LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The anxiety, the stress and the unanswered phone calls are keeping Nicholas Tabor up at night.
His friend, Abdul, is still in danger. And to call Abdul his friend is an understatement.
"It's a brother. That's almost like a family member," said Tabor. "I'm afraid to go to sleep, because then I might miss his message."
Tabor, from Louisville, is a retired U.S. Army Sergeant. He enlisted in 2004 and served as an Infantryman (11B) with the 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment (2SCR)Â in southern Afghanistan from 2010-11.
Abdul was an interpreter who aided U.S. soldiers. He and his family have tried to escape Afghanistan since the Taliban came to power but have been unsuccessful.
A recent Facebook Messenger exchange between the two. (Source: Nicholas Tabor)
Tabor becomes more worried every day that the Taliban will seek revenge against Abdul his family.
"In (the Taliban's) eyes, it's treason for their people to help the U.S. That's how the Taliban sees it," Tabor said in an interview last week. "They behead you on the spot."
More than a week later, he says there has been progress. He and other veterans have had luck securing some documentation that Tabor says validates Abdul's service as an interpreter who aided U.S. soldiers.
"I won't say that we've (made) a lot of progress, but we've made steps," Tabor said. "A little bit more than when it first started."
But now, the worry intensifies for Tabor after Thursday's deadly blasts outside the airport in Kabul.
"It's more volatile right now. It's literally over there you're walking on egg shells," said Tabor.
Abdul survived, but one of his latest messages to Tabor explains he's still in grave danger.
Retired U.S. Army Sergeant Nicholas Tabor. (Source: Nicholas Tabor)
"My life and that of my family are still in danger," he wrote to Tabor in a recent Facebook message. "They told my father to find your spy son."
But for all the nightmare scenarios that keep Tabor up at night, another scenario gives him peace: the dream of Abdul getting out of Afghanistan, relocating his family to America and reuniting with his American brother.
"I would do everything within my means to help them. If I had people sleeping on my floor or on my couch — his family — as long as they were safe, I'd be content with that. I'd be happy," Tabor said.
"If we were going through the same stuff here, I would want to think that I could reach out to, say, Abdul, and think he would do the same thing for me. So just treat everybody with dignity and respect and help one another instead of always just trying to kill one another or hurt one another," he continued.
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