A new start in Texas for an American military translator who fled Afghanistan

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In Afghanistan, Lucky spent 10 years working with the US military, serving as a translator between US soldiers and the Taliban. He said he saw friends die during their missions, and he had to leave his wife and child behind for two years when the army transferred him to America in 2016.

The 36-year-old, who asked to be identified by the nickname given to him by his friends in the US military because he was concerned for the safety of his family members left behind in Afghanistan, said that it had taken two and a half years to get the proper paperwork to get his family to join him in San Diego. He could focus on his family – which grew with the birth of his second daughter earlier this year – and his job as an interpreter and Amazon truck driver.

He said he finally felt at peace.

Everything changed with just one phone call. In May, Lucky’s brother in Afghanistan told her that their mother was in hospital with kidney problems and her condition was serious. Lucky told his wife they had to go back.

They were returning to a country in turmoil: twenty years after the start of the war in Afghanistan, President Joe Biden announced in April that American troops would be withdrawn from the country by September 11.

The announcement and its effects have prompted more than 70,000 Afghans to flee to the United States since August. Thousands more remain on US military bases, waiting to relocate, due to the time it takes to connect the thousands of evacuees to resettlement services like language training, transportation and tracing assistance. a job.

According to the Associated Press, Texas could host nearly 4,500 Afghan refugees. More than 500 – including Lucky and his family – have already come.

According to Texas Refugee Services, 9,762 Afghan refugees, including Lucky and his family, have arrived in Texas since August.

“I feel like it’s our responsibility to provide them with that safe haven, to provide them with whatever help they need,” said Zeenat Khan, founder of Dallas-based DFW Refugee Outreach Services, which has helped over 500 Afghan families apply for jobs. , medical care and mental health services. “Just guide them so they can stand.”

Save The Children, a national nonprofit that runs refugee shelters in El Paso at Fort Bliss and Washington, DC, said it has helped more than 20,000 Afghans. The Fort Bliss shelter provides families with essential child supplies such as diapers, cribs, blankets and learning materials for children.

“Afghan children and their families arrive in America with nothing but clothes on their backs, and many without even shoes on their feet. They desperately need our help to start adjusting to their new life here in the United States,” said Jeanne-Aimée De Marrais, Save the Children’s Senior Director for US Emergencies.

Flee the Taliban

A few days after receiving the phone call, Lucky and his family flew to Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan. In the hospital, Lucky said, her mother’s completion was pale and waxy. He was shocked at how serious his condition had become.

Doctors told her that her mother needed to travel to neighboring India to get proper treatment. But the Indian Embassy was not accepting interviews for medical visas due to COVID-19, so Lucky and his family had to stay longer than planned.

Months passed and her mother’s condition worsened, just like Afghanistan. US military troops were withdrawn and the Taliban quickly took control of the country, overrunning villages and killing those who opposed them.

On August 13, Lucky said, he received a brief phone call from his 4-year-old niece in Orgun, a village 277 miles from Kabul. She cried. “They’re going to come and kill us all,” she said. Shortly after, the phone call disconnected.

The call alarmed Lucky, who wanted to go to Orgun and check on his niece and other brother. Maybe he could also help them get to the United States, he thought.

“No, it’s too dangerous. The Taliban will get you,” Lucky’s wife said.

He went there anyway and arrived at his brother’s house to find everyone safe. But soon after he arrived, the Taliban surrounded the village and refused to let anyone in or out.

Lucky knew that if the Taliban caught him and found out he had worked with the US military, they would kill him and his family. Suddenly, he had an idea: find a truck and disguise himself as a trucker. Lucky said he contacted a friend and asked him to borrow his truck.

When Lucky reached the gate of his village, he said, a Taliban soldier stopped him and asked him to get off the truck.

He didn’t move a muscle. Lucky could hear her own heartbeat and the footsteps of approaching Taliban soldiers. Lucky’s heart started beating faster, but he had to keep his cool.

Lucky said he tried his best to look like a truck driver – his clothes were dirty and unwashed. The soldier let him pass.

Long trip to Texas

After returning to Kabul, Lucky said, he phoned one of his friends in the US military and asked if that friend could help his family get on a plane to the United States.

His friend said he could only help Lucky, his wife and two daughters. He would have to leave behind his mother and brother because they did not have the necessary documents to come to the United States.

With his brother’s blessing, Lucky and his family left that same night with nothing but the clothes they were wearing. Once they arrived at Kabul airport, Lucky said, it looked like a war zone: Thousands of people were jostling to try and board military planes as guns and bombs exploded around the airport. airport.

Lucky said he saw children being shot, mothers pushed to the ground. He and his wife held their children tightly as they made their way through the crowd. Their children burst into tears, begging to go home.

“I couldn’t go on anymore. I just gave up and said it wasn’t possible,” Lucky said.

After 3 p.m. at the terminal, Lucky called his friend back and explained his situation. The friend said he would find another plane to get them out.

Around midnight, Lucky and his family went to another terminal at the same airport and waited until the next day to board the plane. First they went to Qatar, where he said they had spent 10 to 12 days in the airport terminal with little to no food or water before another military plane took them. take to Germany.

Eventually, Lucky and his family were able to arrange a flight to Texas, where Lucky’s brother-in-law lived.

In August, Lucky and her family relocated to Fort Worth with her brother. Within weeks, Lucky said, he was able to find a job as a truck driver. But after their experience in Afghanistan, his children got scared every time he left home, thinking he wouldn’t come back, Lucky said.

So he decided to pursue another job.

On December 1, Lucky and two Afghan friends opened the Afghan Halal Market Texas in Fort Worth, a food store for Afghan refugees who struggle to find affordable Afghan halal food in Texas. It’s close to his brother’s house, so he can come home during the day and spend time with his family.

“I am happy to help these new Afghan refugees who are struggling because there are all the newcomers who have arrived here with nothing, without clothes,” he said. “They left everything in Afghanistan, so I try to help them with what I can do.”