Winston Helps Afghan National Security Official Who Translated for the U.S. Military to Secure Asylum

A Winston team helped our client, his wife, and their three young children secure asylum and freedom from the threat of violence or being beheaded by the Taliban, who are notorious for exacting revenge upon former U.S. translators such as our client.

Our client devoted most of his life to aiding the United States and the government of Afghanistan in counterterrorism efforts. In 2006, at the age of 22, he began working as a translator for the U.S. military even though he knew this would put his life at risk. In 2013, he began working at the National Directorate of Security (NDS), the Afghan government’s national intelligence and security service, which was backed by the CIA.

In 2021, he became an undercover diplomat at an Afghan Embassy in Asia and provided information on terrorists and groups that worked with the Taliban. He was working at the Afghan embassy when the Taliban overthrew the Afghan government on August 15, 2021. After refusing to work for the Taliban, he and his family fled to the United States seeking asylum. 

Translators and NDS officials, like our client, are viewed by the Taliban as enemies of their regime and have become frequent targets of the Taliban’s notorious violence. The Taliban routinely engages in revenge killings of former NDS members and their families. Former translators for the U.S. military also face the same level of violent retribution. And because the Afghan government collapsed so quickly, documents related to the security forces and those who cooperated with them were not destroyed—leaving our client and his family in grave danger.

In December of last year, our client, along with his wife and children, was granted asylum and can now apply for permanent residency. Additionally, he and his wife are now authorized to work in the United States.  

The Winston team that won this life-changing grant of asylum for our client includes Los Angeles Transactional Associate Christine Fares and Dallas Litigation Partner Aaron O’Dell.

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