An American man who travelled back to Afghanistan to care for his sick father in June is now pleading with the Biden administration to help evacuate his family and others trapped in the country.
“Mr. Biden, please help all these Afghans who did support you, who helped you,” said an American man using the name Haroon in an interview with Fox & Friends Wednesday. “I want the world to hear my voice. I want them to hear this is what we are struggling with.”
Haroon said his father’s condition has improved, but the family is now scrambling to try and escape the country after helping the American military in Afghanistan for nearly a decade: “Both my parents and my father-in-law, they worked with Americans for nine years… they don’t deserve this to stay in Afghanistan and deal with Taliban.”
The State Department hasn’t publicly confirmed how many Americans they estimate are still left in Afghanistan. Various reports have emerged suggesting that there are anywhere between 5,000 and 15,000 Americans that still need to be evacuated from the country. There are fears that Americans and the Afghans who worked with them will be slaughtered by the Taliban if they do not leave. (RELATED: ANALYSIS: Biden Was Dead Wrong On The Taliban Takeover)
“All those people right behind the airport, 80% of them have paperwork that proves they did work with America… now the Taliban are right there seeing them every day with their paperwork,” Haroon said. “When you leave next month, they can one by one get them out of their homes and kill them.”
Reports have already surfaced of the Taliban executing Afghans who were members of the U.S.-backed government or who collaborated with the American military. The Biden administration has been attempting to evacuate Afghan interpreters who worked with American armed forces, but progress has been slow and chaotic.
Haroon added that the situation became chaotic once the American Embassy in Kabul closed down, and said many Americans and Afghans on the ground cannot get clear information on what to do next.
“I feel those thousands of people, they should be helped. They should get them out of there. They’re saying they’re helping, but how? How do you help them? They come on the street and you tell them show me your passport or your green card, but when you show your packages, you’re telling them go wait.. tell us, where should we go?”
The State Department said Tuesday that Americans stranded in Afghanistan should shelter in place until they are contacted by the embassy and told to make their way to the airport. However, the Taliban has checkpoints set up on the way to the airport and for anyone trying to enter or leave Kabul, and the U.S. government said it cannot guarantee the safety of anyone trying to reach the airport. (RELATED: UN Children’s Agency Official Says They Are Optimistic Following Taliban Talks)
“No one wants to say, ‘hey I’m an American, I want to go in.’ So for my safety, for my family’s safety… I’m trying to get my family out of here,” Haroon added.