael Greer, U.S. Army:
One evening I saw a news report that the Taliban were going to stop allowing people come to the airport. So I texted Hedayet, and told him to go to the airport immediately, to take the letters that he had and show the letters to an American. He didn’t respond to that text.
KANE FARABAUGH:
That’s because Hedayat - who’s full name is Hedayatulloh Hesari - and his family of 6 were desperately trying to enter the Kabul Airport. He decided the best way to get inside the security perimeter was to offer assistance to the U.S. Marines keeping the crowds at bay.
Hedayatulloh Hesari, Former Translator:
I asked one of the U.S. soldiers, and I told him – you need help? He asked can you speak English, I told him I was an interpreter and I used to work with the U.S. Army for 9 years.
KANE FARABAUGH:
Amid the crush of thousands of Afghans trying to get into the airport, the Marines accepted Hesari’s help.
Hedayatulloh Hesari, Former Translator:
I did the interpretation for 5 hours. Finally, I asked one of the captains, he was the leader of those soldiers, I told him I used to work with the U.S. Army please help me.
KANE FARABAUGH:
As Hesari stood in a ditch among the throng for nearly six hours translating, his own pleas were no different than most trying to enter the airport at that time. But the former Afghan translator had connections.
Brigadier General Michael Greer, U.S. Army:
I think you have 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:
Just inches away from safety behind the airport fence and in a final, desperate attempt, Hesari placed a phone call to Greer.
Brigadier General Michael Greer, U.S. Army:
I woke up to the phone ringing, and the Caller ID was an Afghan number. I could hear crowd noise, I could hear background static, and then the call dropped. And then almost immediately, the phone rang again, and it was Hedayet, in that broken English, he said – I’m at the gate.
KANE FARABAUGH:
Hesari gave the phone to a nearby U.S. Marine.
Brigadier General Michael Greer, U.S. Army:
I identified myself and told the Marine that Hedayet had a letter from me and that he was who he said he was. The Marine said, I got it… then the call ended.
KANE FARABAUGH:
It took two more days before Hesari texted Greer to confirm they were safely inside the airport, but it soon became clear their path to the United States was just beginning.
Hesari and his family were among an estimated 116-thousand Afghans fleeing the country last August as the Taliban gained control. Another was “Najeeb” - one of the interpreters profiled by VOA’s Carolyn Presutti.
CAROLYN PRESUTTI:
When VOA first spoke to Najeeb last July, he was targeted for death by the Taliban because he was an interpreter for U.S. Special Forces. We did not reveal his face or real name.
Najeebullah, Interpreter Who Escaped Afghanistan:
They tell me they know my place, where I am staying and they are coming after me.
CAROLYN PRESUTTI:
Outside the Kabul airport, Najeeb’s toddler was knocked unconscious in the chaos as they tried to escape.
The family of seven was left behind as the final American planes left Afghanistan. So, they returned to their home in Jalalabad.
Najeebullah, Interpreter Who Escaped Afghanistan:
At that time, I was completely hopeless.
CAROLYN PRESUTTI:
Without the government’s help, Najeeb’s former officers stepped in with personal money, as did the nonprofit No One Left Behind. But as a wanted man, Najeeb had to find a way to get his family past 12 checkpoints to return to the capital.
Najeebullah, Interpreter Who Escaped Afghanistan:
They are looking for me, they don’t know my family. So I’d get out of the car and go around the checkpoints — 30 minutes to 45 minute walk.
CAROLYN PRESUTTI:
The family flew out of Afghanistan and waited in Pakistan for their Special Immigrant Visas. Then last month, finally touching down on U.S. soil, they were greeted by Americans and American money.
Najeebullah, Interpreter Who Escaped Afghanistan:
It looked like a dream but when I get to the states and see my friends here, now I believe I made it.
CAROLYN PRESUTTI:
Najeeb, an electrical engineer by trade, has found work at a friend’s house. He plans to return to school for a certification. He’s not the only one headed to school.
Najeebullah, Interpreter Who Escaped Afghanistan:
Her name is Sahar she’s three, three and a half years old. This one’s name is Anbubika he’s six years old, my other son…
CAROLYN PRESUTTI:
His five children have missed a few years of school. Because of COVID, then because of the Taliban’s restrictions on girls. But here…
Najeebullah, Interpreter Who Escaped Afghanistan:
They can do anything they want, anywhere they want to go. They will be free forever.
CAROLYN PRESUTTI:
Najeebullah can’t believe what he sees in the Seattle sky. His first snow. He calls his home to tell his children to look outside.
It’s one of many firsts for a man who thought he’d be dead by now.
And Najeeb is now free to go anywhere, too, even as he looks over his shoulder. It’s another first – his first drive with a U.S. license … steering his life freely, without death threats.
KANE FARABAUGH:
Once Hedayatullah Hesari and his family successfully sought refuge at the Kabul airport, it was just the beginning of a long process that would send them around the world.
Over the next several months, the Hesari family flew to Germany with only the clothes on their backs and the small amount of personal items they could bring. They processed through Ramstein Air Base, and finally reached the United States at a temporary resettlement site at Fort Dix, New Jersey.
That is where they waited, as Hesari’s application for a Special Immigrant Visa, or S-I-V, wound its way through the U.S. State Department, only to be rejected.
That’s when attorney John Bellinger picked up their case.
John Bellinger, Arnold and Porter Law Firm:
I’ve been working on Afghan issues for more than 20 years. I was in the White House on the day of 9/11 as the general counsel to the National Security Council, and spent much of the next 8 years when I was at the White House and State Department working on various Afghan issues for the U.S. Government. So when the U.S. decided to leave Afghanistan last year, resulting in the flood of refugees, I was very anxious to help out.
KANE FARABAUGH:
Bellinger became aware of Hesari’s visa issues through contact with Army Brigadier General Michael Greer.
John Bellinger, Arnold and Porter Law Firm:
A general in the U.S. Army who I did not know reached out to me to ask if I could assist Mr. Hesari if I could work on the appeal of the denial of his visa. And I was happy to help because our firm has a very active pro bono practice.
KANE FARABAUGH:
Bellinger explained the reason for denying Hesari’s visa was the lack of proof he actually worked as an interpreter for the U.S. military.
John Bellinger, Arnold and Porter Law Firm:
What the U.S. government was apparently lacking was more documentary evidence that he had served as an interpreter for the U.S. government for the necessary period of time and of course it’s very difficult for somebody like Mr. Hesari to collect all the records, to contact witnesses, but that’s the sort of thing we as lawyers are able to help with.
KANE FARABAUGH:
While Greer had maintained contact with Hesari, retired U.S. Army Major Charles Brian Cole was in Kentucky, still unable to trace his long lost Afghan interpreter, Hyadet.
Charles Brian Cole, Kentucky Park Ranger:
After I saw the collapse of the Afghan government, and the takeover by the Taliban and things like that I really worried about him and his family because we were high profile, and I’m sure that he worked in other capacities in other high profile positions and his working with us probably wasn’t viewed favorably by the Taliban, and then I saw the chaos at the airport and the video of all the chaos of all the people trying to get through, and I really didn’t think so. It was one of these things where I hoped for the best but expected the worst.
KANE FARABAUGH:
Then, in December, Cole received a phone call, thanks to a small but important gesture he made with Hyadet in the last moments they were together in Afghanistan almost two decades earlier.
Charles Bryan Cole, Kentucky Park Ranger:
When I left Hyadet I left him a letter of introduction, and he produced that letter to show that he had worked with us, so this immigration attorney from Washington D.C. contacted me.
KANE FARABAUGH:
That attorney was working with Bellinger and his firm to make contact with a number of potential contacts who could help with Greer’s interpreter - Hesari’s case.
John Bellinger, Arnold and Porter Law Firm:
This associate of mine tracked them all down online through LinkedIn and Google. My associates worked extremely hard to try to find these names.
KANE FARABAUGH:
That’s when it became clear that the man Cole affectionately referred to as “Hyadet” which Greer knew as “Hedayet” was actually the same person – Hedayutullah Hesari, who worked for both officers at different times in Afghanistan.
Cole explained to the attorneys trying to help Hesari not only could he personally vouch for him and the work he did for the U.S. military, he had video proof.
Hesari and Cole are seen working together in this original footage I gathered in 2002 during my first coverage assignment to Afghanistan for the American Forces Network.
Charles Bryan Cole, Kentucky Park Ranger:
We had video footage – there he was – working with me. He’s literally my right hand man. The footage of that video actually showed him in the classroom, serving as an interpreter for me, passing out relief supplies, which we couldn’t do without him.
John Bellinger, Arnold and Porter Law Firm:
Certainly if there were videos that were done at the time, perhaps that could be helpful as well. This is certainly a well-documented story.
KANE FARABAUGH:
Bellinger says the outpouring of support by those Hesari worked with is boosting their efforts to finally secure his Special Immigrant Visa.
John Bellinger, Arnold and Porter Law Firm:
When we reached out to all of the people who he had helped, they all jumped to try to help him.
KANE FARABAUGH:
While Hesari’s application continues to wind its way through the appeal process, he and his family have settled near relatives in Clearwater, Florida.
Charles Bryan Cole, Retired U.S. Army Veteran:
I feel kind of anxious to see him and see how things are going, but it feels like it’s come full circle to when I first met him there at Bagram airfield.
Hey Hyadet, yeah I’m in your parking lot… I’m trying to figure out which is your building …
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 nearly twenty years, and after months of agonizing uncertainty, Cole made the eleven hour drive from Kentucky to Florida for a long overdue reunion.
Charles Bryan Cole, Retired U.S. Army Veteran:
Oh man… it’s great to see you. Good to see you. Boy it’s sure been a struggle.
Hedayatulloh Hesari, Former Translator:
Yeah, long time.
Bryan Cole, Retired U.S. Army Veteran:
When we worked together in Afghanistan in 2002, his son was the same age - about six months old as my daughter was when I was there, so it’s kind of neat to see him now as a 20 year old grown man.
Hedayatulloh Hesari, Former Translator:
First time we came here, we are thinking about our future. But the people here and the agency help us.
KANE FARABAUGH:
As he and his family adjust to life in United States, Hesari is concerned for those left behind living under Taliban rule.
Hedayatulloh Hesari, Former Translator:
Most of the people they lost their work, their job, and everything. The people’s poor right now. They have no salary, no food, nothing.
KANE FARABAUGH:
While Hesari’s flight from Afghanistan to the United States has been difficult and uncertain, today he is settling into a new apartment and a new job, thankful for the opportunities made possible by the assistance of those he once served and protected, like Greer and Cole.
Hedayatulloh Hesari, Former Translator:
It’s after twenty years, we meet here, and I am very happy… it’s a long time. He’s my best friend.
Bryan Cole, Retired U.S. Army Veteran:
Of everybody I met in life, I think he’s more honorable than anybody I’ve ever met or worked with.
KANE FARABAUGH:
Thanks for joining us for this special edition of “Inside Story” I’m Kane Farabaugh.
Connect with us on Instagram and Facebook @VOANews.
And stay up to date online at VOANews.com.
See you next week for The Inside Story.
