SOUTH BEND — An Afghan man stood wearing gray sweatpants and open-toed sandals outside of a conference room in La Casa de Amistad. Two attorneys who have been working to affirm his status as an asylum-seeker had brought him to witness the city's announcement that it will offer money to bolster their work.
But he had just finished talking on the phone with his family back in Afghanistan. When he thinks of his wife and his 10 children who are living in peril under the Taliban, the stress he felt before departing in a U.S. aircraft in late August rushes back to his head.
"Believe me, every day when I was in Afghanistan, I (had a) headache …," said the man, who lawyers said must remain anonymous to avoid Taliban persecution of him or his family.
Because the 45-year-old husband and father worked on behalf of the U.S. government before landing in South Bend on Sept. 5, his family in particular remains in grave danger. Tying his name to the United States could be a death sentence for his loved ones if Taliban leaders discover the connection.
"I'm still looking for the government of the United States to give me permission to take them out," he said about his family.
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