'More dangerous than anyone:' as Taliban returns, former interpreter on mission to rescue sister from Kabul

Record ID: 1633499

  • Title: 'More dangerous than anyone:' as Taliban returns, former interpreter on mission to rescue sister from Kabul
  • Date: 24th August 2021
  • Summary: MODESTO, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (AUGUST 18, 2021) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) FORMER INTERPRETER FOR U.S. ARMY, HAMIDULLAH EHSAN, SAYING: "The Taliban, as I told you, they've never been changed. I cannot compare them to the animal. (An) animal is much better than them. I cannot compare them to any human being on the planet. They're more dangerous than anyone you think of." VARIOUS OF EHSAN HITTING PUNCHING BAG LOGO FOR MODESTO POWER GYM ON PUNCHING BAG (SOUNDBITE) (English) FORMER INTERPRETER FOR U.S. ARMY, HAMIDULLAH EHSAN, SAYING: "One of my sisters, she's left behind out there. Because nobody knows that everything's happened in a second like that. And I was really trying to find a way to my sister, to evacuate her too because I know that the process of getting them here is so long. It is not like something to do in a month, two, three, four. It takes year and years, but there was no chance. We left her back there. She's there right now." EHSAN AT WATER FOUNTAIN / WALKING AWAY VARIOUS OF BOXING EQUIPMENT ON RACK (SOUNDBITE) (English) FORMER INTERPRETER FOR U.S. ARMY, HAMIDULLAH EHSAN, SAYING: "I wish something happened to her back in Afghanistan. They (U.S. officials) should at least call her. Right now all I just want from the government, the Embassy is to call her and ask her to come to the airport. I'm ready to pay her tickets back here, I'm ready to take her in any financial situation. But all I just want is for her to be safe from out there." EHSAN AND OTHERS WARMING UP FOR BRAZILIAN JIU-JITSU CLASS U.S. FLAG ON WALL EHSAN DURING WARM-UP (SOUNDBITE) (English) FORMER INTERPRETER FOR U.S. ARMY, HAMIDULLAH EHSAN, SAYING: "There was a lot of progress happened back in Afghanistan but now everything is zero. But my really concern is about women. What are they going to do? Stay at home? Nothing. No school. No universities. No talking. Just covering themselves up. It's so disgusting. My big concern is this." VARIOUS OF EHSAN TRAINING ON FLOOR (SOUNDBITE) (English) FORMER INTERPRETER FOR U.S. ARMY, HAMIDULLAH EHSAN, SAYING: "So my name is Hamidullah Ehsan and I was a former interpreter for the United States Army back in Afghanistan since 2008, and I've been working all the way to 2012 and I've been working with the different units from different states and different companies back in Kandahar, Afghanistan." EHSAN ALONG WALL IN LINE TO TRAIN (SOUNDBITE) (English) FORMER INTERPRETER FOR U.S. ARMY, HAMIDULLAH EHSAN, SAYING: "You know, like an interpreter's job is working side by side to the U.S. Army or whatever coalition forces are back there. Like you pretty much don't have any weapon but you're translating. In any combat situation or anything that happens on the ground over there, you are already there."
  • Embargoed: 7th September 2021 11:03
  • Keywords: Afghanistan Afghanistan conflict Ehsan Hamidullah Ehsan Modesto Taliban U.S. army interpreters conflict
  • Location: MODESTO, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES + UNIDENTIFIED LOCATIONS, AFGHANISTAN
  • City: MODESTO, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES + UNIDENTIFIED LOCATIONS, AFGHANISTAN
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace,United States
  • Reuters ID: LVA004ERN26H3
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: EDITOR'S NOTE: EDIT CONTAINS PROFANITY
    Former U.S. Army interpreter Hamidullah Ehsan saw what was coming. Two weeks before the Taliban forces marched into Kabul this month, Ehsan got his mother and two of his siblings out of Afghanistan.
    They're now registered with the United Nations refugee agency in neighboring Tajikistan.
    It's a huge relief for Ehsan, who translated for multiple army units in Kandahar, Afghanistan from 2008 to 2012 during the U.S.'s 20-year war against the Taliban and fears reprisals from the militant group for his work.
    Ehsan does not believe the Taliban's assurances that they do not seek revenge, citing videos online showing what he said were militants going door to door knocking on homes.
    Reuters interviewed Ehsan, 32, at a boxing and Brazilian jiu-jitsu gym in Modesto, California, where he now lives after securing a Special Immigrant Visa, designed for people who worked with the U.S. military, in 2015.
    Meanwhile, Ehsan has one more sister who remains stuck in the now Taliban-controlled capital of Kabul with her husband and infant child.
    Ehsan has filed her name on an evacuation list and while he knows it's a long shot, he's prepared to do whatever it takes.
    "All I just want from the (U.S.) government is to call her and ask her to come to the airport. I'm ready to pay her tickets back here, I'm ready to take care of her in any financial situation. All I want is for her to be safe from out there," he said.
    The airport has been the final frontier for foreign forces in the country. Thousands of desperate Afghans and foreigners have been crowding into Kabul airport in the hope of fleeing Afghanistan's new Taliban rulers. U.S. officials are scrambling to figure out how to extend a looming Aug. 31 deadline to airlift Americans and their allies to safety.
    The situation for his sister and other women in Afghanistan is what concerns Ehsan most. He believes a return to a harsh version of Islamic law that the Taliban enforced while in power from 1996 to 2001 will be disastrous for women's rights.
    During that rule, girls were barred from school while women could not work and had to cover their faces and be accompanied by a male relative outside their homes.
    "There was a lot of progress (that) happened back in Afghanistan but now everything is zero," Ehsan said. "What are they (women) going to do? Stay at home? Nothing. No school. No universities. No talking. Just covering themselves up. It's so disgusting."
    In their first press conference after taking Kabul, the Taliban said women would be allowed to work and study "within the framework of Islam".
    Ehsan vehemently disagrees with the militants, saying they're the same as before.
    "The Taliban, as I told you, they've never been changed. I cannot compare them to the animal. (An) animal is much better than them. I cannot compare them to any human being on the planet. They're more dangerous than anyone you think of," he said.
    (Production: Nathan Frandino)
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