In an emotional reunion, former interpreter Farid Raman has met the family of Australian soldier, Robert Poate, who was killed by a rogue Afghan soldier in an attack Mr Raman survived:
Hugh Poate's son, Robert, was killed by an Afghan soldier near Tarin Kowt 10 years ago.
The Canberra father has spoken to several sources on the ground to put the pieces together around that tragic night at a base near Tarin Kowt in Afghanistan a decade ago. “Everyone was crying, everyone was shouting, everyone was freaked out,” he tells SBS Pashto and SBS News. As the eldest son in his family, Mr Raman was expected to support his family. He joined an interpreter hire company in 2010, hoping it would be a steady source of income.
Farid Raman joined an interpreter hire company in 2010 before he started working alongside Australian forces.The two interpreters were translating between the Afghan National Army soldiers and the Australian contingent who were training them, when a call came in. “He was using the rifle in a position to shoot on one line and then come back again and then go at another line because he was continuously firing.”Australian designers 'fly the flag' for Afghan fashion as their colleagues remain in hidingHis friend Fahim wouldn’t survive. Three Australians, Captain Bryce Duffy, Corporal Ashley Birt, and Lance Corporal Luke Gavin all died in the attack.
“I didn't want to give up, because those guys … those people were so good,” he says on why he decided to go back to work.“And I was missing them. I had to go back there.”Mr Raman was stationed with Australian troops in Camp Wahab in Tarin Kowt. “Tarjoman! Tarjoman! ,” Mr Raman recalls they called out to him, asking to get the Afghan soldiers down from the watchtower, where they mistakenly believed the rounds had come from.
It was only when Mr Poate and his wife Janny met Mr Raman last Wednesday, that those pieces of the puzzle came together.Source:At the Australian War Memorial in Canberra just days before the anniversary of the 2012 attack, the extraordinary meeting took place. Mr Raman told Mr Poate he wished he could have done more on the night. He says he wants Private Poate's father to consider him as a second son.Farid Raman and Hugh Poate met for the first time at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra.Moments later, the two would make the connection about the missing phone, when Mr Raman recounts how he had lost it the night before.The missing phone is what still keeps Mr Raman up at night.
“His sentence needs to be carried out; I'd like to see it happen, the three families would like to see it happen. All the soldiers who served with our son, and who served in Afghanistan, would like to see it happen.”“As soon as … I got that news that Hekmatullah has been released, since then, I have no rest,” Mr Raman says.Mr Raman says his family blames him for their predicament because his work with Australian forces has put their lives in danger.
“All visa applications will be processed in accordance with Government announcements and within program priorities, and assessed on an individual basis,” a spokesperson said in a statement.
Australia Latest News, Australia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Afghan-Australians criticise Australian academic for 'praising' his former Taliban captors in KabulTimothy Weeks has returned to Afghanistan where he was held hostage by the Taliban, praising his former captors for marking one year in power.
Read more »
‘They’d come to kill me’: The Afghan tax reformer hunted by the Taliban and abandoned by the Britain he servedA year after the fall of Kabul, Abdullah Sayyid is in hiding, his wife has been murdered and the Home Office appears to have lost his case file
Read more »
Taliban cleric killed in Kabul by blast from explosives hidden in an artificial legA prominent Taliban cleric and supporter of women's education has been killed in an attack at a seminary in Kabul, according to officials and Taliban sources.
Read more »
Former Australian Taliban hostage given 'hero's welcome' by the regime in AfghanistanTimothy Weeks has returned to Afghanistan where he was held hostage by the Taliban, praising his former captors for marking one year in power:
Read more »
Salman Rushdie stabbed onstage in New YorkSalman Rushdie remains in surgery after he was stabbed onstage at a lecture in New York state. Police have arrested a 24-year-old man over the attack
Read more »
Salman Rushdie stabbed onstage in New YorkThe Indian-born novelist, who spent years in hiding under death threats from Iran because of his writing, was stabbed in the neck at a lecture.
Read more »