ZEELAND, Mich. — A former Afghan interpreter now living in West Michigan is pleading for help in getting his fiancée out of Afghanistan, according to U.S. Rep. Bill Huizenga (R-Zeeland).
Huizenga says the man, who he refers to as “M” due to security reasons, is one of several people who have called his office asking for help getting family members out of the country now overtaken by the Taliban.
“He was one of the Special Immigrant Visa holders, he was an interpreter for the U.S. forces when he was in Afghanistan, he is now in West Michigan,” Huizenga told FOX 17 Tuesday.
“His fianceé had all of her paperwork at the U.S. Embassy, her afghan passport, her visa which was being approved and all of her other supporting paperwork. And when the U.S. government abandoned, when the State Department abandoned the embassy, not in a controlled manner like they tried to claim that it was, but they when they abandoned it they destroyed all of her paperwork,” Huizenga said. “She has tried to enter the airport three different times. The last time she was beaten so badly by the Taliban that she had to seek medical treatment.”
According to the U.S. State Dept., roughly 200 American citizens remain in Afghanistan, on top of the thousands of Afghan allies.
While President Joe Biden defends the Afghanistan withdrawal and how the evacuations went down, Republicans are calling it a “disaster,” saying its “shameful” there are still Americans left in the country.
"There is no deadline for the remaining Americans who want to leave Afghanistan. He said the U.S. remains committed to getting them out if they want to leave," said President Biden.
“You can't say we're leaving and not ever going back and ‘oh, by the way, we're going to make sure that all of those citizens who want to leave are going to be able to get out.’ How, how are you going to do that?” questioned Huizenga.
“M” is not alone, as Huizenga says another person called his office Tuesday saying his two brother-in-laws and two nephews, all American citizens are “trapped” outside Kabul’s airport.
“They've been trying to get into the airport and have not been able to now obviously, there is no opportunity for that,” Huizenga said.
“What is mind-boggling to me about this is President Biden, who apparently believes that if he yells louder and is more firm in his in his press briefings, that somehow that makes his bad decision-making magically disappear and makes this a good decision, how he can look these people in the eye and explain to them that, hey, this was the right thing to do,” he added.
Like some other congressional Republicans, Huizenga is calling for the resignations of top Biden Administration officials, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
“Somebody has to take responsibility," Huizenga said.
Congressman Huizenga also tells FOX 17, a U.S. Marine from West Michigan was among those injured in the terrorist attack on Kabul Airport that killed 13 U.S. troops and more than 100 Afghans.
We’re still working to learn more information, but we are told the Marine is being treated at a military hospital.
