Eddie Idrees, Special Forces Interpreter (Pen & Sword, 2021)
Separating friend from foe is a necessary component of modern warfare. Overcoming cultural differences in an alien environment is also crucial for operational efficiency. Even the best armies need local knowledge. In Afghanistan, the British and Americans employed interpreters such as Eddie Idrees. He risked his life in the face of extreme hostility from, not just the Taliban, but from many who he thought might be more supportive. That carried on into his civilian life in the UK, much to his surprise. This book is Idrees’s memoir of his service in and out of combat.
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Idrees begins his story by recounting his time as a child in a Pakistan refugee camp, where he learned English in a UN sponsored school. Even then he knew he wanted to be a soldier like his father. That was reinforced by a visit to Afghanistan where he witnessed Taliban atrocities and cultivated a lifelong hatred of them. He was recruited as an interpreter for the US army that arrived in the wake of the 9/11 attack, but he was suspended for alleged misconduct. Fortunately for Idrees, a chance encounter led him to serving with Britain’s elite SAS force. He took part in many missions, some of which he describes in detail, particularly his hair-raising close escape from an operation that went wrong in Kandahar. Idrees discusses the risks for interpreters, many of whom were killed in combat or executed when captured by the Taliban. Idrees also notes the endemic corruption in the Afghan army. His personal risks, Idrees could handle, but when the threat extended to his family, it was time for him to get out. He sought asylum in the UK, which was not as simple a process as he expected. Also surprising was the hostility he received from the Afghan community in the UK. Idrees has also had to live with his PTSD, but he has no regrets over his service.
This is a riveting but sometimes deeply unsettling account of a man whose service should be honoured by his adopted country. It was his risk to take to become an interpreter, but he undoubtedly saved many coalition, and Afghan, lives through his sacrifice and sense of duty. It is important that those of us on the outside, in a time of anti-immigrant rhetoric and actions, understand what men such as Idrees did for us. This memoir should go some way to helping us and our politicians make better decisions when it comes to those who did so much for us, and it deserves a wide audience.
