An interpreter, who helped rescue United States President Joe Biden during his visit to Afghanistan as a senator in 2008, has escaped Afghanistan with his family. Biden and other US lawmakers were caught in a snowstorm after a military helicopter made an emergency landing in a remote valley, leaving them exposed to an ambush by insurgents.
Aman Khalili was among the Afghan employees of the US government who rushed to the group’s rescue and drover Biden and others to safety, according to media reports.
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Like thousands of Afghans who worked with the US, Khalili remained in hiding for weeks from the Taliban before crossing into Pakistan and flying to Doha on a US government plane to join thousands of refugees who are being processed in the Qatari capital by US officials.
Khalili, his wife and five children managed to escape with the help of US military veterans and former Afghan soldiers, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported.
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Khalili told the WSJ that the family was scared after 144 hours of “driving day and night and getting through so many checkpoints.”
The Kabul airport became a sight of chaos as the US carried out an evacuation process amid its troop withdrawal from Afghanistan and the Taliban’s takeover of the country in mid August.
About 53,000 Afghans who fled their country are already scattered across eight US military bases and about 14,000 more are expected to arrive in coming weeks.
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A representative for the US State Department told BBC News that Khalili and his family had “safely departed Afghanistan and subsequently initiated onward travel from Pakistan.”
Khalili had earlier appealled Biden to save him and his family.
“I trust him,” he told CNN. “I trust that he can do everything.”
In September, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki assured help and thanked Khalili for “helping a number of my favourite people out of a snowstorm and for all the work you did.”
