An Afghan man who says he worked for the U.S. government, spent years hiding from the Taliban and eventually reached America through the Special Immigrant Visa program is offering a powerful example of what legal immigration can look like — but the full government record also makes the political story more complicated.
A chance conversation during a ride to the airport turned into an unexpected immigration story for retired U.S. Navy Captain Gary Yuri Tabach.
In a video interview recorded inside the vehicle, Tabach speaks with his driver, an Afghan immigrant who says he arrived in the United States roughly a year ago with his family after obtaining a Special Immigrant Visa, or SIV, based on his work for the United States in Afghanistan.
The man says that today he is working, attending school and raising his family in America.
“Right now, this is my home. It’s my country,” he tells Tabach in the video.
One of his daughters, he adds, was born in the United States.
For Tabach, himself an immigrant who later served in the U.S. military, the encounter became an example of the distinction he draws between legal immigration and illegal entry.
But beyond the political argument, the driver’s account closely resembles a real immigration pathway established specifically for Afghan nationals who provided qualifying service to the United States.
He Says He Worked for America in Afghanistan
The driver identifies himself as originally from Herat, Afghanistan, and says he worked for the U.S. government before the Taliban returned to power.
At one point early in the conversation he says he “came from Iraq.” Later, however, he makes the sequence clear: he is Afghan, left Afghanistan for Iraq, obtained his U.S. visa there, and then traveled from Iraq to the United States.
That detail is consistent with the realities facing Afghan SIV applicants after the U.S. Embassy in Kabul suspended operations on August 31, 2021. The State Department currently tells Afghan applicants that visa interviews must take place outside Afghanistan.
According to the driver, he applied for a Special Immigrant Visa and waited approximately four years.
During part of that period, he says, he was hiding from the Taliban and repeatedly changing locations with his wife and child.
“I change my location every two months, or sometimes three months and sometimes six months,” he says.
Eventually, he says, he received the necessary approval, obtained permission to travel to Iraq, went to a U.S. diplomatic post there and received his visa.
Midtown Tribune has not independently reviewed the man’s SIV file, employment records or immigration documents, so his individual history remains based on his statements in the interview.
The pathway he describes, however, is real.
What Is an Afghan Special Immigrant Visa?
The Afghan SIV program is not the same as simply crossing the border and later requesting permission to stay.
Under State Department rules, qualifying applicants must establish, among other requirements, that they are Afghan nationals and performed qualifying employment in Afghanistan for or on behalf of the U.S. government, or qualifying international forces, for at least 12 months. They must also demonstrate “faithful and valuable service,” supported by documentation and a recommendation.
The modern program traces back to the Afghan Allies Protection Act of 2009, and Congress repeatedly expanded it under both Republican and Democratic administrations.
In March 2024 alone, Congress authorized 12,000 additional Afghan SIV numbers.
That makes the driver’s story important for another reason: he was not describing a loophole. He was describing a congressionally authorized immigration category created for people whose work with the United States could place them and their families in danger.
He Arrived During the Trump Administration
The driver says he entered the United States while Donald Trump was president.
That claim is significant because the Trump administration’s immigration restrictions did not initially treat Afghan SIV recipients the same way as ordinary Afghan visa applicants.
When the administration imposed new restrictions affecting Afghanistan in June 2025, the State Department specifically listed Afghan Special Immigrant Visas as an exception.
Therefore, an Afghan SIV recipient entering the United States legally during that period would have been consistent with the administration’s published policy.
That supports an important part of Tabach’s broader point: a tough immigration policy and legal admission of vetted Afghan allies were not necessarily mutually exclusive.
An administration could restrict broader immigration categories while still admitting people who had qualified through a special legal program based on their service to the United States.
The 2021 Withdrawal: The Record Is More Complicated
Tabach repeatedly attributes the driver’s years in Afghanistan to President Joe Biden’s 2021 withdrawal, describing the Afghan man as having been “left behind.”
There is a factual basis for criticizing how the final evacuation unfolded.
The final U.S. military aircraft departed Kabul on August 30, 2021, ending America’s military presence after nearly 20 years. The Defense Department says approximately 124,000 people were evacuated during the final operation, including Afghan allies and other vulnerable Afghans.
Pentagon officials later acknowledged that the noncombatant evacuation operation began only on August 14, just 17 days before the planned completion of the military withdrawal. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the timing of evacuating civilians and SIV applicants was principally a State Department decision.
But assigning the entire withdrawal decision to Biden leaves out another major piece of the official record.
On February 29, 2020, during Trump’s first administration, the United States signed the Doha agreement with the Taliban. The agreement committed the United States and coalition forces to a complete withdrawal under its timetable.
A Defense Department inspector-general account later summarized the sequence: the Trump administration conditionally committed to a full withdrawal by May 2021, and Biden subsequently announced that the withdrawal would instead be completed later in 2021.
So the collapse and withdrawal occurred under Biden, but the withdrawal process itself crossed two administrations.
The Most Important Complication: Policy Changed Again in 2026
There is another major distinction between the personal story in Tabach’s video and current U.S. policy.
The driver’s arrival roughly a year ago appears to have occurred during the period when Afghan SIVs were still expressly protected from the 2025 restrictions.
That is no longer the full picture.
A Trump proclamation signed on December 16, 2025, and effective January 1, 2026, continued a full entry restriction for nationals of Afghanistan and narrowed previous categorical exceptions. The earlier broad Afghan-SIV exception no longer appears among the proclamation’s listed exemptions. National-interest exceptions remain possible on a case-by-case basis.
The State Department’s current Afghan SIV page consequently warns that affected Afghan applicants may still submit applications and attend interviews but “may be ineligible for visa issuance or admission to the United States.”
Then, effective January 21, 2026, the State Department separately paused immigrant-visa issuance for nationals of Afghanistan and dozens of other countries as part of a screening and public-charge review.
The impact is visible in government numbers.
During the second quarter of fiscal year 2026 — January through March — the State Department reported that only three Afghan SIVs were issued: one to a principal applicant and two to derivative family members. The same report showed 5,978 SIV numbers remaining for Afghan principal applicants as of March 31.
The report also says the government had paused Chief of Mission processing and resumed it only on a limited basis in late January 2026.
That means Tabach’s statement that the current administration is continually “pulling people out” should be treated as his characterization rather than a complete description of present policy.
Thousands Are Still Waiting
The driver’s final message is perhaps the most important part of the interview.
He says he knows other people who helped the United States and remain in Afghanistan.
“There are a lot of people that I know,” he says, describing former U.S. partners who are still waiting for action.
The official numbers show that the Afghan SIV system remains unfinished.
The State Department continues to review previously submitted cases, while new Chief of Mission applications closed after December 31, 2025.
And because the U.S. Embassy in Kabul remains closed, applicants who reach the interview stage generally must find a way to travel to another country for consular processing. The State Department explicitly states that the U.S. government currently does not provide relocation assistance for that journey.
For someone hiding from the Taliban, that can be far more difficult than filling out paperwork.
Midtown Tribune Analysis: What This Story Actually Shows
The strongest part of this story does not require exaggeration.
An Afghan who says he worked for the United States did not simply arrive at the American border and demand admission.
According to his account, he applied, waited for years, obtained government approval, traveled to a third country, received an immigrant visa, entered legally, found work and enrolled in school.
That is precisely the distinction immigration debates too often erase: there is a difference between opposing uncontrolled entry and opposing immigration itself.
His arrival during the Trump administration is also consistent with documented 2025 policy, when Afghan SIV recipients were specifically exempted from Trump’s initial Afghanistan travel restrictions.
But accuracy requires acknowledging the other side of the record as well.
The 2021 withdrawal cannot accurately be described as originating entirely with Biden because Trump’s administration had already negotiated the withdrawal agreement with the Taliban. And the claim that the Trump administration is currently bringing Afghan allies to America in the same manner seen in this driver’s case is much harder to sustain after the restrictions imposed in 2026.
The unresolved policy question is therefore larger than one president:
If America asks foreign nationals to risk their lives helping American soldiers and diplomats, what obligation does the United States have to those who kept their side of the bargain?
The driver in Tabach’s car made it.
Thousands of others may still be waiting.
Who Is Captain Gary Yuri Tabach?
Gary (Yuri) Tabach is a retired U.S. Navy Captain and former senior NATO officer.
Born in Moscow in the Soviet Union, Tabach immigrated to the United States with his family in 1976. After graduating from Temple University School of Pharmacy in 1985, he was commissioned as an officer in the U.S. Navy and is widely described as the first Soviet-born person to become a commissioned officer in the U.S. Armed Forces.
During a 26-year Navy career, Tabach held assignments involving the U.S. State Department, American embassies and international military organizations. His positions included work with U.S. diplomatic missions in Moscow, Kazakhstan and Poland; service with a United Nations military observer mission in Georgia; and senior NATO assignments.
From 2006 to 2008, Tabach served as the first U.S. Deputy Director of NATO’s Defence Against Terrorism Centre of Excellence in Ankara, Turkey. He later served as Chief of Staff of the NATO Military Liaison Mission in Moscow, acting as a liaison between NATO’s Military Committee and the Russian Ministry of Defense.
Tabach retired from the U.S. Navy in 2011.
His rank is also documented in the official Congressional Record: a June 6, 2005 Senate record lists Gary Tabach among U.S. Navy officers nominated for appointment to the grade of Captain.
Sources
- U.S. Congressional Record — Senate, June 6, 2005:
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CREC-2005-06-06/html/CREC-2005-06-06-pt1-PgS6112-5.htm - Alaska World Affairs Council — Captain Gary (Yuri) Tabach biography:
https://alaskaworldaffairs.org/archived-events/checkmate-russia-us/ - Gary Tabach — YouTube Channel:
https://www.youtube.com/@garyyuritabach9560
Official U.S. Government Sources
- U.S. Department of State — Special Immigrant Visas for Afghans Employed by/on Behalf of the U.S. Government
- U.S. Department of State — Steps of the Afghan SIV Process
- U.S. Department of State — Afghan SIV Laws and Quarterly Reports
- U.S. Department of State — Afghan SIV Quarterly Report, Q2 FY2026
- U.S. Department of State — 2026 Immigrant Visa Processing Update
- The White House — Presidential Proclamation on Entry Restrictions, December 16, 2025
- U.S. Department of Defense — Completion of the 2021 Afghanistan Withdrawal
- U.S. Department of State Archive — February 29, 2020 U.S.-Taliban Agreement
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