How One Marine Risked His Life To Save His Afghan Interpreter From The Taliban

Below is an excerpt from a book. “Saving Aziz” Chad Robichaux, David L. Thomas (Thomas Nelson) January 2023

Bashir’s Return 

With the Taliban’s takeover imminent, my concern for Aziz’s life, on a 1–10 scale, climbed to 9.

If he were alone, I wouldn’t be as concerned because Aziz would find a way to get around Taliban forces and to reach safety. He had his wife and six children with him. Aziz was not the same steady voice as usual when we communicated with him. He was afraid for his family.

The velocity behind the Taliban’s momentum forced us to repeatedly adjust our plan of going into Afghanistan with the media story cover. Aziz wanted to move to the UAE because of his business reasons, so we looked for a solution. A Dubai-based stand-up company was required by Aziz to give legitimacy for the business visa. The project’s cost kept rising. But each time the dollar amount increased, someone compelled by Aziz’s story stepped forward to offer a donation, including Dave Barton and Rick Green from WallBuilders. Another friend kicked in $100,000, giving us a $185,000 budget for saving Aziz’s family.

Taliban had to do something to manage its mob in the face of media attention. The Taliban were more skilled in PR, and knew they could control the country by simply running out the clock. They could argue that the execution in Dawlat Abbad of twenty-two commandos was part of war. However, killing innocent civilians wasn’t. If videos and reports of the Taliban murdering women and children were released, it was likely that the United States would delay its withdrawal.

However, controlling barbarians can be difficult.

Taliban standards kept at bay any reports of atrocities. The Taliban was well-known for seeking out translators and other allies to interrogate. Some were killed. Aziz said that one interpreter had asked for help to get out of Afghanistan because the Taliban threatened his life. One day, he was driving along with his son and came across a Taliban checkpoint. Knowing that he was doomed if he stopped, the father drove straight through the checkpoint. To stop him, the Taliban seized his car. He was then taken out of the car by the Taliban and his son, who watched, were able to cut off his head.

Aziz’s greatest fear was that the Taliban would take his wife and kids and force Aziz to watch as they raped his daughters. They would then kill Aziz.

Aziz was well-known in Kabul. We were paid well for interpreters, and his business skills had allowed the companies that he ran to be successful after I left. He was a respected leader in his community and so was easy to find.

Bashir, who was responsible both for the execution of my 10 Afghan co-workers and the bombing my home, had been released. Bashir, who had been a Taliban leader, was now targeting Aziz.

Obama’s administration saw that prisoners of war were often released to Afghanistan. Bashir was transferred from Bagram Air Base prison into the Pul-e-Charkhi jail in Kabul. There he spent five years. As Aziz tells the story — and his anger is still evident when he tells it — when Bashir was released, some Americans gave him money and shipped him to Saudi Arabia.

Aziz balked.

“You guys could have killed him,” Aziz said.

“We don’t kill people like that. That’s not in our rules,” The reply was immediate.

“But he’s one of the bad guys,” Aziz countered. “He told everything about our operations to the Taliban.”

Aziz was assured that Bashir was sent out of the country so he couldn’t reveal more information.

Aziz was alerted by a friend when the Taliban began to seize provinces. Bashir was now a Taliban commander. Aziz knew Bashir would seek revenge for Aziz’s role in his spending six years in prison.

“They are headed to Kabul,” Aziz’s friend warned. “You need to change your location.”

Aziz reached out to me to inform me about Bashir. He said that he and his family were constantly on the move and were staying in different houses each night. They lived in their backpacks and I kept up with their movements and status by speaking to him every day.

No matter how well-researched our media coverage was, it was not feasible. Aziz’s family didn’t have that much time.

Securing SIVs for Aziz’s family remained Plan A, but I held out no hope for those chances. We didn’t need a Plan B — we needed a second Plan A. That plan was to save Aziz’s family.

Chad Robichaux is a former Force Recon Marine and Department of Defense contractor with eight deployments to Afghanistan as part of a Special Operations Task Force. After

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