MOUNDSVILLE, W.Va. — A West Virginian who served in Afghanistan said it’s been hard to watch the events unfolding in Kandahar this week.
“It made me a little sick to my stomach when I first saw the videos,” said Patrick Fisher of Marshall County in a visit on MetroNews “Talkline” Wednesday. “Those are places we patrolled and places where we lived and ran missions. It was a little sickening to see that.”
Fisher served six years in the U.S. Army including a deployment to Afghanistan in 2010 and 2011. The mission included work to train the Afghan Army and police force. He admitted it was no easy task, but they believed there was progress and, for the most part, the U.S. presence in the region had a stabilizing effect.
“We’ve been there for 20 years and we’ve made progress with their security force, but you’re talking about taking a third world country and trying to make them do things like us. That takes time,” he explained.
Patrick Fisher, an Army veteran from https://t.co/rn6maOkkqD. spent a year in Afghanistan from 2010-11. He gives insight into his experiences and the connections he left behind while serving overseas with @HoppyKercheval. WATCH: https://t.co/yCFQ3nm85Y pic.twitter.com/Rw5HGY9ylE
— MetroNews (@WVMetroNews) August 18, 2021
“We need to have a presence there, not for an offensive or to run missions, but for training and protecting our investment. That way we can have a foot in the door as to what’s going on. We still have bases in Japan and Germany from World War II. We’re still in Kuwait, to manage our investment there,” he explained.
The greater concern for Fisher is the Afghan nationals who aided U.S. troops during the deployment. He stays in touch with some and even spoke to them this week.
“He’s still there and he’s laying low. He’s going to try to make a move with his family, but for now he’s just hiding,” Fisher explained.
Another interpreter Fisher knew managed to secure a visa and moved to the United States. He has a friend who learned this week his family back home is being held hostage.
“The Taliban is looking for the families right now of those interpreters who have received visas and gone to the United States. They are holding the families hostage and telling those interpreters to come back or they are going to execute their families,” he said.
Fisher added he had no faith in the words of current Taliban leaders who claimed this week to the world press they would not return to the ruthless ways of 20 years ago when the U.S. arrived in country. Fisher trusts nothing the Taliban offers.
“In my opinion, it’s a bunch of snakes in the grass who terrorize the world to get what they want. They’ll play the game and say what they have to, but I don’t believe it for a second,” he said.