Afghanistan man who served as interpreter for US army shot dead in Virginia

A 31-year-old man of Afghanistan origin, who worked as an interpreter with the US army before the Taliban takeover, was shot dead in Virginia shortly after he finished up a late night Lyft shift. The man, named Nasrat Ahmad Yar, was found by police in an unconscious condition, wounded by a gunshot. He was rushed to a nearby hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.

"He was so happy he got a new car because he could take care of his family," his best friend Rahim Amini was quoted as saying by the local media. "His wife asked him to stay home but he said, 'I have to pay rent. I don't have that much money. I have to work,” he added.

Nasrat served as an interpreter alongside US army

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Nasrat was on Taliban target since he helped the US Army while serving as an official interpreter. After the fall of the Afghanistan government in 2021, he escaped along with his family only to arrive in Pennsylvania. However, he soon left the place as he felt unsafe there, and instead relocated to Virginia.

Retired Lieutenant Colonel Matthew Butler confirmed that he could have been targeted by the Taliban had he stayed back there. “He was most certainly a marked man if he stayed," he said, adding that "He served this country a great deal more than I did. I did 42 months in combat but that was nowhere near what he had."

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Butler closely worked with Nasrat while he served in Camp Vance of the Bagram Airfield for two of his deployments. He last saw Ahmad Yar in Pennsylvania in 2022 and helped start his immigration process before the Taliban takeover.

Donation page set up for the deceased Afghan

The local Afghan community has set up a donation page for Nasrat, who was the sole provider for his wife and four children and still sending money to his family back home in Afghanistan.

A GoFundMe page has also been created to help his family left behind.

Meanwhile, police have obtained CCTV footage of the area where Nasrat was fatally shot, which shows four kids running from the scene.

“You just killed him,” one of the children said as they ran.

“He was reaching, bro,” another replied.

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