Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Beaten, terrified ..and no way out
THE translator who sent a direct appeal to Boris Johnson for help has told in terrifying detail of his battle to flee Afghanistan.
The man – we are withholding his name for his own protection – is in hiding in Kabul with his family after Taliban soldiers at the airport inflicted a terrible beating.
Revealing painful wounds on his back, he told the Sunday Mirror: “I fear for my life and my family’s lives. What if I get arrested? If they kill me, what will happen to my children? Every night, my daughter asks, ‘When are we going to the
UK? When will your friends help you?’ It makes me cry.
“I can’t tell her, ‘They are not taking us, they are not paying attention to us’. There are no words. There is no food or water here and everything is closed.”
When Kabul fell, the translator went to the British embassy and got a letter recommending him for evacuation.
But his bid to get out ended horrifically. He said: “A Taliban soldier asked to see my documents. He saw the recommendation letter
and he said, ‘You have been killing us for more than 20 years’.
He started beating me, firing his gun over my wife and kids. He trashed my documents. “Everyone was crying and shouting. There were at least three men there. One shouted, ‘Shoot him!’ They fired a gun into the air.
One soldier beat me with guns and another beat me with a plastic stick. The third kicked me.
“All of my children were crying. My wife was crying too, and saying, ‘Why do you beat him? Why do you do this?’ It was horrible.
“When they finally stopped, I just ran with my wife and kids. I left everything – my passport and my documents. We just had to escape.
“Now I am in Kabul but I can’t go back home. I am wearing a mask to cover my face because they are looking for people who worked for coalition forces.
“Yesterday, when I was on the street, a Taliban fighter called me to stop. I ran away.
“It is not safe. I’m really worried about my children. I don’t know where to go because lots of borders have been closed. The future will be very dark and a huge risk for anyone who supported the UK forces on the front line.”
The translator worked with UK forces for five years from 2009. He was caught in an IED blast in 2010 but escaped with minor injuries.
Fellow translators and British soldiers were not so lucky. He said: “A soldier lost his leg, but I helped carry him to hospital. He survived. I also helped carry the dead bodies to the base many, many times.”
What will happen to my kids if the Taliban kill me? AFGHAN TRANSLATOR IN HIDING IN KABUL