Obama has continued slow-walking a visa application from an Afghan translator who helped a Medal of Honor recipient save American lives, the Washington Free Beacon reports. “Four years ago, an Afghan translator known as ‘Hafez’ [a pseudonym used to protect his true identity] charged into enemy fire to help Marine Corporal Dakota Meyer rescue wounded American soldiers during one of the most famous battles in the Afghanistan war,” the Free Beacon’s Alana Goodman wrote on Wednesday. “Meyer received the Medal of Honor for his courage in the battle of Ganjgal--the first living Marine to receive the honor since the Vietnam war.
But Meyer says his friend Hafez is still waiting to receive a U.S. visa he applied for years ago. The former translator remains in Afghanistan under daily threat from the Taliban while his application is caught in the bureaucratic limbo of the State Department.” Meyer told Goodman that this Afghan translator helped save American lives during the Battle of Ganjgal, carrying American troops to safety while putting his own life at risk to save U.S. soldiers. Meyer also believes Taliban forces will undoubtedly kill “Hafez” if the Obama administration does not approve his visa soon. “He stood next to me, by my side pretty much the entire time [during the Battle of Ganjgal],” Meyer said in an interview with Goodman. “He helped me carry my guys out. If we can’t help get this guy back who sacrificed so much to bring these Americans home, I’m sure he’ll be killed.” Goodman notes that Bing West, the co-author of Meyer’s new book Into the Fire: A Firsthand Account of the Most Extraordinary Battle in the Afghan War, said that “Hafez” applied for a U.S. visa over three years ago, but U.S. authorities continue slow-walking the process. “The Taliban are looking for Hafez because he killed several of them in the Ganjigal fight,” West said in an interview with Goodman.
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