hold

Former Afghan interpreter says Taliban tortured him for weeks but U.S. still won't give him a visa_我的网站

一 |     As Massoud walked down a Kabul street one cold Sunday morning, looking for a day job to feed his family, pickup trucks full of armed Taliban members stopped in front of him. He told CBS News the men aimed their AK-47s at him, he was handcuffed, blindfolded and taken to an office of the Taliban's General Directorate of Intelligence.For more than a month, Massoud's family had no idea where he was. They searched everywhere, including hospitals, until they arrived at the Taliban's intelligence department. "After six weeks of searching, they found me at the Taliban's 040 intelligence department," Massoud told CBS News in a phone interview. He said during the first 15 days of his imprisonment, he was "beaten, struck with electric shock sticks, electrocuted, waterboarded and hanged upside down."

             

His crime? Massoud worked for the U.S. military as an interpreter from 2011 to 2013, including a year spent working with U.S. Navy SEALs. (CBS News is not using the real name of Massoud or the other former interpreter interviewed for this story to protect them from possible retaliation.)       

"Don't want to see that horror again" 

Massoud said that during interrogations, Taliban intelligence officers told him that, "with my help, the Americans have killed our people, and that I was still spying for the Americans.""I told them, 'You have announced a general amnesty,'" Massoud told CBS News, but he was informed by the Taliban interrogators, "there is no amnesty for you people."                 Massoud was finally released by the Taliban after more than three months of imprisonment, after his brothers signed two separate guarantees promising the Taliban they would bring him back to the intelligence agency if ever asked to do so. CBS News has seen the letters and other documents his family filed with Taliban officials while he was imprisoned."They can find me anytime they wish and put me back in the prison," he told CBS News. "I just don't want to see that horror again." 

"Still in danger"

U.S. Army Sgt. Jordan David Johnson, who has since been honorably discharged, was Massoud's direct supervisor in Helmand province and has written to members of the U.S. Congress supporting his former Afghan colleague's application for a U.S. visa, but to no avail. "Every time I hear from Massoud I feel guilty, because he is still in danger," Johnson told CBS News. "We told them that, 'You help us, and we will help you.' But now we are not, and that is wrong."

             

In a September 2022 letter to lawmakers, Johnson said he trusted Massoud then, "and I am proud to call him a friend today," adding that he did not believe the Afghan "poses a national security threat to the United States of America."                      

"They will come after me and my family"

Omar, 32, told CBS News that he worked with the U.S. military from 2008 until 2012 and was deployed alongside U.S. troops in eastern Paktia province. From 2012 until Afghanistan fell back into the Taliban's hands in August 2021, he worked on various projects with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul. He was threatened many times for working with the U.S. and was injured in what he believes was an assassination attempt in 2014, after he filed for a U.S. visa. 

    

                                                     

    

Despite the threats, which he continued reporting to his supervisors at the embassy, Omar was informed that his U.S. Special Immigration Visa, or SIV, application had been rejected because documents he submitted previously had been deemed fraudulent. He believes it's because he failed a polygraph administered by U.S. officials eight years earlier, and that the process was unfair. "They intentionally make you a criminal," he told CBS News. "You are only allowed to answer their questions with yes and no, and they don't give you a chance to explain." Omar filed an appeal against the rejection of his application in mid-June and is waiting for a response. He urged the U.S. government to "seriously look into our cases and take us into safety," adding that if it doesn't happen, "they will come after me and my family one day."

"Absurd that it takes so long"

During the 20-year war that followed the 2001 U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan, thousands of Afghans served as interpreters and translators, working shoulder to shoulder with U.S. troops and diplomats, risking their lives serving on the battlefield and communicating with locals.                       These interpreters were essential to bridge the language barrier, but also to provide cultural context, gather intelligence, negotiate with tribal elders and build trust with local communities. Massoud and Omar both applied for SIVs under a program created by the U.S. Congress in 2006 to offer legal pathways to the United States for Iraqis and Afghans who helped during the U.S. military operations in those countries. But the bureaucracy of the SIV application process has left many applicants frustrated, with little faith in the program.Massoud said his application was rejected due to a lack of documentation from his supervisors, despite Johnson trying to help. He said he submitted the requested documents and has waited for more than 320 days with no update from the U.S. government. "Every time Massoud submits all his documents and we think, 'now we are waiting for his visa to be approved,' then Massoud would contact me again saying, 'I need this and this document, because they keep changing the requirements,'" Johnson said. 

    

                                                     

    

"The SIV process is flawed and ridiculous and absurd that it takes so long. These interpreters, their lives are in danger," the former U.S. soldier told CBS News. "We don't do enough for them, and it's very frustrating."

The backlog, and work to improve a "vital program"

"We have surged resources to this vital program, significantly increasing the number of staff dedicated to it. We have reviewed every stage of the multiple step application process to streamline it wherever possible, consistent with U.S. law, and continue to look for areas to improve," a State Department spokesperson told CBS News.The official said the steps had enabled the State Department to issue "nearly 34,000 SIVs to principal applicants and their eligible family members" from the beginning of the Biden administration until August 1, 2023.                      As of the end of March, State Department figures show about 9,800 principal SIV applicants had cleared a major hurdle in the process, securing Chief Of Mission (COM) approval. Those individuals are "awaiting further processing and their eventual visa interview before being issued an SIV," the spokesperson said, adding: "We are working to process these cases as quickly as possible."The State Department's figures show that another 69,000 principal applicants were undergoing the review process, and the spokesperson told CBS News that, historically, about half of the applications who reach that stage of the process do not end up qualifying for an SIV.According to the figures, 3,241 Afghan applicants were "deemed unqualified to receive COM approval or had the approval revoked during the second quarter" of 2023."The Department will continue to ensure Afghan SIV applications are processed as quickly as possible in accordance with the statutorily required program parameters and national security requirements," the spokesman told CBS News. A report issued this week by a State Department inspector general said, meanwhile, that according to the department's own estimation, as of April 2023, a total of "more than 840,000 principal and derivative SIV applicants remained in Afghanistan."CBS News' Tucker Reals and Paulina Smolinski contributed to this report.                                 

In:    
• Taliban
    
• Immigration
    
• War
    
• Afghanistan
    

。

二 |     

萨巴伦卡表达了希望能将那辆价值10.5万美元的保时捷带回家的强烈愿望，这辆车是正在斯图加特举行的2025年保时捷网球大奖赛冠军的奖品。这位世界第一在击败保利尼晋级斯图加特决赛后的采访中透露了这一愿望。

由于第二轮对手波塔波娃退赛，萨巴伦卡在首轮轮空后，直接晋级四分之一决赛。

三 | 在四分之一决赛中，她以6-4 6-1轻松战胜梅尔滕斯，展现了强大实力。

随后在半决赛中，尽管对手给她带来不小的挑战，萨巴伦卡还是以直落两盘的方式，以7-5 6-4击败世界第六的保利尼。在战胜意大利人之后，萨巴伦卡展望决赛，她将迎战前世界第五奥斯塔彭科。

“她现在状态非常好，过去的交手纪录已经不重要了。明天我要走上球场，就像打第一场比赛那样拼尽全力，我要为我身后的这辆漂亮的车而战。”萨巴伦卡在赛后的场上采访中说道。

这位世界第一随后也表示认可奥斯塔彭科目前的火热状态，但她打趣道，恳求拉脱维亚人“放她一马”，让她赢下这场比赛，因为她“真的需要”那辆电动版保时捷Macan Turbo。

“拜托了。真的，拜托了。

四 | 我需要那辆车。我想把这个（她做了个打勾的手势）加在我的目标清单上。它看起来就像只老虎，太酷了。明天我一定会为每一分都拼到底。

五 | ”她补充道。

今年在斯图加特与奥斯塔彭科的决赛，是萨巴伦卡第四次闯入斯图加特的决赛。她曾连续三年（2021年、2022年和2023年）闯入该赛事决赛，但都遗憾落败。

2021年，萨巴伦卡在斯图加特的决赛中对阵当时的世界第一巴蒂，她首盘以6-3拿下，但随后巴蒂迅速反击，以6-0和6-3连赢两盘逆转夺冠，赢得了一辆保时捷Taycan Turbo S Cross Turismo。

2022年，萨巴伦卡再次打进决赛，但这次她以2-6 2-6惨败给斯瓦泰克。斯瓦泰克赢得了保时捷Taycan GTS Sport Turismo。到了2023年，两人再次在决赛交锋，斯瓦泰克依旧胜出，以6-3 6-4再度带走保时捷Taycan Turbo S Sport Turismo。

如果萨巴伦卡这次在斯图加特夺冠，她除了能获得电动版的保时捷Macan Turbo，还将赢得大约162183美元的奖金和500个WTA积分。

而奥斯塔彭科表示，她在职业生涯中还未打出过一场“完美”的比赛。这位拉脱维亚选手以6-4 6-4战胜亚历山德罗娃，成功晋级决赛。这是她自2017年击败哈勒普夺得法网冠军以来，首次闯入红土场地的决赛。

在斯图加特，奥斯塔彭科找回了状态。在卡塔尔站闯入决赛后她陷入了一段低迷期，但这次她先后击败了2号种子斯瓦泰克，以及7号种子纳瓦罗，成功挺进决赛。接下来，她将在决赛中迎战头号种子萨巴伦卡。

在轻松击败亚历山德罗娃后，奥斯塔彭科在赛后采访中被问到，当比赛中失误时是否会感到沮丧。她在《网球快报》的视频中回应道：“你知道吗，我每次丢球真的都会非常生气，因为我超级好胜，我想赢下每一个球。

六 | 我知道那不现实，但我是一个完美主义者。有时候这很好，有时候就不太妙，但我努力让这些负面情绪释放出来，然后准备好打好下一分。”

随后，这位27岁的选手被问及是否打过一场“完美”的比赛。她自称是个完美主义者，坦言尽管可能永远达不到完美，但那始终是她的目标：“我觉得那永远不会发生，因为我是个超级完美主义者。有时候我打得非常棒，但对我来说还是不够好。希望我别对自己太苛刻，不管怎样，我都会为自己感到骄傲。”

2024年是奥斯塔彭科征战巡回赛的第十三个赛季。她目前拥有五个巡回赛冠军头衔，世界排名最高曾达第五位。

七 | 凭借在斯图加特的出色表现，她将重返世界前20。

奥斯塔彭科有充分的理由相信自己能够击败世界上任何一位选手。她刚刚完成对五届大满贯冠军斯瓦泰克的六连胜，这也是她第一次在红土赛场战胜这位曾两次在斯图加特夺冠的波兰选手。

赛后，奥斯塔彭科再次强调了她对自身实力的坚定信心。网球记者何塞·莫加多在X上引用了她的话：“我知道自己的实力一直都在。

八 | 我始终相信自己，这是最重要的。我相信我可以击败任何人。”（来源：网球之家 作者：火花）。

Current article:http://ia1hsc1.xuanliaruamibinmilangca.shop/list_wlg87z0/wyy3.html

Published on:00:09:43