An Afghan interpreter who was instrumental in saving then-Senator Biden 13 years ago is one of the people abandoned and stranded in Afghanistan and under threat of death from the Taliban. He has a right to expect that the current resident of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue owes him a favor — and he is publicly calling in that favor. Addressing Biden directly via an interview with Fox News Thursday, the interpreter known only as Mohammed pleaded, “Do not forget me and my family.”
In 2008, then-Senator Biden was in one of two Black Hawk helicopters in Afghanistan when they were forced to land in a valley due to a heavy snow storm. Now-Secretary of State Antony Blinken (who at the time was an aide to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee) and then-Senators John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) were also on that trip and were in the helicopters forced to land. A call for help went out and a motorcade made up of soldiers and volunteers responded. One of those men was Mohammed, a 36-year-old interpreter working with the U.S. Army. The group — including Mohammed — risked their lives to save the men who were down and exposed to dangerous weather and attack from Taliban insurgents who had been seen in the valley about the same time as the helicopters were forced to land.
If that account is true, it is no stretch to imagine that, but for Mohammed and men like him, Senator Joe Biden and the others would have ended their lives and their careers in that valley. And while Biden — like his frenemy Hillary Clinton — is known for stretching stories past the breaking point, this account depends not only on Biden’s telling, but also that of one of the men involved in providing the help Biden and the others needed. It appears that the exaggeration Biden has applied to this story is his claim that his helicopter was forced to land because of an al-Qaeda attack, when — as stated above — it was really due to a snowstorm. Even considering Biden’s exaggeration, there is no real question that Mohammed rendered Biden and the others a great service and likely helped keep them from harm from al-Qaeda or the Taliban.
In the years since the episode in the Afghan valley, Biden went on to become vice president and then the current resident of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Hagel went on to be defense secretary from 2013-2015. And Kerry served as secretary of state from 2013-2017 and now serves as Biden’s global warming envoy.
Mohammed, on the other hand, stayed behind and has lived in danger ever since. He has tried for years to escape Afghanistan, but has been unsuccessful. And with the slapdash U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan leaving so many behind, Mohammed was among so many who were unable to get to the airport.
Like either hundreds or thousands of stranded Americans (depending on which department of the U.S. government one chooses to listen to), Mohammed is stuck in an Afghanistan that is under the control of the Taliban. But while those Americans are targets simply by virtue of their Americanness, Mohammed is an Afghani who collaborated with the American “crusaders” and is therefore considered worse than an infidel. He is a marked man.
The one man who could save him is the man he saved 13 years ago. And Mohammed is counting on that.
The Taliban have been reported to be nailing “night letters” to the doors of those they accuse of “working with the crusaders” against their particular brand of Islamic rule. The “night letters” order the recipients to attend a Taliban-convened court and face sentence or face the death penalty for the “crime” of assisting the West.
If the Taliban knew where Mohammed was, he would certainly already be dead. In a phone call interview with Fox News, Mohammed said he had a message he wanted delivered to Biden. He pleaded, “Just give him my hello and tell him — if possible — tell him or send a message. Do not let me and my family behind.”
Mohammed delivered a similar message through the Wall Street Journal, telling Biden, “Hello Mr. President: Save me and my family.” He added, “Don’t forget me here.”
He also told Fox News that his situation is “hard” and “horrifying” and said, “It’s very scary, ma’am. We are under great risk.” But he expressed confidence that Biden would honor the age-old, unwritten code of a life for a life, saying, “I trust him. He can do everything. He’s the power of the United States. He controls the power and [can] use power right now. He can do everything for me, and, like me, other people.”
For its part, the White House is making promises to save Mohammed. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Tuesday, “Our message to him is thank you for fighting by our side for the last 20 years. Thank you for the role you played in helping a number of my favorite people out of a snowstorm and for all the work you did,” adding, “Our commitment is enduring — not just to American citizens, but to our Afghan partners who have fought by our side — and our efforts and our focus right now is… to the diplomatic phase. We will get you out. We will honor your service.”
That promise and a few dollars would buy Mohammed a cup of coffee, if he could safely go outside whatever house he is hiding in to go buy one. But given similar recent promises by the current administration, it likely is not worth much else. After all, it sounds too much like Biden’s promise that the last U.S. plane would not leave Afghanistan without the last American on board.
Of course, since there are still U.S. aircraft in Afghanistan — albeit under Taliban control — Psaki may be able to use her spin super-powers to make it so that Biden kept that promise. But that isn’t going to help Mohammed or the other allies Biden left behind any more than it is going to help the Americans he left behind.
While leaving men like Mohamed behind along with that ever-mysterious number of Americans, the Biden administration has evacuated 20,000 Afghanis — and that number is growing. Many of those evacuated (and brought to the U.S.) are men of fighting age about whom we no little to nothing. So, while ignoring those to whom he should owe something, Biden is bringing questionable people here, possibly setting the stage for the War on Terror to be fought in large scale on American soil.
One could be forgiven for wondering where Biden’s allegiance lies.
