A New York Times article reports on how one of Afghanistan's best pilots escaped from both the Taliban and the Afghan military. It hints at how broken Afghanistan is and how far America has fallen in all regards. The helicopter pilot, Maj. Naiem Asadi, is a member of the Afghan air force and considered one of its most effective Taliban killers. He, his wife and 5 year old daughter have been in hiding for 7 months.
Asadi's wife and daughter at the Kabul airport
The threat from the Taliban is clear. The Taliban threatened Asadi's life stating that “The U.S. cannot protect you.” They posted his photo online with the instructions “Find him and kill him.” The Taliban also wrote and phoned his father, ordering him to surrender his son or face death. So, there's that aspect of Taliban justice for at least some Afghan people.
The other threat to Asadi comes from the Afghan military who is angry at him for being in hiding, asserting that he is deserting his post during a time of war. They want him to stay at his post where he and his family would be subject to Taliban justice. To add some spice to the story, the Afghan military discriminated against Asadi because he is a member of the Hazara ethnic minority. The military there is angry because of fear that if the country’s top attack helicopter pilot was allowed to leave his post, other threatened Afghan pilots and soldiers might also want to get out.
The Asadis getting a COVID test before their flight to the US
Many pilots and soldiers have been threatened by the Taliban. Most can only dream of relocating their families to the United States.
Major Asadi conceded that his actions could undermine air force morale, but he said he acted to protect himself and his family. He said he ignored orders to report for duty because he feared he would be detained for desertion.
But he said he had fulfilled his 10-year commitment to the military last year — serving eight of those years as a pilot, logging 3,000 flight hours and countless combat missions. “I haven’t done anything wrong,” he said.
“It’s a pity. He did this to escape from serving his homeland,” said Lt. Col. Jalaluddin Ibrahimkhel, an Afghan Air Force spokesman, adding that others were now more likely to “make excuses and escape.”
The Defense Department “would have been in the position of abetting the desertion of a serving Afghan officer as Major Asadi had not informed his chain of command of his parole application,” pentagon spokesman Major Robert Lodewick said.
Yes, it is a pity that an officer who served his country, who cannot protect him, and fulfilled his military obligation did not want to stay to be slaughtered by the Taliban at their leisure.
Then, there's the US government. What a steaming pile of . . . . whatever.
In his application to come to the US for safety, assistant secretary of defense Ezra Cohen wrote for Major Asadi: “Applicant and his family are in imminent danger of being killed by the Taliban.” In support of Asdi's application for entry into the US, US Air Force Capt. Robert V. Yost stated that in July of 2020 Major Asadi flew one of two armed helicopters to protect the crash site of a downed U.S. Air Force pilot in northern Afghanistan until he was rescued. Yost wrote “This is one of countless events where Major Asadi’s actions have protected and saved lives.”
The US military rejected Asadi's application to come to the US. The excuse was that Asadi’s application “was found to have not been fully vetted” by the Department of Defense. The application was fully vetted, but there's no law against lying by the all mighty US military. The US military confiscated the Asadi's passports. So, there's that aspect of how the US operates, or depending on how one sees it, fails to operate, or betrays, or whatever.
Kimberly Motley and the Major working on immigration papers in Kabul
Then, North Carolina-based human rights attorney Kimberley Motley was asked to intervene. She secured a humanitarian parole for the Asadis’ last month. That came without endorsement or support from the Pentagon. Last Tuesday she flew with the family from Kabul to Dubai to New York. Major Asadi’s American sponsor has asked for anonymity to safeguard the location of the Asadis. He or she has offered housing in New Jersey and paid travel expenses. Former and active U.S. military advisers who worked with Major Asadi pledge to support the family. The Asadi family will be able to apply for asylum. Whether they will get it or not is an open question. The NYT writes about the family's arrival in the US:
The family walked outside onto American soil, weary but elated. “I’m really not so tired because of all the new and beautiful things we’ll be doing now,” Major Asadi said.
During the long plane ride, he released emotions that had been welling inside him for months. In neatly printed English, he wrote a two-page letter of gratitude to everyone in the United States and Afghanistan who had helped them.
He wrote: “Your ambition is like a roaring sea and running water and your kindness is as high as the sky and the vastness of the earth.”
The Major is grateful to the US. Will the US be grateful and kind in return?
Questions: The "he said, they said" disagreement here is whether Asadi is a deserter or not. He says no, they say yes. What should the US do, send Asadi back or grant asylum? Lying by the Pentagon and the rest of the US government is nothing new, so how much credibility should they get? Does it matter that he deserted, assuming he did? Does it matter that the Taliban threatened his family (father) and the Afghan military and police cannot protect people from Taliban assassinations?
Between flights at the Dubai airport
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