I want to thank our Sanpete community members for an amazing response these last several months to our call in the Messenger for support of nine Afghan interpreter commando heroes and their families, US SIV visa applicants, whom we have been supporting and trying to relocate out of Afghanistan since last August when the nation fell to the Taliban, and many others as well.
Since that time, with your help, we have kept many dozens of people alive as they hide in basements, moving to avoid capture, these many months. One gentleman had to run from his home as the Taliban found him; he escaped, and, with our funding, got “over the wall” into Pakistan and is now there awaiting next steps. For many others, we were able to fund passports (at great cost compared to US), which is a requirement for escape. Without the help of our local heroes, I could not have made it this far.
The border seems to be loosening, and we see opportunities for them to get across; there is a further funding need now to obtain Iranian/Pakistan passports, which will enable the next step and help us to get them to a third-party country and then to the US, where their SIV visa will be valid. I have been working overtime to fund that in my translation business, and could use some help.
Big thanks also to so many who donated material goods, as we have concurrently supported Afghan hero refugees arriving in the US. We have had three Afghani Air Force pilots and others living with us (at our “house at the lake” in Sterling)—they have since gone to Salt Lake City to train as truck drivers for the time being in order to make enough money to support their own family rescues, who are also being hunted. Your donations went to hundreds of deserving families (we vetted this), and they are appreciated by the Afghan Hazara community recipients.
This has been such a tragedy. With eyes turned away due to lack of news coverage and the Ukrainian invasion, countless people have been killed and tortured these last months, and quite a few “shepherds” (US veterans) like myself have taken their lives, watching their interpreter families being executed. The tragedy is real, and the Taliban are no saints. You can’t imagine the behind-thescenes effort being made by countless shepherd veterans to keep their people alive—I am just one of them. So many of us worry constantly about these great, genuine heroes, who served right beside us, and their families.
The government response has been incredibly frustrating, but our Congressman Chris Stewart and his staff have been behind us and have given huge assistance to us over these months (years, actually, for my original own two interpreters). I thank Chris and staffer Elizabeth Sweeten deeply.
Thanks again to so many of you. I am open to any questions—please contact us.
Very Respectfully,
CDR Carl Thomas Sullivan,
US Navy Retired, Sterling,
Utah, USA
Disabled Combat Veteran,
AFG (Information Effects,
82nd AB DIV/Regional Command South HQ, Kandahar
AB 2011-2012)
801-369-1501 (cell)
Carl Sullivan, Afghan Rescue
P. O. Box 145
Manti, Utah 84642
