'Will you help them?' Afghan translator for US government worries about family stuck outside Kabul airport
HOUSTON - A Houston man’s family barely escaped the suicide bomb blast in Kabul, and they are camped outside the Kabul airport gate.
For security reasons, we are only using his first name but Naqibullah was a translator for the U.S. government. During an interview, Naqibullah tells us how worried he is about his relatives and their well-being after getting a frantic call from his father.
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"He was on the scene where that explosion took place, he told me 'I just want to make sure that you know that we were there, that's the gate where we are but we were about 800 meters away from the explosion spot,'" he said. "I just started crying and wanted to make sure I was talking to everybody there."
That fact led to a shocking letter he shared with me, written by Taliban Intelligence.
"They dropped it at my house back home. It says because of my association with the U.S. government and my dad worked for the Afghan National Army, they put my dad and the family on their target kill list," Naqibullah said. "They are going to kill them anytime from the time they dropped the letter.
"Because of my service for the U.S. government, now they are suffering," he continued. "My 7-year-old brother is suffering. He is supposed to be at school. He should not be in the situation he is now."
Naqibullah, who is now a U.S. Citizen, says all of their paperwork has been approved, fees have been paid for but now he’s waiting on the last step - processing from the National Visa Center or NVC. He says requests to expedite the process have been met with silence.
"They left everything there and now they are out there by the gates and they want to leave all their assets, they just want their life to be saved," he said. "Will you help them? That is my message to the U.S. government and NVC. Please expedite the process and save the families."
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We tried to contact the National Visa Center, but as of this writing, have not received any correspondence back.