一 | As Massoud walked down a Kabul street one cold Sunday morning, looking for a day job to feed his family, pickup trucks full of armed Taliban members stopped in front of him. He told CBS News the men aimed their AK-47s at him, he was handcuffed, blindfolded and taken to an office of the Taliban's General Directorate of Intelligence.For more than a month, Massoud's family had no idea where he was. They searched everywhere, including hospitals, until they arrived at the Taliban's intelligence department. "After six weeks of searching, they found me at the Taliban's 040 intelligence department," Massoud told CBS News in a phone interview. He said during the first 15 days of his imprisonment, he was "beaten, struck with electric shock sticks, electrocuted, waterboarded and hanged upside down."Taliban members ride in a pickup truck during a celebration of the first anniversary of the Taliban's return to power, August 15, 2022, in Kabul, Afghanistan. Nava Jamshidi/Getty His crime? Massoud worked for the U.S. military as an interpreter from 2011 to 2013, including a year spent working with U.S. Navy SEALs. (CBS News is not using the real name of Massoud or the other former interpreter interviewed for this story to protect them from possible retaliation.)
"Don't want to see that horror again"
Massoud said that during interrogations, Taliban intelligence officers told him that, "with my help, the Americans have killed our people, and that I was still spying for the Americans.""I told them, 'You have announced a general amnesty,'" Massoud told CBS News, but he was informed by the Taliban interrogators, "there is no amnesty for you people."
Massoud was finally released by the Taliban after more than three months of imprisonment, after his brothers signed two separate guarantees promising the Taliban they would bring him back to the intelligence agency if ever asked to do so. CBS News has seen the letters and other documents his family filed with Taliban officials while he was imprisoned."They can find me anytime they wish and put me back in the prison," he told CBS News. "I just don't want to see that horror again."
"Still in danger"
U.S. Army Sgt. Jordan David Johnson, who has since been honorably discharged, was Massoud's direct supervisor in Helmand province and has written to members of the U.S. Congress supporting his former Afghan colleague's application for a U.S. visa, but to no avail. "Every time I hear from Massoud I feel guilty, because he is still in danger," Johnson told CBS News. "We told them that, 'You help us, and we will help you.' But now we are not, and that is wrong."U.S. Army Sgt. Jordan David Johnson (right), who has since been honorably discharged, is seen during his deployment in Afghanistan's Helmand province, with his Afghan interpreter Massoud (top left) and others. Photo courtesy of Jordan David Johnson In a September 2022 letter to lawmakers, Johnson said he trusted Massoud then, "and I am proud to call him a friend today," adding that he did not believe the Afghan "poses a national security threat to the United States of America."
"They will come after me and my family"
Omar, 32, told CBS News that he worked with the U.S. military from 2008 until 2012 and was deployed alongside U.S. troops in eastern Paktia province. From 2012 until Afghanistan fell back into the Taliban's hands in August 2021, he worked on various projects with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul. He was threatened many times for working with the U.S. and was injured in what he believes was an assassination attempt in 2014, after he filed for a U.S. visa.
Afghan women who served with Americans fight for U.S. residency 2 years after Taliban takeover03:05Despite the threats, which he continued reporting to his supervisors at the embassy, Omar was informed that his U.S. Special Immigration Visa, or SIV, application had been rejected because documents he submitted previously had been deemed fraudulent. He believes it's because he failed a polygraph administered by U.S. officials eight years earlier, and that the process was unfair. "They intentionally make you a criminal," he told CBS News. "You are only allowed to answer their questions with yes and no, and they don't give you a chance to explain." Omar filed an appeal against the rejection of his application in mid-June and is waiting for a response. He urged the U.S. government to "seriously look into our cases and take us into safety," adding that if it doesn't happen, "they will come after me and my family one day."
"Absurd that it takes so long"
During the 20-year war that followed the 2001 U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan, thousands of Afghans served as interpreters and translators, working shoulder to shoulder with U.S. troops and diplomats, risking their lives serving on the battlefield and communicating with locals.
These interpreters were essential to bridge the language barrier, but also to provide cultural context, gather intelligence, negotiate with tribal elders and build trust with local communities. Massoud and Omar both applied for SIVs under a program created by the U.S. Congress in 2006 to offer legal pathways to the United States for Iraqis and Afghans who helped during the U.S. military operations in those countries. But the bureaucracy of the SIV application process has left many applicants frustrated, with little faith in the program.Massoud said his application was rejected due to a lack of documentation from his supervisors, despite Johnson trying to help. He said he submitted the requested documents and has waited for more than 320 days with no update from the U.S. government. "Every time Massoud submits all his documents and we think, 'now we are waiting for his visa to be approved,' then Massoud would contact me again saying, 'I need this and this document, because they keep changing the requirements,'" Johnson said.
The backlog, and work to improve a "vital program"
"We have surged resources to this vital program, significantly increasing the number of staff dedicated to it. We have reviewed every stage of the multiple step application process to streamline it wherever possible, consistent with U.S. law, and continue to look for areas to improve," a State Department spokesperson told CBS News.The official said the steps had enabled the State Department to issue "nearly 34,000 SIVs to principal applicants and their eligible family members" from the beginning of the Biden administration until August 1, 2023.
As of the end of March, State Department figures show about 9,800 principal SIV applicants had cleared a major hurdle in the process, securing Chief Of Mission (COM) approval. Those individuals are "awaiting further processing and their eventual visa interview before being issued an SIV," the spokesperson said, adding: "We are working to process these cases as quickly as possible."The State Department's figures show that another 69,000 principal applicants were undergoing the review process, and the spokesperson told CBS News that, historically, about half of the applications who reach that stage of the process do not end up qualifying for an SIV.According to the figures, 3,241 Afghan applicants were "deemed unqualified to receive COM approval or had the approval revoked during the second quarter" of 2023."The Department will continue to ensure Afghan SIV applications are processed as quickly as possible in accordance with the statutorily required program parameters and national security requirements," the spokesman told CBS News. A report issued this week by a State Department inspector general said, meanwhile, that according to the department's own estimation, as of April 2023, a total of "more than 840,000 principal and derivative SIV applicants remained in Afghanistan."CBS News' Tucker Reals and Paulina Smolinski contributed to this report.
。 700개 품목 15~50% 보복관세 美 중간선거 경합주 수출품 겨냥 트럼프 “온타리오호 명칭 변경” 프랑수아 필립 샹파뉴(가운데) 캐나다 재무장관 등이 25일(현지시간) 오타와의 한 공장에서 미국과의 관세전쟁에 대한 입장을 밝히고 있다. AP연합뉴스 캐나다가 25일(현지시간) 예고대로 미국산 제품에 대해 ‘달러 대 달러’ 보복관세를 발표했다. 특히 중간선거를 앞두고 도널드 트럼프 미국 대통령과 공화당이 승리를 장담할 수 없는 지역에서 수입되는 상품을 겨냥해 정치적 효과를 극대화하려는 의도다. 캐나다 재무부는 이날 철강과 가구, 의류, 해산물 등 미국산 약 700개 품목에 15%, 25%, 50%의 보복관세를 다음 달 8일부터 차등 부과한다고 발표했다. 약 200억 달러 규모로 미국이 지난 22일부터 같은 규모의 캐나다산 제품에 50% 관세를 부과한 것에 대한 보복 조치다. 프랑수아 필립 샹파뉴 캐나다 재무장관은 “우리가 이 갈등을 선택한 것은 아니지만 경제적 통합이 상생 파트너십의 토대가 아니라 무기로 이용될 때는 맞서야 한다”고 말했다. 캐나다는 관세 부과 품목 선정에서 11월 미국 중간선거를 겨냥했다. 위스콘신주의 가공치즈와 메인주의 해산물 등 경합주 주요 수출품을 포함하고, 켄터키주의 세탁기 등 트럼프 지지 기반인 곳의 상품을 공략했다. 멜라니 졸리 캐나다 산업장관은 이날 “미국 내 특정 주를 겨냥할 수 있는 제품들도 관세 대상으로 삼고 있다”며 “정치적 압력을 가하기 위해 현명하고 전략적으로 접근하고 있으며 지금 이것이 옳은 일이라고 생각한다”고 말했다. 25일(현지시간) 도널드 트럼프 미국 대통령이 트루스소셜에 ‘아메리카호’로 이름을 바꿔 올린 온타리오호 지도. 트루스소셜 월스트리트저널은 이날 “관세 부과 대상에 포함된 200여개 해산물 품목이 메인주에 정치적 압박을 가하려는 의도”라고 분석했다. 메인주에서는 현역 공화당 소속 수전 콜린스 상원의원이 민주당 후보의 거센 도전을 받고 있다. 콜린스 의원은 전날 “캐나다에 새로운 관세를 부과하는 것은 실수”라며 “캐나다와 맺고 있는 우호적이고 경제적으로 유익한 관계로 되돌아가길 바란다”고 말했다. 메인주와 미시간주, 위스콘신주 등 미 북부지역은 캐나다와 경제적으로 밀접히 연관돼 있다. 미시간주 자동차 산업은 캐나다 온타리오주와 사실상 통합돼 있다. 엔진 등 부품이 미국과 캐나다 국경을 오가면서 가공 조립된다. 특히 캐나다가 소비재에까지 관세를 부과한 것도 미국 소비자의 물가 부담을 겨냥한 것이란 해석이 나온다. AP통신은 관세가 해산물과 치즈, 화장품, 화장지 등에도 부과되는 점을 거론하며 “분쟁이 장기화할 경우 중간선거를 앞둔 시점에서 미국 기업과 소비자들의 부담이 커질 수 있다”고 전망했다. 트럼프는 이날 트루스소셜에 “온타리오주와 더는 사업을 많이 할 것 같지 않아 온타리오호 이름을 아메리카호로 변경하는 방안을 진지하게 검토하고 있다”고 밝혔다. 온타리오호는 캐나다와 미국 사이에 있는 호수다. 온타리오주의 더그 포드 주총리는 관세 정책에 반대했던 로널드 레이건 전 미국 대통령이 트럼프에게 경악할 것이라며 비난한 바 있다. 미국 백악관도 이날 성명을 내고 “트럼프 대통령이 마침내 캐나다의 무임승차를 끝냈다”며 “캐나다는 협상 대신 보복을 선택하면서 중국과 뜻을 함께하고 있다”고 주장했다.。
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