Eid’s story

Eid’s first job was as an interpreter for the US Army. Sometimes the memories of the dangers still keep him awake at night. He recalls when fighting broke out after the capture of a US soldier: “In that week, I saw death in the eyes of every individual.”
During his five years in service, Eid went above and beyond his role as an interpreter. A Major in the US Army noted that Eid “put his life at risk on a daily basis to assist US forces…He is a man of impeccable character and faithfulness. I trust him like I would any other American Officer or Soldier.”
“[I] thought maybe they don’t value [me] anymore, maybe they don’t value [my] service anymore.” – Eid Hashmi
When the Taliban took Kabul, Eid’s primary concern was for his family. He knew his past work with the US Army and USAID, and his current enrollment in a master’s degree program at Michigan State University, made his family a prime target. In those first terrifying weeks, Eid saw two trucks full of Taliban fighters pull up to his neighbor’s house and go inside for lunch. Until then, Eid and his neighbor had been close friends. But when Eid saw his neighbor chatting to the Taliban at length, he began to get nervous: “He knew everything about me. I felt like something was stuck in my chest. In these kinds of situations, you don’t know who’s your friend and who’s not.” After that day, Eid moved his family around constantly for safety.
While in Albania, Eid served as an interpreter for Spirit of America’s CEO Jim Hake, US Ambassador to Albania Yuri Kim, and US Representative Elissa Slotkin. Now that Eid and his family have made it safely to the US, Eid hopes to finish his master’s program.
