{"id":30165,"date":"2017-10-24T14:02:20","date_gmt":"2017-10-24T08:32:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/apnlive.com\/?p=30165"},"modified":"2017-12-28T17:50:46","modified_gmt":"2017-12-28T12:20:46","slug":"i-would-have-been-killed-along-with-my-father-recounts-afghan-journalist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/apnlive.com\/world-news\/i-would-have-been-killed-along-with-my-father-recounts-afghan-journalist\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cI Would Have Been Killed, Along With My Father\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

How a U.S. Special Immigrant Visa program likely saved a life? Its continuation and expansion could save more<\/em><\/p>\n

By Sher A. Nader<\/strong><\/p>\n

In July 2016, I welcomed my friend Muhammad Mihdi, his wife, and their 2-year-old son at San Francisco International Airport. They arrived here from Kabul, Afghanistan, on Special Immigrant Visas (SIVs) granted to those Afghans and Iraqis who have worked for or on behalf of the U.S. government in Afghanistan and Iraq and as a result are facing an ongoing threat in their country. I was accompanied by Barbara Preston, a retired doctor who is a volunteer for No One Left Behind (NOLB). NOLB is a nonprofit organization that supports and advocates for Afghan and Iraqi translators before and after their arrival in the U.S.<\/p>\n

Mihdi worked for the U.S. Military in Khogyani, one of Afghanistan\u2019s most volatile districts. It is in the southern part of Nangarhar province, which borders Pakistan. Although he knew that by working with Americans in Afghanistan he was putting his life and the lives of his family members at substantial risk, he never thought of giving up. In 2012, his work at Khogyani ended but the threats to his life followed him everywhere \u2013 even to his home in Kabul.<\/p>\n

Every time I talked to Mihdi while he was still in Afghanistan, his descriptions of the security situation worried me greatly.<\/p>\n

\u201cBefore leaving for work in the morning, I can\u2019t stop hugging and giving love to my little son, as I know there\u2019s no guarantee I will get back home in the evening,\u201d Mihdi told me a few months before his visa was issued. His voice conveyed a sense of the danger he faced daily.<\/p>\n

When he received his SIV, he immediately arranged to travel to the U.S. <\/a>He was lucky. If he hadn’t received his visa at that time, he might not be alive today. In his own words, \u201cI would have been killed, along with my father, some months later.\u201d<\/p>\n

On March 8, 2017, a suicide blast destroyed the back entrance to Sardar Daud Khan Military Hospital, allowing five heavily armed terrorists disguised as medical staff to enter Afghanistan<\/a>\u2019s largest military hospital, in the heart of Kabul.<\/p>\n

The attack began at\u00a09 a.m.<\/span>\u00a0For the next seven hours, the gunmen went from ward to ward, killing everyone in their sight \u2013 including doctors and patients. At least 100 people were killed and hundreds of others injured.<\/p>\n

Mihdi\u2019s father had been admitted to the same hospital a few days earlier after doctors found his asthma was getting worse. His ward was on the fourth floor. \u201cMy mother and brother-in-law were there, too. They took him food and remained there to help him through most of the day, every day,\u201d Mihdi told me when I visited him at his home a day after the attack. \u201cThere were 15 more people in the same ward.\u201d<\/p>\n

As soon as Mihdi learned of the attack he tried to reach his parents by phone. \u201cThe truth,” Mihdi learned, “was that my father had been killed and my mother was injured. I couldn\u2019t believe my mother was alive until I heard her voice on the phone. Thankfully, my brother-in-law was unhurt.\u201d<\/p>\n

A few days after the incident, when I called and spoke to Mihdi\u2019s mother, she still sounded shocked and terrified. \u201cAs soon as we heard the first explosion, we closed the ward\u2019s entrance and took positions under the beds,\u201d Mihdi\u2019s mother explained while sobbing.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe continued to hear explosions and gunfire for hours but no one entered our ward. Around\u00a02 p.m.<\/span>, all of a sudden, there was absolute silence and we thought the attack was over,” she recalled. “Then one of the men in the ward moved toward the door to open it. Others urged him to wait for the arrival of security forces, but he didn’t listen.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs soon as he opened the door, a bullet pierced through his head. It seemed as if the gunman had been waiting behind the door. He started shooting everyone he saw,\u201d Mihdi\u2019s mother said.<\/p>\n

Mihdi\u2019s father was shot in chest, and his mother in the leg. His brother-in-law was uninjured \u2013 Mihdi\u2019s mother had covered him by putting herself over him. What she did was nothing short of heroic.<\/p>\n

\u201cI saw my husband dying in front my eyes but couldn\u2019t do anything. I was bleeding severely,\u201d Mihdi\u2019s mother recalled. The incident left her with serious psychological problems. For the next few weeks, she would scream in her sleep several times during the night and remain restless throughout the day. She hasn\u2019t fully recovered yet.<\/p>\n

When Mihdi was living in Afghanistan, he would help his father and take him food whenever his father got sick and was admitted to hospital. Had he not come to the U.S., Mihdi would likely have been in that room with his father at the time of the attack. He would likely have been killed or seriously injured. If Mihdi were able to bring his parents along with him to the U.S., today his father would likely be alive and his mother would be healthy, enjoying their time with their newly born grandson.<\/p>\n

Since December 2014, 11,000 SIVs have been awarded to Afghan applicants by the U.S. State Department. Thousands more were awarded in previous years dating back to the program’s creation in 2009. Some of these visa recipients, and others from Iraq, might not be alive now had their visas been denied or even delayed. For others like Mihdi who risked their lives in the service of the U.S. missions in Afghanistan and Iraq, the continuance of this visa program can be the primary lifeline to truly ensure that no one is left behind.<\/p>\n

Sher A. Nader is a freelance writer based in California, USA. He can be reached @\u00a0 sher.siraj@gmail.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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