Afghan interpreter rescued by the United States officer

Dewey Yopp, a retired officer from the US Army Special Forces. He met Amir, his 18 -year -old Afghan translator, at the airport the first day there, and says that Amir saved his life four times.

“Amir dragged me, under fire, to a Medevac point,” Yopp told News themezone about one of those cases.

After The United States retired From the country in 2021, Yopp hastened to get a special immigrant visa For Afghan allies. Amir asked News themezone to hide his real name for security reasons.

“If someone saves your life, your souls are united by eternity,” Yopp said. “It’s like a child for me, really.”

Three years later, Amir’s visa was approved, and he and his family received green cards. They arrived in the United States and settled in Kentucky, meeting with YOPP 22 years after they met in Afghanistan.

Yopp now spends most of the days with Amir’s children, who call him “grandfather.”

Thousands of Afghas living in the US now fear deportation after a Federal Appeals Court on Monday night He refused to freeze The efforts of the Trump administration to end its legal status. Amir is a special recipient of immigrant visas, who gave us the allies who helped during the war. Although he and his family have green cards, he still fears being sent back, from the White House He has threatened To deport green card holders too.

Amir risk reprisals to the Taliban to help American soldiers, because work in Afghanistan at that time was scarce and the possibility of security abroad was attractive. He told News themezone that the promise made to him in exchange for risking his life was: “Your family will go to the United States. This was promised with all those who work with us”

Amir said he hid for years after his service, feeling betrayed by the United States, until Yopp intervened to meet the promise of the United States and helped ensure his visa. Thousands of Afghanistan war veterans throughout the country have been responsible for helping their translators and other Afghan allies to reach the United States and establish themselves here. But Amir says that it is not the work of the veterans to fulfill the protection vote that the government made before.

The Trump administration He has repeatedly attacked The Afghan refugees, who stop flights with Afghan allies that arrive, freeze resettlement services, put Afghanistan in the travel prohibition list and end the temporary protected status program (TPS) for Afghan refugees. Yopp says that it is a “moral injury” to veteran see that this happens to those who helped them during the war.

As part of the administration’s efforts to finish the TPS program, the Secretary of National Security Kristi Noem He has claimed That Afghanistan is now safe for Afghanos to return, an amir dispute point.

“Ok, if Afghanistan is sure, why are you telling your citizens, ‘Don’t go to Afghanistan?'”, Said Amir in reference to the “not travel” advisor of the State Department for Afghanistan. “For me, [it’s] sure, but for you, [it’s] Isn’t it safe? I’m not sure.”

Amir fears that even as head of the green card, he and his family can be sent back, since the White House has also threatened to deport green card holders.

These days, he works two jobs, seven days a week, to keep his family. He says he only passed in the past due to $ 500 per month that Yopp, who is retired, would give him.

“It has been a slap on the face, really, to see the programs that were in force, to be carried,” said Yopp.

Amir added: “Americans should not make a promise with Afghans, and now [you’re] making a problem for them. So why [did] You do [that] promise?”

• War
• Afghanistan