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On August 22, 2021, shortly after the Taliban had seized Kabul, Ahmad Siddiqi drove the darkened streets of Afghanistans capital city. Because he had been an interpreter for the U.S. for 20 years, he knew the Taliban were searching for him and he was afraid to go home.

An American contact messaged him and told him to quickly gather his family and head to the airport, where U.S. soldiers would help them evacuate the country.

Siddiqi rushed home, assembled his wife, Horia, and their four children, grabbed a few provisions and made for the airport. There was no time to say goodbye to his parents or other relatives, and it wouldnt have been safe anyway. Because he had worked with American forces, his relatives could have been in danger just for knowing him.

The airport was chaotic. The Siddiqis were directed to one gate after another before they found American soldiers. But the Americans were on the other side of a sewage ditch, which the family had to wade through to reach the soldiers.

A few hours later, the family boarded an American military aircraft with almost 500 other evacuees.

Siddiqi remembers the faces of the other people on board: The unhappiness, the sorrow, the pain. You could see it.

That flight was the beginning of a months-long journey that had stops in Qatar, Italy, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

The Siddiqi kids were skeptical of the riches their father had promised America would provide, like Spiderman and pizza. But American friends had sent the family a $200 gift card, and while the family was waiting at an airport in New Jersey, Siddiqi told his kids they could use the card to buy food. They ate all the hamburgers and fries they could. I [said], this is proofYou are in the U.S. now.

In Colorado, the American friends who had donated that gift card were waiting.

Retired Army Captain Scott Henkel had met Siddiqi in 2006 when he was stationed in Afghanistan and working as part of a Provincial Reconstruction Team.

Siddiqi was Henkels interpreter during that work, and the two men had stayed in touch through the years. As the situation in Afghanistan deteriorated, the Henkels lobbied U.S. officials to get the Siddiqis out of the country, and offered them a safe haven in Broomfield.

On Oct. 5, 2021, the family arrived at Denver International Airport.

The year since has been hard. Though Siddiqi has two college degrees, has worked for the U.S. Military, the State Department and the United Nations in Afghanistan, he has struggled to find a job that even comes close to his skillset. Right now, he delivers for HelloFresh and drives for a ride-share company. He looks for jobs better suited for his skills every day, but so far his cover letters have gone unanswered.

Though he misses Afghanistan and the family he left behind, there is no real hope of a return. The kids enjoy school and the family is doing its best to adjust to life here.

Colorado opened its arms and embraced us and gave us a home. That is home at this moment. I cannot go to Afghanistan, Siddiqi said.

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One year after fleeing Afghanistan, these refugees have settled in Broomfield - Colorado Public Radio