WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 At 31 years old, Nasrat Ahmad Yar had spent most of his adult life working with the U.S. military in Afghanistan before escaping to America in search of a better life for his wife and four children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He found work as a ride-share driver and even managed to send money back to Afghanistan to help family and friends. He liked to play volleyball with friends in the Washington suburb where many Afghans who fled their country now live. At 6 feet 5 inches, he had a powerful serve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Monday night, worried about making rent, he went out driving and was shot and killed in Washington. No suspects have been arrested, but surveillance video captured the sound of a single gunshot and four boys or young men were seen running away. Police have offered a $25,000 reward for information leading to an arrest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHe was so generous. He was so nice. He was always trying to help the people,\u201d said Rahim Amini, a fellow Afghan immigrant and longtime friend. He said Ahmad Yar always reminded him, \u201cDon\u2019t forget the people left behind.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeramie Malone, an American who came to know Ahmed Yar through her volunteer work with a veteran-founded organization bringing former Afghan interpreters to safety, also was struck by his generosity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHe always wanted to be giving more than he was receiving and he was just really extremely kind.\u201d In America, Malone said, \u201call he wanted was a chance.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Amini said Ahmad Yar had worked for the U.S. military for about a decade as an interpreter and doing other jobs, seeing it as a way to help pave the way for the next generation in Afghanistan to have a better life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While the U.S. has had a Special Immigrant Visa program for Afghans who worked closely with the U.S. government to come to America since 2009, Amini said his friend didn\u2019t want to apply right away, preferring to stay in Afghanistan, where he felt needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He remembered Ahmad Yar saying: \u201cI have guys here I need to support. … When I feel that they don\u2019t need my support then I can go to America.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then, in August 2021, the U.S. pulled out of Afghanistan and the Taliban took over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mohammad Ahmadi, Ahmad Yar\u2019s cousin, was already in America after also working for the U.S. military. The two talked on the phone about how to get Ahmad Yar and his family out of Afghanistan. Ahmadi said his cousin could see the Taliban soldiers walking through the streets of Kabul and was worried they would discover he\u2019d been an interpreter for the U.S. military.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHe said, \u2018I don\u2019t want to get killed in front of my wife and kids,\u2019\u201d Ahmadi said. When he wasn\u2019t able to get out of the crowded Kabul airport, Ahmad Yar went to northern Afghanistan in hopes of getting into Uzbekistan. When that didn\u2019t work, he and his family went to the northwestern city of Mazar-e-Sharif, where he and his family were able to get on a flight to the United Arab Emirates and then eventually travel to America.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Even when laying low in Mazar-e-Sharif, Nasrat would go out of his way to assist other Afghans who also had come to escape the Taliban \u2014 greeting them on arrival to the strange city, bringing their families to stay with his, and feeding them, while all waited for flights out, Malone said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNasrat was very different, because even though he was needing help, he was always helping me,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While waiting at the interim transit camp in the United Arab Emirates, he asked for writing supplies for the children so he could teach them English before they arrived in the U.S., Malone said. \u201cIt was really important for him for his kids to get an education and for them to … have opportunities they never would have had in Afghanistan.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His eldest child, a girl, is now 13, and the others are boys, ages 11, 8 and just 15 months old.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The family went first to Pennsylvania, but Amini said his friend was robbed there and decided to move to Alexandria, in northern Virginia just outside Washington. Amini said Ahmad Yar told him he\u2019d fled to the U.S. \u201cto be safe and unfortunately I\u2019m not safe here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In northern Virginia, they both ended up being ride-share drivers and lived about two miles (three kilometers) from each other. Like many in the Afghan diaspora there, they chatted throughout the day in a WhatsApp group text. And they played in a weekly volleyball game. Ahmad Yar was really good and no one could block his serve, Amini said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Amini said they spoke Monday evening and the next thing he knew he was woken up by another Afghan friend who\u2019d somehow heard that Ahmad Yar had been killed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In disbelief, Amini began frantically calling his friend. But it was the police who finally answered the phone: \u201cThe police officer said: \u2018I\u2019m sorry. Unfortunately he\u2019s not alive anymore.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ahmad Yar will be laid to rest on Saturday. His wife is still in shock, said Ahmad Yar\u2019s cousin, Ahmadi. But she said she and her husband had the same goal in coming to America \u2014 to provide a future for their children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She told Ahmadi: \u201cI have the same goal for them. They can go to school. They can go to college and become educated and good people for the society.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
__<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Follow Santana on Twitter @ruskygal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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