Afghan Who Saved U.S. Soldiers Becomes Citizen

By USA Today. Nabi Mohammadi, who spent years risking his life for Americans, became an American last week.

The soft-spoken native of Afghanistan, who helped Iowa National Guard troops patrol a violent region of his homeland, took the U.S. citizenship oath at the federal courthouse in Des Moines.

“This is something I hadn’t even dreamed about. This is unbelievable,” he said before the ceremony. “I’m so happy to live in a place with peace and freedom for my family. It’s what everybody wants.” . . .

The joyful courtroom audience included several of Mohammadi’s friends from the Iowa National Guard, who’d seen him support and defend America plenty of times. He served as their interpreter in 2010 and 2011, accompanying them on scores of patrols through a mountainous area of Afghanistan near the Pakistan border.

Taliban bombs were common, and friends were hard to identify. The Iowa soldiers said Mohammadi volunteered to go on extra patrols, up to three a day. Each time he went out, he put himself and his family at risk of being killed for helping the Americans. (Read more from “Afghan Who Saved U.S. Soldiers Becomes Citizen” HERE)

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As Grateful Iowa Soldiers Watch, Afghan Man Who Risked His Life for Them Becomes an American

By Des Moines Register. Mohammadi, 28, grew up in northern Afghanistan. The dominant language there is Dari, a dialect of what people in Iran speak. He decided as a teenager to become an interpreter for the U.S. troops. That meant he had to learn two foreign languages — English and Pashto, which is the dominant tongue in eastern Afghanistan.

His accomplishment was akin to an English-speaking American teen learning to interpret between people speaking Polish and Chinese.

His Iowa Guard comrades included Sgt. Dalton Jacobus, who helped Mohammadi fill out his visa application while they were stationed together at Combat Outpost Herrera.

Mohammadi met all the requirements for a special visa program designated for Iraqis and Afghans who worked with U.S. troops. He gained a prominent sponsor in Jacobus’ father, retired National Guard Col. Todd Jacobus. But his application was repeatedly snagged in a bureaucratic snarl, and the Iowa National Guard troops came home in the summer of 2011 without Mohammadi.

A couple weeks after the Iowans left, the interpreter was riding with Oklahoma National Guard troops when an insurgent’s bomb exploded under their armored truck. Mohammadi was slammed into the roof, injuring his neck, back and legs. A doctor told him he was lucky not to be paralyzed. (Read more from “As Grateful Iowa Soldiers Watch, Afghan Man Who Risked His Life for Them Becomes an American” HERE)

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