Shaun So, an Army veteran volunteering in the effort who lives two doors down from Pelak, spent days coordinating the evacuation of his former interpreter, a naturalized U.S. citizen who uses the name Freddie. He shepherded paperwork to contacts on the ground and funneled Freddie to the right location to get through to the airport, So said. He also prepared Freddie, who had returned to Afghanistan to be with family, for the cold calculus of the situation: He could leave only if his two nephews stayed behind.

Source: Washington Post August 26, 2021 16:23 UTC