‘I Was Totally Dying’: Afghan Interpreter Recalls Chaotic US Withdrawal

Monday, Aug. 15, marked one year since the Taliban reclaimed Afghanistan after 20 years of war and bloodshed. The New York Times reported that upward of 300,000 Afghans helped U.S. efforts in Afghanistan over those years.

On this episode of "The Daily Signal Podcast," Aziz, an Afghan interpreter whose full name is being withheld by The Daily Signal, shares his story of escaping the Taliban and the fallout after the botched U.S. withdrawal.

"To be honest with you, it was a really dark day and very bad time," Aziz recalls of the days leading up to the fall of the capital city of Kabul. "There was fear. There was disappointments as the provinces were collapsing and the Taliban were reaching to the capital. I was totally dying, like a battery will lose its charge. I was seeing my body from inside; it was dying."

Aziz served as interpreter for Chad Robichaux during his eight deployments from 2003 to 2007 as a staff sergeant in the Marines' Force Reconnaissance special operations unit or as a Defense Department contractor. The Aghan fought side-by-side with the Americans.

Robichaux, author of the forthcoming book "Saving Aziz: How the Mission to Help One Became a Calling to Rescue Thousands From the Taliban," also joins the podcast to describe helping to evacuate Aziz, his family, and thousands of others as chaos unfolded in Afghanistan.

Aziz says that he didn't expect his country to fall so quickly to the Taliban.

"We were thinking it will probably at least take them a few years before the regime collapsed," Aziz says. "We were not expecting it, that the regime will collapse all of a sudden within the matters of hours. Like within 24 hours, the whole system collapsed. That was totally unpredictable,"

Now residents of The Woodlands, Texas, Aziz, 39, and Robichaux, 46, share their journey out of Afghanistan, their message to the Biden administration, and what the future holds for the terrorist-run country.

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