Two local Marines are behind a desperate eleventh-hour move to save the lives of Afghan interpreters who worked alongside U.S. troops and now face deadly retribution at the hands of the Taliban as America pulls its forces out of the war-torn country.

Marine Sgt. Andrew Biggio of Winthrop — who told the Herald he “slept, ate and worked alongside” his interpreter — and Marine platoon Sgt. Peter Boisvert of Nashua, N.H., are urging Congress to allow more Afghans to earn visas.

“My interpreter … I know he saved lives,” said Boisvert yesterday. “Now that I’m not there, I’m not there to protect him.”

A Dec. 31 deadline is looming for interpreters — and other Afghans who aided Americans — to apply for 1,000 new visas.

U.S. Rep. James McGovern (D-Worcester) is pushing to extend that deadline a full year and add more visas. To date, about 13,000 visas have been handed out to Afghan nationals since 2009 when the visa program started.

“I think we have a moral obligation to do this,” said McGovern, “because these people are targets, and their families are targets.”

McGovern’s amendment is part of the National Defense Authorization Act for 2015, now before the U.S. Senate. The move comes as American and NATO troops closed their operational command in Afghanistan Monday.

One Afghan interpreter, who has been in Boston since Sunday, was one of the lucky ones. He served with both Marines and they helped him make the jump to freedom.

“Every interpreter’s life is in danger,” said the Afghan, who asked to remain anonymous because he fears for his family back home. “Enemies believe that we betrayed our country by helping and supporting coalition forces. … If they catch interpreters, they’re going to kill them in a painful way, and they have done it.”

The man, who doesn’t have a birth certificate but said he believes he’s between 27 and 30 years old, told of an interpreter he knows who was beheaded while on a bus trip with his family.

The man told the Herald it took him three years to secure a visa and he sold his car to buy his plane ticket to a new life here.

“I assure you, people in Afghanistan did care, did want coalition forces or U.S. troops there to help them,” said Biggio, who added his interpreter “dedicated his life to saving our lives in Afghanistan.”

McGovern said “there ought to be urgency in getting this right.” The congressman said there are 9,000 who are seeking visas, but the bill granted only 4,000 this year. At least extending the deadline and adding more visas, he added, is “a step” in the right direction.

“I think we know what the alternative will be,” McGovern said. “They will be killed and their families will be killed.”