Every time Monir’s fellow soldiers set off on a mission without him, his stomach clenched. He couldn’t eat, sleep or think about anything other than the safety of his brothers. So, as his unit prepared to leave in early August 2021 for a multi-day operation against the Taliban, Monir convinced a friend to pretend he was sick.
Monir took over as rear gunner in the front vehicle of his convoy.
Midway through the mission, the vehicle hit a roadside bomb. The blast shattered his right leg and damaged his left. He lost consciousness and was pronounced dead on the blood-soaked dirt road.
Now, Monir lives in Texas and is working to recover with the help of FAMIL, a nonprofit organization started by a former CIA officer who spent years tracking terrorists in Afghanistan.
“The particular Afghan veterans that FAMIL works with have made enormous sacrifices on the battlefield,” FAMIL founder Geeta Bakshi told Fox News.
Monir served in the Afghan National Army before joining the National Strike Units, elite counterterrorism forces that worked closely with the United States government.
(Courtesy of FAMILY)
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As Bakshi watched Afghanistan collapse last year, he knew he had to do something to help. He quickly started FAMIL with the help of some former colleagues, and initially set out to help refugees get education and jobs so they could be self-sufficient. Now FAMIL focuses on refugees who worked directly for the US government, primarily through the National Strike Units, elite CIA-trained counterterrorism forces who worked side by side with US troops.
“They played a very important role in the effort to go after the top terrorists and the top leaders of the Afghan Taliban and the Haqqani network,” former CIA director General David Petraeus, a FAMIL supporter, told Fox News.
Geeta Bakshi, a former CIA officer, founded FAMIL to help Afghan refugees adjust to life in the United States.
(Courtesy of FAMILY)
Bakshi said that Americans who served during the war on terror formed lifelong bonds with their Afghan counterparts, giving FAMIL the opportunity to have a significant impact on their integration into the United States.
“We’ve worked with them for years,” he said. “We speak in a language that they understand. And I don’t mean English or Dari or Pashto. I mean, we speak in a way that our hearts are connected.”
Education and employment continue to be the foundation of FAMIL’s work, but this year the organization has also become the leading nonprofit to establish a program focused on the physical and mental health needs of Afghan combat veterans. Bakshi told Fox News.
They call it the Wounded Heroes Program and have been involved with about 30 amputees, hundreds of soldiers with traumatic brain injuries or spinal cord damage, and thousands with mental health issues like post-traumatic stress, Bakshi said.
“FAMIL is the only organization that is working with me and they did a lot of things for me,” Monir told Fox News with the help of his brother Mark, also an Afghan combat veteran, to translate. They come from a family of five brothers who served in the National Strike Units. Two were killed in action. Monir almost became the third.
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He woke up in a body bag in a helicopter after the explosion. An American doctor unzipped the black plastic and revealed Monir’s face. To his alarm, Monir’s eyes were open and looking around.
After weeks of treatment in Afghanistan, Monir was evacuated to the US, where he underwent an additional 33 surgeries at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, the best hospital he had ever seen.
“The doctors at Walter Reed worked very hard and saved my second leg,” Monir said. “The doctors told me in Kabul: ‘You are going to lose both legs.'”
Monir, his wife, and their two daughters have now settled in San Antonio, where his two surviving brothers also live.
On the left, Monir and his brother Mark in Afghanistan. On the right, the brothers sit in an airport after Monir’s discharge from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.
(Courtesy of FAMILY)
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FAMIL has helped Monir navigate the American health care system, begin physical therapy at Brooke Army Medical Center, and prepare for a career in information technology. But Monir recently suffered a setback when doctors told her she would need a new prosthetic leg because her original one no longer fit.
“My right leg is taking a lot of damage,” he said. “We don’t have that much money to pay for my prosthetic leg. It’s not cheap. It’s very expensive.”
“FAMIL stepped in and FAMIL said, ‘I’m going to work with you, no matter how much money it takes. We’re going to work with you and we’ll find you a prosthesis,'” Monir said.
But to continue helping veterans like Monir in 2023, Bakshi is looking to his fellow Americans for help.
“Something that really hurts us is manpower and resources,” he said. “We have a window of opportunity to help these Afghans succeed here, to give them back what they gave us.”
Petraeus said the United States has a “moral obligation” to help those who served alongside Americans in Afghanistan.
“FAMIL is one of the organizations that is doing a very good job of helping us meet this unfulfilled moral obligation,” Petraeus said.
Monir and his family have now settled in San Antonio, Texas, where FAMIL continues to help him with his medical recovery and career goals.
(Courtesy of FAMILY)
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Despite his ongoing health problems, Monir continues to inspire other wounded Afghan soldiers.
“I’m also working with FAMIL, just making videos for them,” he said. “That gives them morale and tells them to never, ever give up hope. Even if you’ve lost your limbs, be strong, live and work hard and be strong for your children, for your family.”
To visit FAMILY website if you are interested in helping veterans like Monir. To hear more of her story, click here.
