Until last year, the former medical students worked ina hospital run by South Korean forces at the U.S. AirBase at Bagram in Afghanistan.
They lost their jobs after the South Koreanswithdrew from the country.
We've changed their names to protect familymembers back home.
“I went to Bagram airfield for six years.
I was just, you know, covering my face, going from home and coming back covering my face,so the people don't know where I am working.”
Mohammed and Yusuf applied for Special Immigrant Visas or SIVs, a program set up to helpAfghan and Iraqi nationals who worked with U.S. forces to gain asylum in the United States.
“At the end they told me that you are not eligible for this visa.
Then I asked why, they said because we have been working with the Korean people.
But the Korean hospital was located in Bagram airfield.
Bagram airfield is U.S. property.”
Then they asked the South Korean government for help.
VOA已经看过了他们的文件。
“最后他们告诉我，你不符合获得签证的条件。
然后我就问原因，他们说是我们一直为韩国人工作所致。
但那家韩国医院位于巴格拉姆空军基地。
而这座基地属于美国的管辖范围。”
而后他们向韩国政府寻求帮助。
“They told us that Korea is a tiny country, and we don't have any asylum over there. ”
After receiving threats from the Taliban, they fled to Europe, with Mohammed's 16-year-oldson.
They now live in a makeshift refugee camp at the former Olympic Park in Athens.
Their bed is a concrete floor; they don't even have a tent.
“There is no hygiene, the situation is very bad.
And I am a PA，Physician's Assistant，and Medical Interpreter.
But why I am here, just what should I do here?”
“他们跟我们说韩国是个小国，我们这里没有避难所。”
在塔利班恐怖组织的威胁下，他们带着穆罕默德16岁的儿子逃到了欧洲。
他们现在住在雅典前奥林匹克公园的一处临时难民营。
他们睡在水泥地板上，甚至连帐篷都没有。
“这里的卫生条件极差，状况十分糟糕。
我是一名助理医师，而且还是医疗翻译，
但为什么我在这儿？我应该做些什么？”
A U.S. State Department official told VOA in an email that amendments had been made toinclude certain Afghans who were employed by the International Security Assistance Force.
The statement added that, improving the processing time remains an area of focus both herein Washington and at our embassy in Kabul.
Mohammed's decision is on appeal, but he has been given no time frame.
One of the several U.S. Army doctors, who provided Mohammed with a reference for his visaapplication, told VOA via Skype that he is dismayed by his former colleague's situation.
“I really have very little concern that he would be a threat of any kind to the US, just by thecharacter that he presented.
And of course the level of competency he brings in relative to his skill as well as his languageabilities, you know, again can only do positive things for the receiving nation.
VOA spoke to several Afghan refugees in Greece who said they were awaiting decisions on SIVapplications.
The U.S. government says it has issued more than 20,000 visas to Afghan nationals sinceOctober 2014.
