The Moral Catastrophe Unfolding in Afghanistan
If no action is taken, we are, in effect, sentencing our interpreters to death at the hands of the Taliban.
One of the last times I saw my interpreter Ali, we were driving through a valley in southeastern Afghanistan when a vehicle in our convoy struck an IED. An ambush followed. Muzzle flashes lit up the rocky hillside as we pried the bodies of four Afghan soldiers out of their mangled vehicle, including Mortaza, a friend of Ali’s. I remember the two of us putting pieces of him in a vinyl body bag. Afghan or American, the person’s nationality didn’t matter—you never leave a man behind.
Ali wasn’t my interpreter’s real name, but it’s what everyone called him. We worked in special operations, and to its planned withdrawal of all American troops from the country by September 11, Ali wrote to plead for help in getting his family to safety.
