Fearing there may only be hours to stave off a capture, a former U.S. army captain who served in the war in Afghanistan is lobbying for the rescue of his former interpreter.
In an interview, Henkel said he spent "the entirety" of his time in Afghanistan with his interpreter whom he called "Kevin," his nickname, to protect his identity. Henkel also declined to specify the province where the two worked together."I relied on my interpreter to help me navigate the culture, navigate the protocols and navigate the language barrier," he said.
He also recalled an instance when "we actually got hit in a valley and we had to call in close air support to save us because we had hundreds of Taliban in these positions up in these hills. Kevin was the one who told us ahead of time, 'Hey, this was going to happen.'" The Taliban, for its part, said in a June statement former interpreters were not at risk, but should "show remorse."
Having led combat operations himself, "there's usually an exfil - exfil plan means an exfiltration plan... I am not seeing happening right now," a situation Henkel described as "unacceptable" for the some 18,000 Afghan translators and their families.
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