Afghan Interpreters worked in most dangerous areas for no pay

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan- 

Muhib hasn’t been paid in four months, but he hasn’t stopped working as a U.S. Army interpreter in Afghanistan.  He has little choice.  The 21-year old from Kabul spends long days trudging through grape and marijuana fields assigned to a platoon in one of the most dangerous areas of Kandahar province.  A few weeks ago he saw one of his friend interpreters step on an IED, severely damaging his sight and hearing.

(Photo: without Afghan interpreters (center) it would be impossible to communicate with the Afghan Army whom accompany the U.S. on every patrol.)

A U.S. Army interpreter in Afghanistan has perhaps one of the world’s most dangerous jobs.  This is especially true for native Afghan interpreters who are paid a pittance- between 600-900 dollars a month compared to six digit salaries of U.S. citizen interpreters who have security clearances.

But Afghans make up approximately 4,500 of the 6,000 interpreters hired by Columbus, Ohio-based Mission Essential Personnel (MEP), the company that now holds the billion dollar plus contract to provide interpreters to the U.S. Army in Afghanistan. 

MEP has come under considerable criticism since it took the interpreter contract in 2007 for everything from lowering interpreter salaries to this month’s investigation of providing the Army with interpreters who have failed language proficiency exams.

"There’s a big lie inside of the interpreter’s contracts”, Muhib said from Forward Operating Base Wilson in Kandahar.  “They said you signed a contract,” but Muhib said they were only given several minutes to sign their MEP contracts, and they never received physical copies.  He says after working on the base with no salary since July, he and sixty some other interpreters don’t even have money for basic toiletries.

Many of the interpreters are young male Afghans who waited in long lines for the chance to sign up in Kabul, believing they’d be receiving a steady paycheck to support extended families and a chance to one day earn a visa to the U.S.  Instead, Muhib’s fellow interpreters haven’t been able to return home for funerals, have had to back out on promises to fiancées, and their families haven’t been able to pay rent.

(Photo: A good Afghan interpreter can give an American officer more authority and prevent complete communication failures, as in this first meeting with villagers asking how long the Americans are staying and why they are blowing up their orchards and structures.)

The 1-75 Calvary, the U.S. Army unit their assigned to, say it’s a problem internal to their contractor- MEP and the payment schedule the interpreters may or may not have knowingly agreed to.  Yet, the interpreters continue to perform their daily jobs because they don’t have the money to leave, even if they chose to, and it would be dangerous as they are now considered Taliban targets. 

A commanding officer of Muhib’s unit confirmed that there were payment problems with MEP.  He said that MEP is under multiple investigations, and speculates that the company might be holding hundreds of interpreters’ salaries in order to make interest off the money already received from the U.S. government.  The officer said he was looking into ways to temporarily divert some funds to pay some interpreters in his unit, but even if this happens, he can only help a few.  There have also been accusations that 1-75 didn't correctly process the interpreters time sheets for MEP.  Either way the effect is the same- Afghans on the front lines haven't been paid in months by a U.S. contractor reaping hundreds of millions for the Afghans' risks.

One of these interpreters, Khan, is supporting his murdered brother’s family and extended family and says he doesn’t have a cent to send home.  “In my country 90 percent of the women are not allowed to work, so I’m the only man who is responsible for 22 members in my family.”

And the risks have only grown during this fall’s offensive in Zhari district of Kandahar, where the U.S. is pushing heavily into the Talib-fortified heartland.  Ghulam said he was very excited for the opportunities, but after months without pay, his optimism quickly soured.  His family lost their home near Jalabad because he couldn’t help with rent as he’d promised.  He said they had to suffer through the summer heat in a tent.  A month ago Ghulam stepped on an IED while their U.S. platoon was clearing a once Taliban-infested town.  He was evacuated to Kandahar Airfield, where Muhib said Ghulam’s slowly recovering but has had to return for multiple eye operations.

(Photo: The most effective interpreters are assigned to help the American and Afghan commanders communicate.  Here, the Afghan commander pulls apart a pressure plate one of his soldiers found, while an interpreter looks on)

The interpreters are exposed to other traumas just like an infantry soldier. “It’s hard when you go out and see some one get shot because I never saw anything like that,” Muhib said. “When someone dies in front of you, you think what if he is just a simple worker or he was just farming out side? ... And what if I get blow up on a IED?  They will pay $10,000 for my death insurance.  Is that cost of my life?”

“Yes, if we work with US army there is a chance to go to USA,” Muhib admitted.  “Hopefully I will be alive to get a letter from my team and apply for that and wait like two years for that to get out of this country!” Muhib added from this cot in a tent on the base he has little freedom to leave or signs of progress, so far.


*Please see MEP's letter answering and contesting some of the first-hand observations and interviews I made for this article.