Afghan pilot who protected US airmen is in hiding after Pentagon reverses approval to come to US [View all]

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Decorated Afghan pilot who protected US airmen is in hiding after Pentagon reverses approval to come to US - Middle East - Stripes

Decorated Afghan pilot who protected US airmen is in hiding after Pentagon reverses approval to...
The 32-year-old flier is said to have killed more Taliban than any other pilot in the Afghan Air Force during thousands of flight hours, Afghan and U.S. military officers told Stars and Stripes.
stripes.com
12:08 PM · Nov 28, 2020

https://www.stripes.com/news/middle-east/decorated-afghan-pilot-who-protected-us-airmen-is-in-hiding-after-pentagon-reverses-approval-to-come-to-us-1.651338

KABUL, Afghanistan – A helicopter pilot reputed to have killed more Taliban than anyone else in the Afghan air force is in hiding after the Pentagon reversed its decision to approve his move to the United States.

In early October, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service and the Defense Department approved Maj. Mohammed Naiem Asadi’s request to seek refuge in America, along with his wife and 4-year-old daughter, because they were in “imminent danger of being killed by the Taliban,” approval documents and emails shared with Stars and Stripes show.

But on Oct. 28, just hours before they were to about to leave, Asadi was told plans had changed. He would learn the Pentagon had withdrawn its endorsement.

The Pentagon had indeed approved Asadi’s application to seek refuge in America, said a DOD official who could not be named due to not being authorized to comment on the case. The military changed its stance after a few senior leaders had objected that this decision had been made without their approval, the official said.

The U.S. military on Friday confirmed it had pulled its support for Asadi and his family.

“The appropriate officials determined that DoD could not support the request,” Army Maj. Rob Lodewick, a Pentagon spokesman, said in an emailed statement.

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