Escaping the Taliban, Afghan interpreter pleads for help

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WHEC) — It’s been almost a month since we first spoke to Afghan interpreter, Abdul Hameed , who is still in Afghanistan. He is desperate for help in escaping the Taliban. We checked in with him and he says his Special Immigrant Visa is still pending review.

Abdul spoke with us over the phone from inside a bunker. That’s where he’s been hiding from the Taliban. He says the Taliban has communicated with him through blocked phone calls, telling him, when they find him he’ll be executed. Abdul broke down in tears in his search for his parents.

"I don’t know what to do, I can’t go out, I can’t meet anyone, I don’t even know where is my mom, or where is my dad.”

Imagine hiding, and praying to be saved from execution. That’s how Abdul has been living.

"I don’t want to get killed by the Taliban."

Abdul was hurt in a bomb blast during his escape from Kabul but is too scared to seek medical attention, so he suffers through the pain.

"I can’t go to a doctor, I don’t know what to do.”

He is one of the thousands of at-risk Afghans left stranded and hiding because they helped translate for U.S. troops. Abdul detailed threatening phone calls he received from the Taliban just days ago.

"I was getting calls from unknown numbers and they were telling me to count down your days”.

The last time we spoke to Abdul he said his SIV has been under review for four years now. He says he’s reached out to some humanitarian resettlement groups, including some located right here in Rochester. He says recently he’s been working with his supervisor.

"He’s American and another second supervisor and his wife are working to help me get on the list of evacuees.”

Being U.S. allies has made him a target. He says he can’t live under the Taliban’s rule. If he can’t get out, he says death is the only option he will have.

"My life is at risk, in danger, seriously I don’t know what to do, please help me."

I reached out to Congressman Joe Morelle’s office to see what they can do to help. During a press conference earlier this month, Morelle welcomed Afghan interpreters to Monroe County, he said, on a federal level, the government will continue to get more allies like Abdul out of Afghanistan.