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Don't forget me here: Pleads Afghan interpreter, who rescued Joe Biden 13 years ago

Mohammed was part of the team that rescued Biden from a snowstorm in 2008

joe biden ap US President Joe Biden | AP

"Hello Mr. President: Save me and my family. Don’t forget me here," US President Joe Biden would be forced to listen to the SOS request from an Afghan interpreter who helped rescue Biden & team when they were stranded in a remote Afghanistan valley after their helicopter was forced to land in a snowstorm. 

Afghan interpreter Mohammed, his wife, and their four children are hiding from the Taliban after his years-long attempt to get out of Afghanistan got tangled in the bureaucracy, reported The Wall Street Journal. The family of six are among thousands of allies left behind on Afghan soil as the last US military force exited the war-torn nation on Monday. 

“I can’t leave my house. I’m very scared," said Mohammed, who is in hiding. 

Mohammed was a 36-year-old interpreter for the US Army in 2008 when two US Army Black Hawk helicopters made an emergency landing in Afghanistan during a blinding snowstorm, according to Army veterans who worked with him at the time. The helicopters were carrying three senators—Joe Biden, John Kerry and Chuck Hagel. 

Upon receiving an urgent call for help, Mohammed jumped in a Humvee with a Quick Reaction Force from the Arizona National Guard working with the 82nd Airborne Division and drove hours into the nearby mountains to rescue them, said Brian Genthe, then serving as a staff sergeant in the Arizona National Guard who brought Mohammed along on the rescue mission.

According to the report, Mohammed spent much of his time in a tough valley. The soldiers said he was in more than 100 firefights with them. The soldiers trusted him so much that they would sometimes give him a weapon to use if they got in trouble when they went into tough areas, Genthe said. “His selfless service to our military men and women is just the kind of service I wish more Americans displayed,” Lt. Col. Andrew R. Till wrote in June to support Mohammed’s application for a Special Immigrant Visa.

His visa application got stuck after the defense contractor he worked for lost the records he needed for his application. 

Mohammed's request has been taken note of. White House press secretary Jen Psaki, who thanked the interpreter for his service, said the US remains committed to getting Afghan allies out of the country. “We will get you out,” Psaki said after a Wall Street Journal reporter read Mohammed’s message to the president. “We will honor your service.”

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