City rep played role in rescue of Afghan family
‘We’re having to tell them that they basically need to fight for their lives’
STAMFORD — When Kabul fell to the Taliban last month, former U.S. Army civil affairs officer and city Rep. Ben Lee and his wife reached out to a man Lee had worked closely with when he was deployed to Afghanistan about a decade ago.
The man — who went by the name Safi when he worked as a translator with Lee’s unit — told them that members of his family were in Kabul and trying to flee.
About 10 “extremely chaotic” days later, Safi’s family members were out of Afghanistan, Lee said. Safi, who is a U.S. citizen, told Hearst Connecticut Media that they are now in the United States, but he still has some other family members in Afghanistan.
“It was really hard, but finally (we were able to) get them out, and I’m so thankful,” Safi said.
In the first few days after Kabul fell, Lee got in touch with U.S. Rep. Jim Himes’ staff. He contacted people he knew who
were still in active duty. He spoke to state Rep. Matt Blumenthal, a former U.S. Marine Corps Reserve infantry officer. Lee’s wife, who has a background in international relations, reached out to people she thought might have connections to the State Department.
“It became pretty clear very early on that it was going to be very difficult to get through the gates” at Hamid Karzai International Airport, Lee said.
“There was no real process, per se,” he said. “Nothing was published to say, ‘You need to have these 10 documents and, magic, you're through.’ Really the only thing that was going to automatically get anyone through the gates was a U.S. passport.”
Lee said that after a few days, word came that the family was on a list and they would be allowed into the airport. But it took several tries before they finally got through a gate.
During one attempt, the group — Safi’s wife, his mother, four siblings and the fiance of one of his brothers — spent more than 30 hours waiting outside the airport.
“Hardly any food, hardly any water, tear gas, beatings from the Taliban, constant fear of bombings — and they aren't moving because safety is through the airport gates,” Lee said.
Safi was in Turkey at the time, communicating with Lee and
others who were trying to help. One of those people was Alisha Guffey, who had been in the same unit as Lee. Guffey was in contact with a Marine on the ground the day Safi’s family finally made it through an airport gate.
“We're having to tell them that they basically need to fight for their lives, shove their way through, whatever it takes to get through,” said Lee, who became emotional as he recalled that day.
Lee said he would like to think that Safi would have been able to get his family out of Afghanistan even without his help.
Safi “served with many other people, and I was only one part of a big team there,” Lee said. “But I don't know what was the one thing that made the difference. I hope that I wasn't the one thing because I hope that … in the multiverse, there are many different ways where this ends with Safi’s family safe.”
Through Guffey, Lee joined a larger group of veterans and other individuals coordinating evacuations from Afghanistan. One member of the group was Alex Plitsas, the chairman of the Fairfield Republican Town Committee.
As he was helping Safi, Lee began working with John Moses, who had served at the U.S. embassy in Kabul and was trying to get a number of translators, teachers and families out of Afghanistan. Wanting to contribute to the effort, Lee put his experience as a lawyer to use.
“Afghans were sending us paperwork left and right,” Moses
said. Lee would parse all the documents and write the memos needed to move people along in the process.
“I joke that I can write fast and decently well enough,” said Lee, who works at the firm Clifford Chance. It’s “just part of the job. And organizing paperwork is part of the job. I'm a professional homework doer.”
Lee “understates his role,” Moses said. “The times he did help, it was so critical to us.”
Even after Safi’s family was out of Afghanistan, Lee continued to assist with paperwork. The group ended up helping 68 people leave
the country, Moses said, including Safi’s family.
The cases involved people of “all different statuses — SVI approved, SVI in process,” Moses said, referring to the Special Immigrant Visas program. A nonprofit called No One Left Behind was key to getting names on manifests.
Lee said it was not only his legal experience but also his military training that kicked in.
“You fall in to do the thing … where you can help the best,” Lee said. “If I can do (paperwork) quickly and well, and that's what the team needs right now, then
that's where I'm going to be.”
Lee joined the Army after graduating college in 2007. He eventually became a civil affairs officer and was deployed to Kandahar in 2010. Lee said that’s where he met Safi, a soft-spoken young man who had become a translator to support his family.
As a civil affairs officer, Lee said his job was to “meet as many people as possible, drink as much tea as possible and really be seen and to start understanding what's actually happening on the ground.”
Translators were essential to that mission, Lee said, and Safi was the best one working with his unit.
In addition to meeting with local elders, Lee said he was involved in paving roads, building clinics and schools and fixing up a government office during the nearly 12 months he was in Kandahar.
“Safi’s with me every day, every patrol, helping me, translating for me as I'm working out what we have to be doing,” Lee said.
After leaving Afghanistan, Lee kept in touch with Safi over the years through social media. Lee was elected to the Stamford Board of Representatives in 2017. A Democrat, Lee represents parts of Springdale and Glenbrook.
“A man walked next to me in a dangerous place, and so I promised him that if he was ever in danger, I'd walk next to him,” Lee said. “And I am very glad to have kept my promise.”