After the hurried evacuation from Afghanistan left behind countless at-risk allies, former Yazidi interpreters who worked with the US military in Iraq are begging for special visas they say are needed to escape retribution in their home country. 

Seven years after the Islamic State rampage on the Yazidi ancestral homeland of Sinjar, the radical ideology that gave rise to the bloody massacre endures. Even after IS’ territorial defeat, the Yazidis, a mostly Kurdish-speaking minority group that practices an ancient monotheistic religion, say they remain highly vulnerable to extremists who view them as devil worshippers. 

Jameel Chomer, who American troops nicknamed “Jimmy,” served as an interpreter and cultural adviser at the Al-Kasik military training base in northern Iraq between 2005 and 2010. More than a decade later, Chomer worries that his US affiliation makes him even more of a target to those wishing to harm Yazidis. 

“To be a Yazidi, this is doubling the risk on your life,” Chomer told Al-Monitor by phone from his home in Iraq's Sinjar region. “Being a Yazidi who worked with the US Army, this is something that really increases the risk.”