Afghan translator who rescued Biden finally makes it to safety, wants to move ...

Afghan translator who rescued Biden finally makes it to safety, wants to move ...
Afghan translator who rescued Biden finally makes it to safety, wants to move ...

The Afghan translator who helped rescue Joe Biden from a remote valley in Afghanistan in 2008 only to be left behind during the US evacuation finally got VIP treatment from the government, with top US officials intervening in his case after he safely crossed the border into Pakistan, DailyMail.com has learned.  

Aman Khalili – who assisted US troops who convoyed to rescue Biden after his helicopter made an emergency landing during a snow storm back when he was a US senator visiting the country – made it out after a harrowing journey involving multiple safe houses, Taliban checkpoints, and tense moments where he nearly turned back. 

'It was as clandestine as it gets,' Safi Rauf, who helped oversee the successful evacuation, told DailyMail.com.

The US government did not organize his escape, say those who helped orchestrate it. But in a reversal of the government's inability to respond to Khalili's initial desperate pleas for help, a top aide to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and the deputy secretary of state helped arrange his documents and secure his passage out of the region aboard a military aircraft. 

Aman Khalili, who helped rescue Joe Biden when his helicopter made an emergency landing in Afghanistan in 2008, made it across the border into Pakistan. With intervention by top US officials after he was out of the country, he flew aboard military transport to Doha, say those who helped get him out

Aman Khalili, who helped rescue Joe Biden when his helicopter made an emergency landing in Afghanistan in 2008, made it across the border into Pakistan. With intervention by top US officials after he was out of the country, he flew aboard military transport to Doha, say those who helped get him out

Khalili is now with his immediate family in Doha – although his rescuers had hoped to bring out other Afghans who were with him in Pakistan. 

He was among about 200 Afghans who had made it across the border to Pakistan at the time he left.

'We didn't want to create a situation where all of the other families that traveled with him were ... left behind,' said Rauf, who helped found Human First, which works to extract Afghans from the country.  

 'We treat all of them the same. And we wanted all of them to go together, just to be fair. And that's what we asked.'

But he said the State Department response was that 'we will only take this family now,' with the promise to arrange a charter for those remaining later.  

With Khalili, his wife, and four children now out of the country, military vets from the Arizona National Guard who helped get him out are offering to pool resources to help him get a fresh start in their home state.

Then-Senators Joe Biden, John Kerry, and Chuck Hagel in Kunar Province rescued in eastern Afghanistan on February 20, 2008. Aman Khalili, the interpreter who helped the senators, was finally able to make it out of Afghanistan

Then-Senators Joe Biden, John Kerry, and Chuck Hagel in Kunar Province rescued in eastern Afghanistan on February 20, 2008. Aman Khalili, the interpreter who helped the senators, was finally able to make it out of Afghanistan

Brian Genthe, an Afghan war vet with the Arizona National Guard, assisted the effort to get the former interpreter out of the country

Brian Genthe, an Afghan war vet with the Arizona National Guard, assisted the effort to get the former interpreter out of the country 

A handout photo made available by Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs shows visiting US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman (L) and Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi (R) walking towards a meeting room at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Office in Islamabad, Pakistan, 08 October 2021. People who helped get Khalili out say Sherman negotiated for a US military plane to fly him to Doha, Qatar

A handout photo made available by Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs shows visiting US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman (L) and Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi (R) walking towards a meeting room at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Office in Islamabad, Pakistan, 08 October 2021. People who helped get Khalili out say Sherman negotiated for a US military plane to fly him to Doha, Qatar

Sherman's visit came during a tense time in bilateral relations

Sherman's visit came during a tense time in bilateral relations

'He wants to come to Arizona here,' Brian Genthe, an Afghan war who helped drive the effort, told DailyMail.com. He said the vets who helped rescue Biden and three other senators during a heavy snowstorm are working with Afghan relocation programs to help engineer a 'smooth transfer' for the interpreter and his family. 

His rescue – which came after he made it through checkpoints and across the border into Pakistan – came with assistance by former vets, an Afghan businessman, a special group that organizes safe houses and evacuations, and an intervention by Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman with the Pakistan's intelligence service.

The Wall Street Journal reported Monday that he had made it out of Afghanistan. 

 

Paperwork woes – and a high-level assist

After months of working through channels to try to get a special immigrant visa to come to the US as the Taliban swept across Afghanistan, Khalili was left behind when the last US troops left the country August 31.

He urged Biden to come through for him in an interview with the Wall Street Journal, going by his formal name Mohammad for security reasons.

'Hello Mr. President: Save me and my family. Don’t forget me here,' he told the paper.

Suzy George

Suzy George

The plea got the administration's attention, at a time when the White House was getting hammered over the evacuation. 

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki vowed: 'We will get you out.' But it was a collection of informal, private, and unofficial sources that brought Khalili across the border for the most challenging part of the journey.

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