Afghan interpreter who escaped Taliban shot dead in US gun violence

A former Afghan interpreter for the occupying US forces in Afghanistan has been shot dead in Washington, DC's gun violence while working as a rideshare driver after fleeing his country following the Taliban takeover.

Shortly after midnight on July 3, the 31-year-old Afghan, identified as Nusrat Ahmad Yar -- a father of four children -- was shot to death in a neighborhood in northeast Washington, DC.

He was transporting four Americans at dawn when he was shot by one of the passengers.

Video footage from near the crime scene shows the suspects running away after shooting Ahmad Yar.

Officers who arrived at the scene found Ahmadyar inside a vehicle with at least one gunshot wound in his stomach, police said. The victim was taken to a hospital, but was pronounced dead “after all life-saving efforts failed.”

A $25,000 reward is available to anyone who provides information that leads to an arrest and conviction of the suspects.

Ahmad Yar had risked his life working for US Special Forces in Afghanistan for a decade, and after the Taliban takeover in 2021, he made it to the US using a special visa for those who worked for the US military.

His friend Rahim Amini told Al Jazeera that Ahmad Yar wished to live safely with his wife and children aged 13, 11, 8, and 15 months, and make money and prosper.

“I’m so happy that I’m in America,” the 36-year-old Amini remembered his friend saying. “I am safe. My children will be educated here.”

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In the US, Ahmadyar had initially moved to Philadelphia; but, the city was deemed too dangerous for living. He told Amini that he had been confronted by gunmen demanding money there.

Ahmadyar then relocated to Northern Virginia where he worked as a Lyft driver to make ends meet.

Amini said Ahmad Yar had to work for long hours to support his family in the US as well as his siblings and parents still in Afghanistan.

The US military and the local Afghan community have launched fundraising efforts for Ahmad Yar’s family.

As of June, the State Department estimates that 97,000 Afghans have resettled in the US since September 2021.

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Gun violence in the United States has been described as an “epidemic” by the US President. The United States has witnessed more than 360 mass shootings in 2023, alone.

According to the Gun Violence Archive, which tracks shootings in the US, in 2022, there were 647 mass shootings, killing 44,287 people.

The 2022 death toll was slightly less than 2021 when 45,010 people died in 692 mass shootings across the country.

Meanwhile, the majority of Americans are in favor of gun control, according to a Gallup poll from 2022, showing 57 percent of all Americans saying they want stricter laws covering the sale of firearms.

However, the National Rifle Association (NRA) is a very active and politically powerful lobby group in the United States.

It uses negative campaign tactics to ensure legislators fully understand that their participation in any moves to pass any gun safety legislation will have severe consequences and could destroy their political careers.

Some experts cite issues of mental health and disengaged law enforcement as other reasons for gun violence.

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Botched US exit triggered collapse of Afghan govt.

The dramatic collapse of the former Afghan government and its national security forces in August 2021 followed by the Taliban’s lightning takeover of the country were direct consequences of decisions made by Washington, according to a report released by a US government oversight agency.

The report by US Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) held Washington to blame for the collapse of the former Afghan government and the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF).

The report by SIGAR reveals that Afghan forces lost trust after then-President Donald Trump reached a deal with the Taliban in Doha, Qatar.

To add insult to injury, Trump’s successor US President Joe Biden announced and presided over the hectic withdrawal of American military troops from the war-torn country.

According to testimonies submitted to the top oversight agency by former Afghan generals and military experts, American support to Afghan forces was largely stopped or limited while the Taliban intensified its attacks across the country in 2021.

The report points out that in essence the US and Afghan efforts to form an effective and sustainable security assistance sector were likely to fail from the start.

Afghan experts also noted that the US had never planned to build a strong government in the country, adding that all Western-backed armies were doomed to eventually fall apart.

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