‘KIND OF HEAVEN’

Interpreter Who Helped Rescue Biden Finally Escapes Afghanistan

Aman Khalili was part of a rescue team sent to help Biden and other lawmakers in 2008 when their plane was forced to land in dangerous territory.

After weeks spent in hiding, an interpreter who helped rescue then-Sen. Joe Biden in 2008 was successfully evacuated from Afghanistan with his family, reports The Wall Street Journal. Aman Khalili was a member of a rescue team sent to assist two helicopters carrying Biden, Sen. John Kerry (D-MA), and Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE) after they were forced to make an emergency landing in an area of Afghanistan susceptible to a Taliban attack. During the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, Khalili made a personal plea to Biden to help him and his family escape, and the White House vowed to assist with his evacuation. After six weeks of obstacles, Khalili and his family were able to cross the border into Pakistan thanks to a rescue operation coordinated with the nonprofit Human First Coalition. “After 144 hours of driving day and night and getting through so many checkpoints my family was so scared, but right now this is a kind of heaven,” Khalili told the Journal. “Hell was in Afghanistan.” Groups working to help other families flee the country estimate there are over 75,000 people left.