死亡笔记

Former Afghan interpreter says Taliban tortured him for weeks but U.S. still won't give him a visa_我的网站

A |     As Massoud walked down a Kabul street one cold Sunday morning, looking for a day job to feed his family, pickup trucks full of armed Taliban members stopped in front of him. He told CBS News the men aimed their AK-47s at him, he was handcuffed, blindfolded and taken to an office of the Taliban's General Directorate of Intelligence.For more than a month, Massoud's family had no idea where he was. They searched everywhere, including hospitals, until they arrived at the Taliban's intelligence department. "After six weeks of searching, they found me at the Taliban's 040 intelligence department," Massoud told CBS News in a phone interview. He said during the first 15 days of his imprisonment, he was "beaten, struck with electric shock sticks, electrocuted, waterboarded and hanged upside down."

             

His crime? Massoud worked for the U.S. military as an interpreter from 2011 to 2013, including a year spent working with U.S. Navy SEALs. (CBS News is not using the real name of Massoud or the other former interpreter interviewed for this story to protect them from possible retaliation.)       

"Don't want to see that horror again" 

Massoud said that during interrogations, Taliban intelligence officers told him that, "with my help, the Americans have killed our people, and that I was still spying for the Americans.""I told them, 'You have announced a general amnesty,'" Massoud told CBS News, but he was informed by the Taliban interrogators, "there is no amnesty for you people."                 Massoud was finally released by the Taliban after more than three months of imprisonment, after his brothers signed two separate guarantees promising the Taliban they would bring him back to the intelligence agency if ever asked to do so. CBS News has seen the letters and other documents his family filed with Taliban officials while he was imprisoned."They can find me anytime they wish and put me back in the prison," he told CBS News. "I just don't want to see that horror again." 

"Still in danger"

U.S. Army Sgt. Jordan David Johnson, who has since been honorably discharged, was Massoud's direct supervisor in Helmand province and has written to members of the U.S. Congress supporting his former Afghan colleague's application for a U.S. visa, but to no avail. "Every time I hear from Massoud I feel guilty, because he is still in danger," Johnson told CBS News. "We told them that, 'You help us, and we will help you.' But now we are not, and that is wrong."

             

In a September 2022 letter to lawmakers, Johnson said he trusted Massoud then, "and I am proud to call him a friend today," adding that he did not believe the Afghan "poses a national security threat to the United States of America."                      

"They will come after me and my family"

Omar, 32, told CBS News that he worked with the U.S. military from 2008 until 2012 and was deployed alongside U.S. troops in eastern Paktia province. From 2012 until Afghanistan fell back into the Taliban's hands in August 2021, he worked on various projects with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul. He was threatened many times for working with the U.S. and was injured in what he believes was an assassination attempt in 2014, after he filed for a U.S. visa. 

    

                                                     

    

Despite the threats, which he continued reporting to his supervisors at the embassy, Omar was informed that his U.S. Special Immigration Visa, or SIV, application had been rejected because documents he submitted previously had been deemed fraudulent. He believes it's because he failed a polygraph administered by U.S. officials eight years earlier, and that the process was unfair. "They intentionally make you a criminal," he told CBS News. "You are only allowed to answer their questions with yes and no, and they don't give you a chance to explain." Omar filed an appeal against the rejection of his application in mid-June and is waiting for a response. He urged the U.S. government to "seriously look into our cases and take us into safety," adding that if it doesn't happen, "they will come after me and my family one day."

"Absurd that it takes so long"

During the 20-year war that followed the 2001 U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan, thousands of Afghans served as interpreters and translators, working shoulder to shoulder with U.S. troops and diplomats, risking their lives serving on the battlefield and communicating with locals.                       These interpreters were essential to bridge the language barrier, but also to provide cultural context, gather intelligence, negotiate with tribal elders and build trust with local communities. Massoud and Omar both applied for SIVs under a program created by the U.S. Congress in 2006 to offer legal pathways to the United States for Iraqis and Afghans who helped during the U.S. military operations in those countries. But the bureaucracy of the SIV application process has left many applicants frustrated, with little faith in the program.Massoud said his application was rejected due to a lack of documentation from his supervisors, despite Johnson trying to help. He said he submitted the requested documents and has waited for more than 320 days with no update from the U.S. government. "Every time Massoud submits all his documents and we think, 'now we are waiting for his visa to be approved,' then Massoud would contact me again saying, 'I need this and this document, because they keep changing the requirements,'" Johnson said. 

    

                                                     

    

"The SIV process is flawed and ridiculous and absurd that it takes so long. These interpreters, their lives are in danger," the former U.S. soldier told CBS News. "We don't do enough for them, and it's very frustrating."

The backlog, and work to improve a "vital program"

"We have surged resources to this vital program, significantly increasing the number of staff dedicated to it. We have reviewed every stage of the multiple step application process to streamline it wherever possible, consistent with U.S. law, and continue to look for areas to improve," a State Department spokesperson told CBS News.The official said the steps had enabled the State Department to issue "nearly 34,000 SIVs to principal applicants and their eligible family members" from the beginning of the Biden administration until August 1, 2023.                      As of the end of March, State Department figures show about 9,800 principal SIV applicants had cleared a major hurdle in the process, securing Chief Of Mission (COM) approval. Those individuals are "awaiting further processing and their eventual visa interview before being issued an SIV," the spokesperson said, adding: "We are working to process these cases as quickly as possible."The State Department's figures show that another 69,000 principal applicants were undergoing the review process, and the spokesperson told CBS News that, historically, about half of the applications who reach that stage of the process do not end up qualifying for an SIV.According to the figures, 3,241 Afghan applicants were "deemed unqualified to receive COM approval or had the approval revoked during the second quarter" of 2023."The Department will continue to ensure Afghan SIV applications are processed as quickly as possible in accordance with the statutorily required program parameters and national security requirements," the spokesman told CBS News. A report issued this week by a State Department inspector general said, meanwhile, that according to the department's own estimation, as of April 2023, a total of "more than 840,000 principal and derivative SIV applicants remained in Afghanistan."CBS News' Tucker Reals and Paulina Smolinski contributed to this report.                                 

In:    
• Taliban
    
• Immigration
    
• War
    
• Afghanistan
    

。    在完成了乌克兰开发商 4A Games 开发的即将推出的第一人称射击续作 银河战士：Dread 2039 的大约四个小时的预览版并彻底爱上它之后，我联系了团队，询问了一些关于他们如何处理这款后启示录系列最新作的问题——既包括游戏本身，也包括自 2022 年俄罗斯入侵其国家以来，他们的现实生活发生了怎样的变化。“首先，它影响了团队，”创意总监 Andriy “MLS” Shevchenko 说道。

B | “世界彻底改变了团队，改变了他们的生存方式、思维方式以及他们对大环境的理解。因此，通过团队，游戏自动引入了新的愿景和哲学。

C | 其他的一切都只是细节。

D | 故事变了吗？是的。一些游戏玩法元素变了吗？是的。

E | 但首先改变的是团队。”“我想说，对团队的影响实际上直接影响了故事，以前的 银河战士：Dread 游戏是关于预防战争的，”执行制作人 Jon Bloch 表示。“而当俄罗斯开始全面入侵乌克兰时，战争就在我们的家门口发生，我们不得不改变我们想要讲述的故事。

F | 我们现在想讲述战争的后果，以及战争降临时会发生什么。所以这对我们正在做的事情来说是一个相当重大的改变。我们必须从制作的角度尝试看看哪些可以保留，哪些需要改变。我们努力保留尽可能多的内容，但我们的很多计划在一夜之间就改变了。”“当俄罗斯开始全面入侵乌克兰时，战争就在我们的家门口发生，我们不得不改变我们想要讲述的故事。

G | ”“是的，确实如此，”联合创意总监兼音频主管 Pavel Ulmer 补充道。“而 银河战士：Dread 系列的本质变得与现实过于接近。所以认知发生了戏剧性的变化。基本上，一切都被分成了‘之前’和‘之后’。”转向游戏本身，我询问了他们从之前的 银河战士：Dread 游戏中吸取了哪些教训并应用到 2039 中。“避免空旷的空间，”Shevchenko 说。“万物的密度，这是我们的目标，也是现在值得自豪的事情。”Bloch 补充道：“对于上一个问题的回答，密度是一个重点。物体的密度、声音的密度、动画的密度、角色的密度，一切事物的密度，细节的密度。我们从头开始重建了渲染器，以支持全光线追踪，并真正推动我们所能提供的写实画面，以及我们可以放入世界的资产数量、可以放入世界的动态事物数量，而所有这些都在保持性能并在所有平台上运行的同时实现。该引擎从第一天起就是跨平台的。所以性能对我们来说是一个非常非常重要的因素。但我们所做的很多事情都是为了增加我们能做的事情的数量，给我们的设计师和艺术家更多的自由，消除他们实现目标所需的许多障碍，同时仍然保持性能。”“尽情享受它。

H | ”“所以基本上我们的目标不仅仅是让过场动画发生的地方看起来很酷，而是让所有区域看起来都很酷、漂亮、自然且真实，”Ulmer 指出。最后，我询问了 银河战士：Dread 团队，对于将 银河战士：Dread 2039 作为系列首款作品的新玩家，他们有什么建议。“不要害怕探索，”Shevchenko 建议道。“去探索，你会发现很多有趣的事情。

I | ”Ulmer 补充道，“不要匆忙，”随后 Bloch 插话道：“银河战士：Dread 是一场慢节奏的体验。

J | 它不是快节奏的。

K | 我们有快节奏的动作序列，但总的来说，它是那种你需要坐下来吸收的东西。你花时间去了解故事、氛围和一切。它是为那些想要观察、思考和质疑事物的人准备的。我们希望它更有意义。”“对于年轻观众，我可能会说，只有在真正需要的时候才使用冲刺，”Ulmer 建议道。“不要在游戏中到处冲刺。正如 Jon 所提到的，有很多东西可以享受，有很多东西可以聆听、思考，去吸收那种氛围。所以只有在确实需要冲刺逃离威胁时才去冲刺。除此之外，它就像一部好电影。单纯为了通关而玩这个故事是个坏主意。尽情享受它。

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Published on:02:52:27