bureaucratically hung up, right? this process was set up specifically to get people like him and his family out and it s just been story after story of these bottlenecks and it not working and glitches. and it s not just zak s story that is familiar by now. it is major schueman s story too. the experience of all of these american combat veterans of the war in afghanistan who are now working what amounts to second full-time jobs, trying to do what the u.s. government as a whole hasn t been able to do quickly enough. individual veterans all over the country cashing in every favor they can, pulling every lever they can reach, trying to get their guy to the u.s. before the taliban get to him first. it is the excruciating story of so many other afghanistan u.s. afghanistan veterans right now. just look at some of the headlines over the last few days. look in local papers. look at this. i am begging you guys. ft. myers veteran fights to
she s in the red sleeping on her mother. i m not sure what happens next. they have no food, no water, no bathroom. they re sitting outside an american access point to the kabul airport. i m not sure what will happen to them. i don t know what else to do. i pray to god i have a better update tomorrow but it doesn t look promising. that s two days ago. then yesterday, major schueman was texting with an american on the ground. you ll see i m going to show you this text exchange. major schueman is on the right there. he s posting in blue and that picture that he posted on the right side of the screen is from him. the reason he s posting that picture, that s exactly where zak was standing at the airport. he said after sounding that picture, does that look about right? the reason this is happening at this level of granular detail because he s trying to hook him up with an american he s texting with so he and his family can get processed and put on a plane. the american on the ground
service and then, poof. but because they are gone, they re defunct and have left sort of no trace, zak has not been able to get a letter from them. they don t exist anymore. and the fact that he wasn t able to get a letter from a defunct contractor that doesn t exist is enough to deny him a visa. again, he had applied for it six years ago, and it means he s been stuck in afghanistan, which is a very dangerous place to be if you re an afghan citizen who helped the united states, particularly one who helped in so many, so many literal battles against taliban fighters. in february of last year, february 2020, zak started getting menacing phone calls from the taliban. they told him you are an infidel because you worked for the americans. just a few weeks ago, zak received this letter from the
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zak waited six years for this moment since he first applied for a visa to get out. from rhode island from a world away from afghanistan, officer schueman made it his mission to help him out. joining us now is thomas schueman. major, thank you for being with us tonight. i really appreciate this on what is kind of a huge day. thank you, ma am. thanks for having me. first let me ask if i screwed anything up in trying to describe the story and what you ve been through thus far, and also if you can bring us more up to date if you know of anything further about what s happened to zak and his family now? sure. i think your summary was accurate. nothing to add as far as the details. i think you captured the important elements of the story. from what i understand zak flew out several hours ago. i don t know exactly specifically what time or if he s landed.