Afghan man who spent years helping US forces in Afghanistan shot and killed in Washington

At 31 years old, Nasrat Ahmad Yar had spent most of his adult life working with the US military in Afghanistan before escaping to America in search of a better life for his wife and four children.

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.

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.

“He was so generous. He was so nice. He was always trying to help the people,” said Rahim Amini, a fellow Afghan immigrant and long-time friend. He said Ahmad Yar always reminded him, “Don’t forget the people left behind.”

Jaramie 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.

“He always wanted to be giving more than he was receiving and he was just really extremely kind.” In America, Malone said, “all he wanted was a chance.”

Amini said Ahmad Yar had worked for the US 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.

While the US has had a Special Immigrant Visa program for Afghans who worked closely with the US government to come to America since 2009, Amini said his friend didn't want to apply right away, preferring to stay in Afghanistan, where he felt needed.

He remembered Ahmad Yar saying: "I have guys here I need to support. ... When I feel that they don't need my support then I can go to America.”

Then, in August 2021, the US pulled out of Afghanistan and the Taliban took over.

Mohammad Ahmadi, Ahmad Yar's cousin, was already in America after also working for the US 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'd been an interpreter for the US military.

“He said, ‘I don’t want to get killed in front of my wife and kids,'” Ahmadi said. When he wasn’t able to get out of the crowded Kabul airport, Ahmad Yar went to northern Afghanistan in hopes of getting into Uzbekistan. When that didn't 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.

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 — 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.

“Nasrat was very different, because even though he was needing help, he was always helping me,” she said.

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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 US, Malone said. “It 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."

She told Ahmadi: “I 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.”