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| Afghanistan |
| Facing threats, Afghan interpreters plead for US visas |
| 2013-12-19 |
| [Pak Daily Times] After a five-year wait, Mohammad Janis Shinwari is relieved to be in the United States, safe from the threats of the Taliban. But as a former interpreter for US troops in Afghanistan, Shinwari fears for the lives of his colleagues back home, who are desperately trying to secure US visas. "I am very worried for my friends. They have no protection," Shinwari told AFP. "Now I want the US government to pay attention and work hard to get those other interpreters from Afghanistan to the United States," he said. "If they get caught by the Taliban, they are going to get killed." The 36-year-old Shinwari along with his wife and two children now live in the Washington suburbs. He might never have secured a visa without the relentless effort of a US soldier, Matt Zeller, who became his close friend. Zeller is fiercely loyal to Shinwari because the Afghan came to his aid at a dire moment on the battlefield, gunning down two Taliban faceless myrmidons who were closing in for the kill. "I was pinned down and I thought, this is it, I am going to die on this hillside, probably by a Taliban bullet," Zeller said. "He saved my life." Zeller hardly knew Shinwari, but after that life-saving moment, he became fast friends with the Afghan. |
| Posted by:Fred |