‘I’M SCARED FOR THEIR LIVES’
As Taliban tightens grip, one Connecticut man who made it out watches with dread
Hewad Hemat has been so consumed with anguish about the worsening crisis in his native Afghanistan that he’s been unable to sleep. “I wake up after each hour because those pictures are coming in front of my eyes, pictures of women and kids crying, pictures of people clinging to airplanes,” Hemat said.
A radio engineer and interpreter, Hemat came to New Haven in 2014 on a special immigrant visa for Afghans who worked for or aided the U.S. military. Now he is worried about those who remain in Afghanistan and face grave danger following the Taliban’s takeover.
Among those left behind are Hemat’s three brothers, who could be in jeopardy because of his work for the U.S. government. “I’m scared for their lives,’’ he said. “There have been reports of retaliation, of the Taliban just picking people up and killing them.”
On Friday, President Joe Biden promised not to abandon Afghans who risked their lives to aid the U.S. over two decades. He acknowledged that the past week has been “heartbreaking.”
Bringing American citizens stuck in the country is his first priority, Biden said. “But ... equally important almost, is all those who ... in fact helped us. They were translators, they went into battle with us, they were part of the operation,’’ Biden said during an afternoon news conference at the White House.
His comments came amid mounting criticism about the chaos in Afghanistan as Americans have watched troubling scenes of thousands desperately trying to flee. On Thursday, 55 U.S. senators, including Chris
Murphy and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, signed a letter urging the Biden administration to take immediate action to protect Afghans who supported the U.S.
The U.S. government should not turn its back on “the interpreters, the guards and the others who stood by our side and working with us,’’ Blumenthal said.
Hemat was one of them. Working with the U.S. military, he ran 15 radio stations in Afghanistan. He hired female journalists and religious scholars who offered a counter to the Taliban’s doctrinaire interpretation of the Quran.
“We were putting out good messages in support of the U.S. Army and the Afghan government,’’ Hemat said. “We were educating the local population.”
But eventually, the radio stations drew the attention of local Taliban leaders. They targeted Hemat, who was a translator and engineer and served as the stations’ operations manager.
“In 2012, when the Taliban learned that I was the person who developed and managed these programs, I started receiving death threats,” he said.
He shared the information with his Army manager, who told Hemat he had to leave for his own safety. He fled to a safe house in Kabul, where he continued to run the radio stations for a while. But by 2012, the danger had become too grave and he applied for the special immigrant visa program. Almost two years later, he left the country and settled in New Haven, where his wife’s cousin lived.
“He was the only person we knew in the United States and he had been an interpreter like me,’’ Hemat said.
Nightmare images
Now, Hemat fields a constant stream of What’s App messages and Facebook DMs from friends and acquaintances seeking help escaping Afghanistan. One friend was approved for a special immigration visa five years ago and still has been unable to leave.
“My heart goes out to him,’’ Hemat said. “Someone waiting five years despite his initial approval — what kind of process is this? If he’s not eligible, then deny him. But if he’s eligible, why are you giving him five years to wait?”
Like many Afghans in the U.S., his view of his own good fortune is tinged with guilt, frustration and a sense of powerlessness.
“I receive messages from friends that they’re seeking help and I’m helpless,’’ he said. “I cannot promise them anything. I’m telling them ‘just forgive me because you guys don’t deserve this.’ ”
The feelings of frustration and anguish felt by Hemat are common among Afghans who have made it to the U.S., said Ann O’Brien, director of community engagement at Integrated Refugee & Immigrant Services, or IRIS, in New Haven.
“Our clients know that they can’t actually do anything to help those other folks get out yet they’re just like them,’’ O’Brien said. “The survivor guilt is going to be enormous.”
Over the past five years, IRIS has helped more than 500 people from Afghanistan settle in the U.S. In the past two weeks, the resettlement agency has handled four additional cases from Afghanistan: two large families and two individuals who were transported on evacuation flights.
“They barely made it out and they’ve confirmed what we’ve all seen on TV,’’ O’Brien said.
IRIS is working to secure safe passage for several of its clients, who are stuck in Afghanistan. They are U.S. citizens with green cards who went back to visit family a few weeks ago and got caught in the chaos following the Taliban takeover.
The agency, like Hemat, also has received many calls and messages from people in Afghanistan desperate to get out.
“All of these men took the leap of faith to work with the U.S. military because they wanted to rebuild their country and they did not like the rules of the Taliban,’’
O’Brien said. “They are incredible supporters of women’s rights, they want girls to be educated and they want democratic rule not oppressive rule ... they’re devastated.”
Hemat said he is hopeful the Biden administration will not turn its back on the Afghans who aided the U.S. military for so many years.
“I appreciate his approach to refugees and all his good intentions,’’ Hemat said. “But please, now its chaos. Please help those who are left behind ... speed up the process ... and give more help to U.S. troops back in Kabul so they can pick up more people.”
He added: “Please don’t leave our good friends behind. History will record this ... the world is watching.”