'I will never regret it': Afghan who saved the life of US Marine reveals in harrowing phone call he fears he will die while trapped in Kabul after failed attempts to rescue him
An Afghan interpreter who has saved the life of at least one U.S. Marine revealed in a harrowing phone call on Friday that he fears he will die while trapped in Kabul after four attempts to rescue him have failed.
The man, identified as 'Carl,' has helped the American military as an ally for at least 10 years but has not been able to secure a Special Immigration Visa in order to come to the United States.
Carl recounted how he witnessed the horrific suicide bombing explosions that happened outside the Kabul airport on Thursday in which at least 13 U.S. service members and 90 Afghans were killed.
'Everybody started running and I was pushing toward the explosion. I knew that there would be casualties,' Carl told Fox News.
'There was a woman, she was crying and there was a baby that was lying on the ground, so I went for her. I grabbed her and put her on my shoulder. I run back to the vehicle. I put her in the vehicle.'
He continued: 'I tried to get her to the hospital – we got in a bad traffic. I got out of the vehicle again and took her to the hospital. She died, right. When I get to the hospital she died right in my hands.'
An Afghan interpreter who has saved the life of at least one U.S. Marine spoke about his inability to escape Kabul in a phone interview with Fox News
Carl was joined in the interview by Jen Wilson of the Army Week Association, an organization that has been working to try to rescue him from Afghanistan
Later in the segment, Carl said: 'I'm trying to get the hell out of here. I'm hiding. My family is somewhere else.'
When asked if he would return to the airport, he said: 'If I get the chance to go back to the airport, then yes. I will try.'
Carl was joined in the interview by Jen Wilson of the Army Week Association, an organization that has been working to try to rescue him from Afghanistan.
Wilson said the organization has been working 'all-hands-on-deck' to get Carl out of the country through Hamid Karzai International Airport for nearly two weeks.
Her teams have been working to lay Taliban checkpoint maps over Google maps from his location to get him to the airport safely.
'Colleen, the sister of a marine that Carl saved, is working tirelessly to try to cut through the red tape to get his paperwork sorted,' Wilson said.
'One of our plans, finally, on the third strike - we got him in. We got him in. I won't say how but we got him him in. And I cannot tell you the relief.'
Wilson said the group had called Carl to tell him the good news around 3 a.m. one morning and he was 'almost in tears' from the relief of knowing he wasn't going to orphan his child.
In this image provided by the U.S. Marine Corps, evacuees walk to be processed at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan on Wednesday
In this image provided by the U.S. Marine Corps, Finnish coalition forces assist evacuees for onward processing during an evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport on Tuesday
A Marine assigned to the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit escort evacuees to an aircraft at Hamid Karzai International Airport on Wednesday
Taliban forces block the roads around the airport in Kabul, Afghanistan on Friday
Crowds of people show their documents to U.S. troops outside the airport in Kabul, Afghanistan on Thursday
But Carl called them back 30 minutes later with bad news, reporting that authorities were throwing him out.
Wilson said the organization is 'not going to give up' on trying to rescue him from Afghanistan and that they have six plans to try to save him from the country.
'I know I'm going to be left behind. I know that I'm going to get killed,' Carl said.
'Look, the good thing is that I'm not going to die for a bad thing. I'm going to die for a good thing. What I did I will never regret it because I have tried to help people.'
Wilson then said that it 'crushed' her to hear Carl saying that he would not be able to get out of Kabul.
'It just crushed me to hear you say that that you're not going to make it out,' she said.
She added: 'If it is the last thing I do, we're going to get you out.'
Bill Hemmer, co-host of America's Newsroom, noted that conversations like the one between Carl and Wilson were happening 'by the thousands' across Afghanistan.