US soldier loses 1 Afghan translator; fights to save another

By JULIE WATSON and ANDREA ROSA
Associated Press

BREMEN, Germany (AP) — Long before the U.S. government’s chaotic evacuation of Afghan allies from Afghanistan, scores of U.S. combat veterans were working on their own to rescue the Afghans who served alongside them. Among them is Army veteran Spencer Sullivan. Sullivan lost his first interpreter in 2017. He was killed while waiting for a U.S. visa. Now Sullivan is trying to help his former platoon’s other interpreter get asylum after he had to flee to Germany. Thousands of Afghans who aided US troops have spent years stuck in a backlogged U.S. Special Immigrant Visa program meant to award Afghans for their support by giving them and their families a pathway to the United States.