An Afghan interpreter who rescued of then-Senator Joe Biden when his chopper made an emergency landing in Afghanistan in 2008 escapes the country. Aman Khalili said he and his family left Afghanistan last week. Further, crossing the border into Pakistan, as part of a steady migration of Afghans attempting to escape Taliban control.
According to those involved, after a series of demoralizing setbacks and frustrating dead ends over the past six weeks, US veterans collaborated with former Afghan soldiers and well-placed Pakistani allies to carry out a clandestine operation to drive Mr. Khalili and his family more than 600 miles across Afghanistan and into Pakistan.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the interpreter who rescued Biden aka Khalili, his wife, and their five children. his family escapes the country with the support of Afghan-American and veterans organizations after being unable to flee in the August emergency evacuation following the Taliban’s takeover.
“We will get you out. We will honor your service”
When then-Senator Joe Biden and two other legislators, Chuck Hagel and John Kerry, visited Afghanistan in 2008, Khalili was working as an interpreter for the US military. When their chopper was forced to land in a remote place due to a snowstorm, Khalili joined a small military Quick Reaction Force. It traveled into the mountains from Bagram airbase to rescue them.
Khalili was unable to get his application to relocate to the United States. It didn’t finalize in time to of evacuation as the Taliban seized power thirteen years later.
“Hello Mr. President: Save me and my family,” he was quoted in the Wall Street Journal; as saying at the end of August. At that time, the airlift of some 120,000 people fleeing the country came to an end.
Jen Psaki, the White House Press Secretary, responded by saying the government would assist him.
“We will get you out. We will honor your service,” she said. (brownshvac.net)
Khalili and his family hid in a safe house in Kabul after the airlift ceased. It was with the support of Afghan Americans and US veterans
Khalili and his family were unable to board a refugee aircraft from Mazar-i-Sharif due to a lack of Afghan passports. So they traveled overland for two days in secret to the Pakistan border, which they crossed on October 5.