Page 543 - Interpreters News Today

Just heard of our own reporter say you could see the afghan government fall. no one wants to see that. these are very real scenarios that are being posited by our intelligence community. >> benjamin: one of the other big issues and something we have covered on fox is what happens to all the people in afghanistan who has worked for the u.s. who were instrumental over there and we heard from an afghan translator just recently, he said we are right now at the final stage. they are going to slaughte...

Hundred plus thousand troops to iraq and afghanistan and the overwhelming majority of them did not speak arabic or pashtu so we needed to hire locals to help us, and they werent just serving as interpreters. they served alongside u.s. diplomats and aid workers and soldiers as engineeris, as helping us rebuild schools, and healthcare clinics and things like that. in iraq, they brought us our food. they interpreted and translated intel that was discovered in caches that would help our soldiers and...

You consider their families as well, that they would, of course, want to take with them. were just a few weeks out from the deadline that the president set. from admiral kirby at the pentagon that it could end at the end of august, the withdrawal. can this happen in that time frame, and how does it happen? >> well, you know, i couldnt help but remember something. when you showed that map just in the run-up to this of the districts that the taliban has taken over, i remember more than five years ...

Also the logistics challenge as you noted of pulling out interpreters and translators who helped troops. special immigrant visas are the visas for those, and where do you put those folks as well between while their application is being processed. is it guam, somewhere closer? two afghanistan? these are the questions we have right now. >> and it says a lot when the president is asked about the concerns of a potential civil war in afghanistan. that his first response is to say weve been there for ...

A new relationship. >> that being said, the security concerns include yes, the taliban launching 100 plus attacks every day against afghan forces. the aftghans who helped the united states as interpreters and other ways are being targeted for murder. the u.s. intelligence assessment is at the afghan government could fall to the taliban in six to 12 months. on top of that, were hearing theyre making contingency plans for evacuating u.s. personnel. these are real concerns that dont just relate to ...

Freedom. >> there are thousands of afghanistan interpreters who served on our side, as loyal as any one of us. my interpreter is a american hero two. they put their lives on the line for us and they will be in danger once our troops are gone. the president of the honorable thing when he promised to get those who helped us out of harms way. now we need to get it done. >> whatever it takes, we in congress are ready to help because we leave no one behind. >> we need to take them to. >> we need to t...

With president ghaani last week, mike, they talked about his team this is going to be the year of the jihad. it means all the young males in pakistan are poised with the taliban to pour over into afghanistan. and youre going to see a major civil war take place. and i dont think at the end of the day its going to look pretty, and at the end of the day i worry about the embassy, first and foremost. mike: bloomberg reported friday a plan is still in flux to expedite immigration visas. youve emphasi...

They warned that they will be tortured and hanged and beheaded. >> this is not just something that i think a duty has to our allies this is something very personal to many people who served in afghanistan. these are interpreters and drivers, people who warned our american troops of the threats that were going on in the community ive had more than one person come up to me and say the only reason im here today is because of an afghan citizen who helped me stay alive during the war. weve got to get...

What do we know about that connection between al qaeda and the taliban? >> well, the u.n. has issued public reports where they say the taliban has not cut ties with al qaeda despite promises to do that as peace negotiations with the u.s. they are interim married. some u.s. officials are worried it will take them very little time to reconstitute the kind of camps and plots that could present a threat to the west and possibly to the united states. they think it could happen a lot earlier than two ...

>> the force protection issues surrounding them staying behind are going to be huge. its going to be very difficult to maintain a protective cordon whether theyre at the embassy or throughout afghanistan. when it comes to interpreters or other afghan nationals who helped us throughout this time, theyre very much at risk. its very hard for us to protect them unless we get them out of the country and get them to a place where they can be processed for nations out of state. we know retribution is b...