San Diego reporter Julie Watson spent months building a relationship with U.S. Army veteran Spencer Sullivan and his Afghan translator Abdulhaq Sodais, leading to exclusive video and photos of them meeting in Germany and a layered, all-formats story on Sullivan’s battle to keep America’s promise to bring his comrade to safety.
After his first translator another translator was killed by the Taliban while waiting for a U.S. visa, Sullivan felt the U.S. had betrayed its promise to help those who risked their lives interpreting for American troops. Sullivan was determined not to let Sodais, who used smugglers to get to Europe and feared being sent back to Afghanistan, suffer the same fate. The situation took on urgency as the Taliban seized control and the U.S. withdrew from Afghanistan.
U.S. Army veteran Spencer Sullivan, left, and former translator Abdulhaq Sodais look through images taken in Afghanistan, at Sodais’ apartment in Bremen, Germany, Aug. 13, 2021. Sullivan is among scores of U.S. combat veterans working on their own to ensure the safety of Afghans, like Sodais, who served alongside them.
AP Photo / Peter Dejong
U.S. Army veteran Spencer Sullivan, right, and Abdulhaq Sodais, who served as his translator in Afghanistan, look at a photo of Sodais taken during his service in Afghanistan, at Sodais’ apartment in Bremen, Germany, Aug. 13, 2021.
AP Photo / Peter Dejong
U.S. Army veteran Spencer Sullivan, right, and Abdulhaq Sodais, who served as a translator in Afghanistan, talk at Sodais’ apartment in Bremen, Germany, Aug. 14, 2021, while looking at video taken in Afghanistan.
AP Photo / Peter Dejong
U.S. Army veteran Spencer Sullivan, left, and Abdulhaq Sodais, who served as his translator in Afghanistan, look through images taken in Afghanistan, at Sodais’ apartment in Bremen, Germany, Aug. 13, 2021. Sullivan is trying to help Sodais get asylum after he fled from Afghanistan to Germany.
AP Photo / Peter Dejong
U.S. Army veteran Spencer Sullivan, right, and Abdulhaq Sodais, who served as a translator in Afghanistan, joke during an interview in Bremen, Germany, Aug. 14, 2021.
AP Photo / Peter Dejong
U.S. Army veteran Spencer Sullivan, right, and Abdulhaq Sodais, who served as a translator in Afghanistan, walk in a park in Bremen, Germany, Aug. 14, 2021.
AP Photo / Peter Dejong
U.S. Army veteran Spencer Sullivan, left, and Abdulhaq Sodais, who served as his translator in Afghanistan, leave a clothing shop in Bremen, Germany, Aug. 14, 2021, after Sullivan bought a suit for Sodais to wear for his Sept. 6 asylum hearing. Sullivan flew from Virginia to Germany to support Sodais, who was smuggled out of Afghanistan.
AP Photo / Peter Dejong
During an interview in Bremen, Germany, Aug. 14, 2021, Abdulhaq Sodais, who served as a translator in Afghanistan, starts to cry as former U.S. Army veteran Spencer Sullivan says he had an obligation to help Sodais. Sullivan is among scores of U.S. combat veterans working on their own to ensure the safety of Afghans, like Sodais, who served alongside them and us now seeking asylum.
AP Photo / Peter Dejong
Sullivan flew from Virginia to Germany to help Sodais prepare for his Sept. 6 asylum hearing. At that point, the global footprint of AP paved the way for a good story to become great: Rome video journalist Andrea Rosa and Amsterdam photographer Peter Dejong met the pair in Germany and shot moving photos and video of the men together, with Sullivan trying to assure a terrified Sodais that he would be OK.
Watson wove that reporting into the text story, producing a detailed picture of the relationship between the two. The result was a rich, layered multiformat package that took people on a journey through one soldier’s attempt to make a small difference in the middle of a chaotic situation, all too aware of the price if he fails.