A former interpreter who worked alongside New Zealand troops in Afghanistan is pleading with the Government to save his colleagues.
Diamond Kazimi, who escaped from Bamyan Province where he worked as an interpreter for New Zealand soldiers, was granted asylum in New Zealand 18 months ago.
Kazimi told TV ONE's Close Up the lives of interpreters and their families still living in Afghanistan will be in danger when New Zealand forces pull out of the war-torn country.
He said interpreters are constantly identified while they are working.
"Working for the New Zealand troops over there, you don't hide your face, because you can't wear masks."
"We do Government meetings and talk to key leaders in the villages. So if we hide our face it's just disrespectful."
Kazimi said when he was working in Afghanistan he would receive verbal and written death threats from the insurgents and the Taliban.
"You get lots of letters. In the community when you go on patrol, they'd come on to you verbally, 'I will kill you if I see you next time'.
"You can't do anything about it."
The Afghan interpreters have appealed directly to the New Zealand Government, approaching Defence Minister Jonathan Coleman during his last visit in April.
Coleman told Close Up the Government was not ignoring the interpreters' concerns.
"I was in Afghanistan back in April and I met with a group of five interpreters who had been working with the [Provincial Reconstruction Team] for some years and they presented me with a letter outlining their concerns.
"I've got officials looking into it closely. We are looking at what the British, the Americans and the Australians are doing, and we are going to consider the real risks and implications very closely."
The United States and Canada, who have much bigger troop commitments in Afghanistan, both allow special immigration applications for interpreters.