Navy Lt. Jack McCain trained Afghans to pilot Black Hawk helicopters. When Kabul fell, McCain and others helped the pilots escape to the U.S. But their permanent status is uncertain.
Col. Salim Faqiri, 32, flew Black Hawk Helicopters for the Afghan Air Force. He and his family have been resettled in Phoenix.tens of thousands of people who helped U.S. forces during the 20-year war could be abandoned in Afghanistan, or even lose the right to stay if they're already in the U.S.
Any doubts disappeared when McCain took an emergency leave in August 2018 to attend his father's funeral in Arizona. "Not a safe area! I was worried about Jack and other advisers who were with me," Faqiri recalls."But Jack was just relaxed. He was contacting other people on the ground, [saying], 'We need a helicopter. This aircraft will not fly.' And I said, OK, how brave he is!"
"The resistance forces cannot fight against the Taliban anymore. And they asked me to come to the Kabul airport," says Faqiri. Faqiri knows he was fortunate, though. By that time, the Afghan Eagles had some friends trying to help them in the United States. Maggie Feldman-Piltch, with the Atlantic Council think tank in Washington, teamed up with Jack McCain during theAfghan helicopter pilot Rashid Ahmad Muslim, 25, looks out the window at home in Chandler, Ariz., on Dec. 11, 2022.
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