This kind of sucks...
DEL RIO — Two brothers stand across from each other at the Val Verde Correctional Facility in this border city, speaking reverently through the fixed telephones. They are separated by the visiting room’s thick glass partition, too energized to sit.
One brother, Abdul Wasi Safi, wears an inmate’s bright orange uniform. The other brother, Sami-ullah Safi, wears a blue blazer, jeans and a look of determination to bring his brother home safely.
About 18 months ago, Abdul Wasi Safi, whose family calls him Wasi, was a newly minted officer in Afghanistan’s special forces, working alongside U.S. troops to combat the Taliban in the longest U.S. military engagement in its history.
Just three months later, the U.S. abruptly exited the country. The Taliban — an Islamic fundamentalist group — took control of the country and began hunting down those who had helped the Americans.
Over the course of the conflict there, the U.S. issued special visas to more than 34,000 Afghans who qualified for various reasons — including Sami, who in 2015 moved to Houston. Sami, 29, had been working side by side with the U.S. military as an interpreter for special forces in Afghanistan. For years, he traveled between the two countries and in July 2021 was granted full U.S. citizenship.
But thousands like Wasi, 26, who had helped U.S. forces — but were not paid by the U.S. government — were left behind with few options to escape. With a Taliban target on their backs, many went into hiding as reports of revenge killings grew.
When it was clear Wasi could not get a visa, he went into hiding with his parents and eight other siblings before setting out on a harrowing journey halfway around the world that led to a jail cell more than 12,000 miles from his home.
“It was unfair, unjust, for the U.S. military to leave all the people who put their lives on the line working for the military and in the end leaving them to be slaughtered by the Taliban and closing their eyes on them,” Sami said. “Pretending nothing happened. People have done so much.”
www.texastribune.org
DEL RIO — Two brothers stand across from each other at the Val Verde Correctional Facility in this border city, speaking reverently through the fixed telephones. They are separated by the visiting room’s thick glass partition, too energized to sit.
One brother, Abdul Wasi Safi, wears an inmate’s bright orange uniform. The other brother, Sami-ullah Safi, wears a blue blazer, jeans and a look of determination to bring his brother home safely.
About 18 months ago, Abdul Wasi Safi, whose family calls him Wasi, was a newly minted officer in Afghanistan’s special forces, working alongside U.S. troops to combat the Taliban in the longest U.S. military engagement in its history.
Just three months later, the U.S. abruptly exited the country. The Taliban — an Islamic fundamentalist group — took control of the country and began hunting down those who had helped the Americans.
Over the course of the conflict there, the U.S. issued special visas to more than 34,000 Afghans who qualified for various reasons — including Sami, who in 2015 moved to Houston. Sami, 29, had been working side by side with the U.S. military as an interpreter for special forces in Afghanistan. For years, he traveled between the two countries and in July 2021 was granted full U.S. citizenship.
But thousands like Wasi, 26, who had helped U.S. forces — but were not paid by the U.S. government — were left behind with few options to escape. With a Taliban target on their backs, many went into hiding as reports of revenge killings grew.
When it was clear Wasi could not get a visa, he went into hiding with his parents and eight other siblings before setting out on a harrowing journey halfway around the world that led to a jail cell more than 12,000 miles from his home.
“It was unfair, unjust, for the U.S. military to leave all the people who put their lives on the line working for the military and in the end leaving them to be slaughtered by the Taliban and closing their eyes on them,” Sami said. “Pretending nothing happened. People have done so much.”
An Afghan soldier fleeing the Taliban spent months reaching the U.S. to request asylum. He was arrested at the Texas border.
Abdul Wasi Safi was trying to reach his brother, who immigrated legally to Houston after helping the U.S. military. Legal experts say Wasi may have to serve a criminal sentence before he can pursue asylum.
www.texastribune.org
