An Afghan interpreter who helped rescue Joe Biden from a snowstorm 13 years ago when the president was a senator is pleading for help in escaping the Taliban.
Delivering a desperate message to the 78-year-old commander-in-chief via The Wall Street Journal, the man, known only as Mohammed, said: "Hello, Mr. President: Save me and my family. Don't forget me here."
Per CNN, back in 2008, Mohammed helped Biden, then a Delaware senator, and two other senators, John Kerry and Chuck Hagel, after they became stranded in a remote Afghan valley.
The trio's helicopter experienced severe difficulties during a snowstorm and had to make an emergency landing.
Mohammed was working as an interpreter for the US Army at the time and worked tirelessly to find the helicopters carrying the lawmakers.
Later, the Afghan interpreter applied for a Special Immigrant Visa so that he could enter the US, however, a number of issues including lost paperwork and his wife and children's ineligibility to board a flight to the US delayed matters.
At the start of this week, the full withdrawal of US forces had been completed - but Mohammed, his wife, and their four children remain in Afghanistan, now under a new Taliban regime.
Mohammed said that he and his family have been in hiding from the militant group since they seized power again after a 20-year hiatus.
"I can't leave my house," he told the paper. "I'm very scared."
The Taliban is infamous for carrying out severe punishments on Afghans who had been known to work with the US government.
On Tuesday, August 31, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki pledged that the government would help Mohammed to leave Afghanistan, insisting in a briefing that the US remains grateful to the interpreter.
"First, our message to him is thank you for fighting by our side for the last 20 years," Psaki said, per CNN.
"Thank you for the role you played in helping a number of my favorite people out of a snowstorm and for all of the work you did."
"We will get you out. We will honor your service," she added.
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