The United States government has been saying it is evacuating thousands of people out of Afghanistan every day. As it gets closer to President Biden's Aug. 31 deadline to withdraw all American troops from Afghanistan, many with family members still in Afghanistan fear that time is running out to get their loved ones to safety.
Lutfullah Saadet worked as an interpreter for almost 10 years and says he hasn't been able to eat, sleep or work over the last 10 days because he has been so worried about his brothers and family members who are in Afghanistan.
"My wife is crying in the middle of the night. I am crying, my kids are crying, for the last 10 days I have been contacting maybe 50 people to help me, to help me to get out my brothers," he said.
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His brothers also worked for the United States military for years in Afghanistan, but neither has been able to get a Special Immigrant Visa. Saadet has pictures documenting his brothers' work and letters from American service members who worked with them. He says he has been calling his elected leaders and anyone he can think of who might be able to help him. He worries that once the American troops leave Afghanistan, the evacuations will end.
"I don't know what will happen to them. It's very likely that if they remain in Afghanistan after Aug. 31, they will lose their life. If they lose their life, I will lose my life," he said.
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Saadet says his brother has been going to the airport every day, trying to talk to someone so that he can get his family on a plane out of the country. He says he was so relieved to learn that they weren't at the airport at the time of Thursday's attack that claimed the lives of both Americans and Afghans. He says right now his family members in Kabul are moving from home to home because they fear being searched by the Taliban.
