Twelve years after he first applied for a special immigrant visa to the U.S., Basir Sediqqi, a former combat interpreter for U.S. special forces in Afghanistan, continues to fight for a right to settle in the U.S. Four years after the last American service member left the country, he and his Navy SEAL partner say Sediqqi's service entitles him to the visa that would allow him to do so.
The SEAL who "depended on" Sediqqi, retired Lt. Chris Sanchez, told U.S. authorities Sediqqi would have a place to stay with him if they allowed him to enter the country and end his yearlong limbo outside of both Afghanistan and the U.S.
Sediqqi's special immigrant visa was approved and advanced to a final interview stage, which he decided to do in a third country for his family's safety, he told ABC News. He's among some 40 Afghans who moved their families to Rwanda, where he'd face less risk of deportation compared to other options like Pakistan and Iraq. In Rwanda, Sediqqi was handed a denial of his visa.
Sediqqi says his visa was rejected by the State Department in Rwanda because of "unfitful services" -- an apparent reference to a policy infraction that led to Sediqqi's termination in 2013. Sediqqi told ABC the issue was "trivial" -- he says he called his parents from an internet cafe on the American base, where interpreters had until just prior been permitted access to the internet there.
Navy Lt. (ret.) Chris Sanchez and Basir Sediqqi, his Afghan interpreter, in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. Sanchez called Sediqqi his "go-to" interpreter for his missions.
Courtesy Chris Sanchez
Sanchez has taken up Sediqqi's case -- channeling messages to U.S. Embassy officials in Rwanda and searching for answers from attorneys. The U.S. has long treated interpreters of its forces in Afghanistan with priority in its effort to shield American partners from danger posed by the Taliban after it recaptured the country in 2021.
'Always willing to go and do it'
Sediqqi "stood head above the crowd," said Sanchez, who worked with Sediqqi as his "go-to" interpreter because "he was always willing to go and do it, no matter what the time of day was, or whatever the mission happened to be."
A military transport plane departs overhead as Afghans hoping to leave the country wait outside the Kabul airport on Aug. 23, 2021.
Marcus Yam/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
Sanchez said he spoke personally with the supervisor who terminated Basir and did his due diligence to confirm there wasn't something in Sediqqi's file he wasn't privy too. But Sanchez said the State Department bureaucracy has been difficult to navigate.
"The biggest problem I have with the process is that I haven't been able to effectively communicate with whoever's sitting on the other side of that desk," Sanchez told ABC. "So here I am as someone who spent literally eight months of my life with Basir. I know this guy ... so I have all of this intimate, insightful information, and I just can't get that across right to the people making these decisions."
MORE: Trump order leaves Afghans who were approved to resettle in the US in limbo
Sediqqi's rejection for entry into the U.S. while in Rwanda -- after living there for close to a year -- included mention of "derogatory information," he said, a more serious charge than the policy infraction of using the internet.
"That makes me wonder if the State Department is getting their wires crossed and they've got the wrong guy," Sanchez said.
According to the latest data from the State Department, more than 125,000 Afghans have outstanding applications for an SIV. More than 60,000, or 48%, still require the Afghan applicant to submit documents, the data shows. The State Department says it's processed nearly 80,000 special immigrant visas, or SIVs, in the four years since the last U.S. troops left Afghanistan.
"We continue to process SIV applications at every stage of the process," a State Department spokesperson said.
The administration "remain[s] vigilant against emerging threats that could jeopardize [homeland] security while continuing to process Afghans eligible under U.S. law for Afghan special immigrant visas," the spokesperson said.
In a statement to ABC News, White House deputy press secretary Anna Kelly said "the Trump Administration remains committed to protecting those who supported our mission in Afghanistan while ensuring rigorous security standards."
Navy Lt. (ret.) Chris Sanchez on patrol in Helmand Province, Afghanistan.
Courtesy Chris Sanchez
Fears of deportation
According to the advocacy group #AfghanEvac, led by veteran Shawn VanDiver, some 200 SIV cases are arriving in the U.S. each month and as many as 58,000 are in third countries -- where their cases live in limbo and, in some cases, applicants fear deportation to Taliban-ruled Afghanistan.
According to VanDiver, almost 1,500 Afghans in U.S. custody in Qatar are under threat of deportation by U.S. officials.
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A White House official told ABC News the US continues to support those Afghans.
In July, President Donald Trump waded into the issue of Afghans in third countries, referencing a group in a similar situation in the United Arab Emirates who faced deportation to Afghanistan.
"I will try to save them, starting right now," the president wrote on his social media platform. According to Reuters, the Afghans were deported.
The White House did not address an ABC News inquiry about the Afghans who were in the UAE.
Sediqqi, flanked by Sanchez, in 2012 on a US base.
Courtesy Basir Sediqqi
Meanwhile, some 20,000 Afghans who hope to come to the U.S. as refugees -- a separate legal process -- are in limbo after the Trump administration froze resettlement for refugees on the first day of his second term.
One refugee applicant in Afghanistan told ABC News he hasn't heard anything from the State Department after it froze the pathway and significantly drew down its funding for the world's refugees. The Afghan, who asked to remain anonymous, has lived for months at a time without leaving his home, fearful of retribution, and torture, from the Taliban.
Nick Schrandt, an Army veteran who served in Afghanistan from 2003 to 2004, is also advocating for his former interpreter stranded in a third country. He said the threat of deportation is great.
MORE: In Pakistan, Afghan journalists face deportation and yearslong waits for humanitarian visas
"They can't live on visas. At the end of the day, that's still not the promise we made," he said.
Unwavering loyalty
Schrandt told ABC News that any deportations to Afghanistan are an unacceptable outcome. When U.S. forces airlifted thousands of people on military aircraft out of the country from Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul in August 2021, Schrandt's interpreter "stayed back to make sure our people were safe."
Still disjointed from the U.S. in third-country limbo, his interpreter's loyalty to the U.S. hasn't wavered, Schrandt said.
"He wants to come to the U.S. and join the Rangers. He wants to serve. He's still faithful to us," he said.
Sediqqi in Kigali, Rwanda.
Courtesy Chris Sanchez
In Rwanda, there is "no work and no school" for Sediqqi and his family, who live there on a short-term visa that he must regularly renew. As he and Sanchez appeal his SIV rejection, he hopes to come to the U.S. where his daughter could access education.
"I didn't expect…what [Lt. Sanchez] has been doing for me … [for] more than 10 years. I cannot find words to appreciate his help. And I hope one day I can come there and see him face to face and give him a huge hug and tell him…" Sediqqi said, his voice trailing, emotion overcoming him.
In the interview with ABC, Sediqqi could not find those words.
But "if I go back to Afghanistan with my family, "I'm sure that the [Taliban] understands that I've worked as an interpreter with the coalition forces, and, it's clear what they will do with me. And that is not good," he said.
"There were interpreters who had lost their lives" fighting with U.S. forces and still the Taliban sought retribution for collaborating with the U.S., he said, capturing the interpreters' families.