Thread by @meekwire

Thread: A very stressful June for a few US spec ops vets & me. Our dear brother, an Afghan special immigrant visa applicant—who hasn’t heard from the US emb despite 12 years fighting alongside US commandos—was trapped in a tiny base surrounded by Taliban texting him death threats

We heard from him around the clock for weeks as Taliban closed in, seizing Afghan govt checkpoints near his tiny outpost—many surrendering without a shot fired—surrounding his base where he was a contractor directing security for civil infrastructure

The alarming fragility of the Afghan government’s armed forces, which the United States and NATO allies spent two decades forming, forging and arming was acute to our friend, who was not an interpreter but an operator who worked with Green Berets and a tier 1 national asset

Our Afghan Commando friend has been shot multiple times by Taliban, al Qaeda and ISIS while operating side-by-side with American special operators. He has been subjected to extensive background checks, vetting and is endorsed by a who’s who of US commanders

Taliban know our brother’s identity and that he targeted their leadership with US forces for years as an operator. He should have been at the front of the line of those 18,000 Afghans seeking special immigrant visas—but he’s heard NOTHING in a year from the US Govt he served

If getting shot multiple times fighting with our most elite US military forces, not to mention our friend’s other substantial credentials and endorsements in writing from a bevy of US Commanders, units and top commands isn’t enough to prove loyalty to America — what the hell is?

We know this Afghan as a man who laughs off his gunshot wounds and smiles at death. But, armed with only an AK-47 as a contractor at a tiny base protecting civil infrastructure—as his Taliban pursuers use pilfered NVGs, lasers & looted weapons systems—our bro expressed real fear

Finally last week, our buddy finally was flown out of his tiny base by helicopter—extraction by vehicle impossible—by his former Afghan Commando comrades and made it to their base and safety. Now we wonder, will he be in the group of SIV hopefuls airlifted out by State to Guam?

While my Afghan Commando-turned-contractor watched Taliban close in (the least dangerous days of his career until Afghanistan began to fall further apart amid the US military’s withdrawal and the Taliban on the march), his American boss told him no evacuation was going to happen

The way my friend was treated as an “expendable” at his little tiny base, a man who applied for and unquestionably deserves a special immigrant visa immediately to get out of Afghanistan to the US, is much worse than I’m revealing now. When he is safe, we will tell his full story

In this photo of American special operators flying into harm’s way is our Afghan Commando friend awaiting his SIV—or even a call from the U.S. Embassy—who never wavered in his commitment to eliminating terrorist commanders and threats alongside his brothers-in-arms from the U.S.