TAMPA (WFLA) – Two sisters, who now live in the Tampa area say their husbands are trapped in Afghanistan.
The women came to the United States as children after their father who worked for the U.S. Military for more than a decade as an interpreter and came to this country when he thought it was too dangerous for his family to stay.
The women are now U.S. Citizens, both with newborn children, and are worried for their husbands.
WFLA is not identifying the women because they fear their husbands will be targeted by the Taliban if it’s discovered who they are.
“He’s in danger, especially because when the Taliban know that his wife is in America or I’m citizen in here, so he will be more in danger because Taliban doesn’t like America,” said one of the sisters.
The woman says her husband has already seen firsthand the deadly influence of the Taliban in his city.
“He told me that one day a guy talked with a woman, like he didn’t know the woman and the Taliban killed him because he just talked to the woman and didn’t know her.” said one of the sisters.
Her sister says her husband was at the airport in Kabul when a bomb exploded that claimed the life of 13 U.S. Service members.
“He heard everything and he was there when it happened. So some people they died and the rest, they were behind and they scared, they just run. Fortunately, he was safe and he [can] come home,” she said.
Her husband has documents from the U.S. State Department saying he could leave, but following the explosion in Kabul, he thought it was too dangerous to go back to the airport.
“The Taliban tell them that the gate will never open so you guys need to go home,” she said.
Their attorney is Sam Badawi, an experienced immigration lawyer who says he’s never seen a situation like this.
“Over my years of experience in immigration law it is absolutely an unprecedented time because probably the closest situation we can compare this to is back to 1975 and Saigon,” said Badawi.
Under U.S. law, both men should be able to come to the United States, but they can’t leave Afghanistan because the Taliban is now in control of the borders.
“What we have is we have two men, immediate relatives, spouses of United States Citizens, trapped in a country,” said Badawi, who doesn’t see an easy way out for the men now. “I don’t see, honestly, light at the end of the tunnel. It’s going to be a long way to see any cooperation with the Taliban.”
