Time was running out for Mohammad Khalid Wardak, a high-profile Afghan national police officer who spent years working alongside the U.S. military.
Hunted by the Taliban, he hid with his family in Kabul, constantly moving from place to place as they tried – and failed – several times to reach a meeting point where they could be rescued.
After at least four attempts in as many days, the family was finally swept away by a helicopter Wednesday in a dramatic rescue (called Operation Promise Keeped) carried out in the dark by the U.S. military and its allies, he said. Robert McCreary, former congressman. chief of staff and White House official to President George W. Bush, who has worked with special forces in Afghanistan.
Khalid’s rescue, as his friends call it, came after the frantic efforts of his supporters in the U.S. military, who said he was a brother-in-arms. which helped save countless lives and faced certain death if the Taliban found them. They called for help from members of Congress and the Departments of Defense and State.
“I don’t think people understand the chaos that reigns right now in the capital, the brutality and efficient lethality that the Taliban are using … to ensure their rise to power while eliminating their greatest threat, which are these military and special police, “said the U.S. Army special forces sergeant. Major Chris Green, who worked with Khalid in Afghanistan.
Khalid and his family were unable to enter the airport where the Taliban controlled the tickets. He was widely known for his position as police chief in Helmand province in southern Afghanistan, and for television appearances, including one in which he challenged the Taliban to a fight, supporters said.
Green said he was “incredibly happy … elated” when he learned that Khalid and his family were safe, noting that some of his American rescuers had worked alongside Khalid, whom he called “serendipitous.” .
McCreary said several allies, including the British, helped, and that Khalid, his wife and four children, ages 3 to 12, were “safe in an undisclosed location under U.S. protection.”
Officials said other Afghan partners, including police and military, also deserved to be rescued and that more rescue efforts were being made, but could not discuss details.
Khalid’s friends said they had no intention of leaving Afghanistan and that they planned to stand with their compatriots to defend their homeland after U.S. forces had disappeared. But the government collapsed at an impressive rate and the president fled the country.
“He fought until he had nothing left to fight for,” Green said. “She was injured. He was surrounded. His forces were not being supplied. And the levels above him in government had already begun to make his exit plan … and amazing business. Therefore, people like him who were fighting were stranded and left without support.
McCreary said Khalid originally only sought protection for his family while he continued to fight. Khalid and other fighters were completely surrounded by the Taliban last week and their location was overrun, McCreary said.
When the Afghan government fell, was when “we quickly changed gears to work on their safety as well.”
At one point, lifeguards lost contact with Khalid for several days, “and we all assumed they killed him,” McCreary said. “Last week, we thought it was over and then we were going to … keep working harder to protect his family.”
Khalid supporters said it would have been unthinkable to leave him behind after his years of collaboration with the Americans.
Khalid was rescued in March 2013, when a detachment of special forces in Wardak province in eastern Afghanistan suffered a privileged attack. Someone dressed in the uniform of the Afghan National Security Forces opened fire and killed two Americans.
When the outpost was attacked almost simultaneously from the outside, an American commander called Khalid, who in a few minutes ran into the valley with a rapid reaction force to defend his American partners.
In 2015, when Khalid lost part of his right leg in a rocket-propelled grenade attack, friends of the U.S. military helped him obtain medical care and a prosthetic leg outside the country. A month later, he was again leading special police operations in Afghanistan alongside the United States, Green said.
Along the way, he helped capture al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders. He went on to become chief of police in Ghazni province and then in Helmand province, where he was wounded again last month in a mortar attack and continued to lead the resistance from the bed of the hospital.
Khalid’s family has applied for refugee status in the United States for fear of persecution, but it is unclear how long this process may take or whether they will be approved. Translators, interpreters and others working in the United States in Afghanistan may apply for special immigrant visas, but the current Afghan military or police officers are not, supporters said.
His supporters said it was very important to remove them from danger and then find out the rest later. McCreary said people who are the main Taliban targets because of their work with U.S. forces
“No one wants to live with the guilt of turning their backs or not … keeping our promises,” McCreary said. This commitment and the collaboration needed to rescue Khalid “makes you proud to be American.”
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