U.S. visa backlog leaves Afghan interpreters in limbo

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http://www.latimes.com/world/la-fg-afghanistan-interpreters-20140131,0,5469496.story



Shafiq Nazari, from left, Shirullah Mirzamalik, and Sardar Khan are among the Afghans who have applied to immigrate to the United States because their work as interpreters for the U.S. military has left them vulnerable to militant retaliation.

U.S. visa backlog leaves Afghan interpreters in limbo
By David Zucchino
January 31, 2014, 4:00 a.m.

KABUL, Afghanistan — Before serving as an interpreter for the U.S. military, Shafiq Nazari passed exhaustive background checks by U.S. military and intelligence agencies.

The military trusted him enough to issue him an automatic rifle. He has fired it during several firefights with insurgents, fighting shoulder to shoulder with U.S. soldiers and Marines on about 200 combat missions in Afghanistan.

Nazari, 38, a compact man with short-cropped hair and a trim black beard, has been issued a badge that gives him free run of a high-security U.S. base in downtown Kabul, where he translates for U.S. military advisors. He has 70 letters of recommendation from American officers, including two generals, praising his loyalty and courage under fire.

But none of that has been enough to persuade the U.S. State Department to grant a visa to Nazari under a program for Afghan interpreters whose lives are in danger because of their service to the United States. Nazari says he has been waiting nearly five years for approval of his application for a Special Immigrant Visa, or SIV.