The Pitiful Fate of Afghan Interpreters

Ever since the foreign invaders announced their much-delayed withdrawal timetable, many within the Kabul regime, particularly the interpreters who were embedded with foreign troops have gone into a panicked frenzy. Without foreign boots, these interpreters consider themselves particularly vulnerable to retribution since they served as the eyes and ears of the foreign occupiers, actively engaged in hostilities against their countrymen, and aided and abetted in warcrimes against civilians and combatants alike.

The media regularly reports on the plight of these interpreters and argue for their cause. According to media reports these interpreters should be given refuge in the West since they risked their lives serving the interests of the invaders.

Last week BBC aired an interview with an Afghan interpreter by the name of Javed Hotak. This interpreter claimed to have worked with foreign troops in Kandahar and Helmand. Javed claimed in his interview that since the departure of British troops he regrets his involvement with the foreign troops and questioned why he ever assisted them.

He felt cheated and wronged. According to him, the foreign troops promised them (interpreters) a safe passage to Britain in exchange for their help, yet according to him they failed to keep their end of the bargain. Javed claimed to have traveled to France through illegal routes and from there onwards to Britain in the back of a truck. Currently he is illegally residing in Birmingham. His asylum bid has been rejected by the British government and he is due to be deported back to Afghanistan.

In the interview Javed pleads that the British ‘consider their soldiers as heroes, yet we [the interpreters] assisted your heroes and in exchange you left us out in the cold. Had we assisted another party perhaps right now we would have been safe’.

There are hundreds of interpreters who similarly worked for foreign troops in providing intelligence gathering, conducting raids, questioning prisoners and so forth with the hope that one day they will be able to reside in the countries they so passionately served. Yet when the foreign troops began withdrawing from Afghanistan, not only did they not take these interpreters with them, but even when these interpreters risk life and limb to illegally reach these countries, the governments usually rejects their asylum requests.

It is slowly dawning on these interpreters that by serving the invaders, not only did they do a disservice to their own nation, but even the foreigners viewed them as nothing more than tools to be used and discarded.

There is still enough time for people like Javed Hotak and others that so willingly serve their foreign financiers  to realize that to the West, these people are nothing more than means to an end. No matter how subserviently and dedicatedly you serve them, the foreigners have no use for you once they abandon the project of colonization. Then you will be left behind to face your people and answer for the atrocities committed.