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Just hours before the U.S.-backed Afghan government fell to the Taliban on Aug. 15, ZZ was at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul with a ticket for an afternoon flight.

鈥淭he security situation was not good, and I thought maybe the flight would be canceled,鈥� ZZ said. 鈥淚 was scared.鈥�

Taliban fighters encircled the city as Afghanistan鈥檚 president .

ZZ鈥檚 flight was delayed 鈥� but she got out. 鈥淲henever our flight left, I was crying so hard and I was so happy,鈥� she explained on St. Louis on the Air.

After a stop in Doha, Qatar, and then a flight to Washington, D.C., ZZ landed in St. Louis last week. The 24-year-old is among the thousands of U.S. citizens and Afghans to leave the country in recent days. (We鈥檙e using only ZZ鈥檚 nickname because she鈥檚 fearful about her family鈥檚 safety in Afghanistan.)

ZZ was issued a Special Immigrant Visa. The federal program allows Afghan translators and interpreters who helped the U.S. war effort come to America.

ZZ

ZZ鈥檚 quest to come to the U.S. took nearly a decade. The Taliban kidnapped, and tortured, ZZ when she was just a teenager in 2011. She escaped after three days in captivity, but only after she promised to return and marry her captor. She said it was a false promise she never intended to keep. Once with her family, she promised herself that she would never go back.

After the Taliban continued to threaten her family, ZZ took their plight public, . That made her a bigger target. She hid in a basement for two months until a U.S. intelligence officer became aware of her story and reached out to see if he could help. ZZ began working for U.S. coalition forces in 2012, laying the groundwork for her eventual flight to St. Louis.

With support from the Americans, ZZ graduated from university and was certified as a linguist. To help U.S. forces, she became proficient in translating, typing and speaking English, Pashto, Dari and Farsi, even while serving as a bridge between cultures.

In March 2019, ZZ met U.S. Navy Lt. Allen Nash. As part of the NATO mission to train, advise and assist the Afghan people, Nash worked on a reverse osmosis water treatment plant at a hospital.

Nash, who lives in St. Peters, Missouri, explained on St. Louis on the Air that ZZ immediately made an impression.

鈥淥ftentimes military people go over there and they serve their mission, but they don鈥檛 always have the opportunity to know the people who they are helping,鈥� Nash said. 鈥淶Z brought that to us. She personalized what we were fighting for.鈥�

As part of the mission, ZZ spent five weeks translating an English operations manual so local engineers could operate equipment themselves. In some cases, the local language didn鈥檛 have words to describe the equipment 鈥� for example, Dari has no word for 鈥渟peedometer.鈥�

ZZ said other translators in the office didn鈥檛 feel up to the challenge of technical words. She relished the opportunity.

鈥淚 want to translate them because I want to improve my skills,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 learned a lot from that. Everybody was amazed with that.鈥�

ZZ said she first applied to leave Afghanistan as a refugee nearly a decade ago. Those efforts intensified earlier this year after it became clear the U.S. was pulling out of the country. With the help of staffers for U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Kansas City, her SIV application started moving through the appropriate channels. She said she won approval in May, but COVID-19 shut down the local office, and she couldn鈥檛 get paperwork. Security across the country deteriorated.

鈥淛ust a couple days before [the government fell] is when they finally emailed her and said, 鈥楥ome get your passport,鈥欌�� Nash said. 鈥淎nd then a day or two later, they said, 鈥楬ere鈥檚 your ticket, get to the airport however you can.鈥欌��

All the while, ZZ had kept in contact with Nash and other people from St. Louis with whom she worked in Afghanistan. A few months ago, she told Nash that she wanted to come to St. Louis.

鈥淵ou鈥檙e welcome to come and stay with us.鈥� Nash told ZZ. 鈥淥ur home is your home.鈥�

With resettlement help from the International Institute of St. Louis, ZZ has moved in with Nash and his family in St. Peters.

Alex Heuer

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漏 2024 外网天堂

Arrey Obenson, the president and CEO of the International Institute, said on yesterday鈥檚 St. Louis on the Air that . Fifty-three have arrived in recent weeks. The organization has said it has the capacity to .

ZZ said much of what鈥檚 happened over the last week and a half still feels like a dream. She said she鈥榮 happy but much of her attention is focused back on Afghanistan.

鈥淚鈥檓 here, but my mind and my heart are with my family,鈥� ZZ said.

鈥淢y family is a target, especially my brother,鈥� she continued. 鈥淗e鈥檚 younger than me and the Taliban keeps sending him messages to 鈥榬eturn your sister to us, and if you don鈥檛 return her, we will kill you.鈥欌��

ZZ said her family made it to the airport in Kabul a few days ago, but the U.S. military said they didn鈥檛 have the right paperwork to leave the country. They left the airport yesterday.

ZZ said she doesn鈥檛 see herself ever returning to Afghanistan. The Taliban, she said, will take away freedoms that coalition forces helped to bring to the nation.

鈥淎s a woman in Afghanistan, it was a good thing that Americans came over there,鈥� she said. 鈥淲omen didn鈥檛 have rights over there, and women didn鈥檛 have education opportunities over there. Americans gave us that.鈥�

While in St. Louis, ZZ wants to get a master鈥檚 degree in international relations and politics. She also plans to write a book that details her experiences and helps inspire women.

Earlier this week, ZZ had the chance to visit Forest Park. The visit marked the first time she鈥檇 ever seen a lake, other than on TV.

鈥�鈥� brings you the stories of St. Louis and the people who live, work and create in our region. The show is hosted by and produced by , , and . The audio engineer is .