At Afghan Cup in Virginia, recruiters offer big money for interpreters - washingtonpost

The crowd in Prince William County, gathered for the biggest Afghan sporting event in North America, erupted in a roar in Dari, Pashto and English. But this weekend's Afghan Cup is no mere game.

The soccer pitch in Woodbridge was plastered with ads from companies -- backed by more than $1.3 billion in government contracts -- looking to sign up U.S. citizens to make more than $200,000 a year working as Dari and Pashto interpreters in Afghanistan.

The soccer contest that plays out on Northern Virginia fields for three days every July, drawing thousands of Afghan Americans, is full of intense rivalries among 12 teams from immigrant communities in California, New York, New Jersey, Toronto and Virginia. But in the past few years, the tournament has taken on a new role as a fertile field for the government's urgent quest to recruit speakers of Dari and Pashto, Afghanistan's two official languages. .... - working the field : Afghan Cup in Va. is fertile ground for U.S. military...

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