Overview

"Few operations in the War on Terror in Afghanistan would have been possible without the help of a vital group-Afghan translators and interpreters. While these individuals served alongside our troops, often at significant risk, many did not make it out during the August 2021 withdrawal and are still awaiting evacuation. One who did manage to escape, however, was Afghan interpreter Jamil Hassan, and this is his story. Promises Betrayed provides a first-hand account of the evacuation, along with a historical narrative about the war in Afghanistan, all told from the unique perspective of an Afghan ally. Having served as a translator for General David Petraeus and General John Nicholson in Afghanistan meant that Jamil and his family were, and are, high-value targets for possible Taliban retribution. Like many Afghans, Jamil Hassan believed in what our leaders were selling-the hope for a better life and a better future. He served alongside our troops and worked toward goals anchored on promises made by our country. But in August 2021, those promises were broken. Everything Jamil Hassan-along with countless American and coalition soldiers-worked for, was swept aside during the disastrous August withdrawal. For all intents and purposes, Jamil's home country is now lost, probably forever, and the fate of his friends and family members left behind is tenuous at best. In the pages that follow you'll read Jamil's minute-by-minute account of how he and his family, by the narrowest of margins, eventually made their way onto a plane and out of Kabul, on August 18, 2021. Promises Betrayed tells the real story of America's ""War on Terror"" in Afghanistan, and how the Biden Administration's actions failed America, our allies, and most of all, the freedom-loving Afghans who were left behind. Promises Betrayed tells the real story of the War on Terror in Afghanistan, and how the Biden Administration's actions failed America, our allies, and most of all, the freedom-loving Afghans who were left behind."

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9781631321719

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During the many years that I was privileged to command US and Coalition Forces in Iraq, Afghanistan, and the greater Middle East, our forces were critically enabled by host nation battlefield interpreters - 'terps, ' for short. Terps didn't just translate during the interactions of our men and women on the ground with local leaders and citizens, they also provided indispensable insights on the most important element in those wars - the population or, as we often described it, the 'human terrain.' In performing their vital function, Terps shared risk and hardship with our forces on the ground, provided invaluable service to them, and, on a number of occasions, even saved the lives of the coalition force members with whom they were working. Tragically, despite assurances to the contrary and the Special Immigrant Visa created for terps and their families in 2008, the United States left behind many tens of thousands of terps and their family members during our chaotic departure from Afghanistan in August 2021. Recent estimates put the number of terps and family members still in Afghanistan at as many as 160,000. The security of those we left behind is seriously jeopardized by their work with our forces; in fact, well over 1,000 terps have been killed over the years while waiting to receive final approval of a Special Immigrant Visa. And large numbers of them live in fear today, as the Taliban regime, which they helped us fight, targets them and their family members. Promises Betrayed is the extraordinary story of Jamil Hassan, one of the Afghan interpreters who managed to escape and make his way to America. His first-hand account of his and his family's experiences is absolutely riveting. It is also illuminating, full of insights, and inspirational - while inevitably prompting, as well, reflections that include anguish, frustration, and anger, as Jamil's story reminds us of important work that is very much unfinished. This, then, is the compelling story of one of our many extraordinary Afghan terps in the War in Afghanistan - one who proved to be particularly determined, resourceful, and intrepid. To understand our engagement in Afghanistan, America's longest war, one must understand the role of the courageous Afghan terps, many of whom served multiple tours alongside our men and women on the ground against a tenacious enemy in the most challenging of environments and contexts imaginable. Promises Betrayed provides that understanding. Given all that, I encourage you to read this important book and also to recommend it to others - and then to join the voices calling on our government to meet the unfulfilled moral obligation we still have to those who served on the ground with our forces but are left behind in the shadow of the Hindu Kush. General David Petraeus, US Army (Ret.), former Commander of the Surge in Iraq, US Central Command, and NATO/US Forces in Afghanistan, and former Director of the CIA

Author Information

Abdul Jamil Hassan was born in 1986 in Zurmat District of Afghanistan's southeastern Paktia province. During the civil war, his family moved to the capital, Kabul, and from there to Jalalabad city, the provincial capital of eastern Nangarhar province. A year after Taliban took control of Jalalabad, they migrated to Pakistan's Rawalpindi. In 1997, after a family friend assured their safety and financial support, they left Pakistan for Afghanistan's western Herat province where they spent 16 years. Jamil attended school, learned English and worked for over four years with Coalition Forces in Herat. In 2013, following his admission to Kabul University's Faculty of Law and Political Science, he lived, studied and worked in the Capital until he and his family escaped Afghanistan during the chaotic evacuation of August 2021.Mr. Hassan has a degree in political science from Kabul University, and was supposed to defend the thesis for his Master's Degree in International Relations at a private university in Kabul, a few days after August 15, 2021 when Taliban toppled the West-backed government of President Ashraf Ghani. Before serving with Coalition Forces (2008- 2012), Jamil worked as an ESL (English as Second Language) teacher in Herat, and following his graduation from Kabul University in 2017, he served as a high-level trilingual interpreter/translator at the Headquarters of NATO's Resolute Support Mission - Afghanistan (RSMA) until a month before the events of August 15, 2021. Jamil and his family arrived in Northern California in November, 2021, where they now live. After acquiring his CDL (Class A Driver's License), he currently drives for Amazon, DoorDash and Uber Eats. He is now helping his wife learn how to drive. Promises Betrayed is the first book Mr. Hassan has ever written, and he considers it the most important achievement of his entire life so far. David H. Petraeus (born November 7, 1952) is a retired United States Army general and public official. He served as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) from September 6, 2011, until his resignation on November 9, 2012.] Prior to his assuming the directorship of the CIA, Petraeus served 37 years in the United States Army. His last assignments in the Army were as commander of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and commander, NATO/U.S. Forces in Afghanistan (USFOR-A) from July 4, 2010, to July 18, 2011. His other four-star assignments include serving as the 10th commander, U.S. Central Command (USCENTCOM) from October 13, 2008, to June 30, 2010, and as commanding general, Multi-National Force in Iraq (MNF-I) from February 10, 2007, to September 16, 2008. As commander of MNF-I, Petraeus oversaw all coalition forces in Iraq. Petraeus has a B.S. degree from the United States Military Academy, from which he graduated in 1974 as a distinguished cadet (top 5% of his class). He was the General George C. Marshall Award winner as the top graduate of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College class of 1983. He subsequently earned an M.P.A. in 1985 and a Ph.D. degree in international relations in 1987 from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University. He later served as assistant professor of international relations at the United States Military Academy and completed a fellowship at Georgetown University.

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