Ironically he could have applied for asylum on one of his previous visits to the U.S. to visit Marcus Luttrell, whom he saved, or for the movie premiere

An Afghan villager who risked everything to save the life of a Navy SEAL is seeking asylum in the U.S. after his life came under threat in his home country.

Mohammed Gulab could have left heavily injured Marcus Luttrell to die in the mountains, but instead took him to his village and protected him from the Taliban.

In the extraordinary story depicted in the movie 'Lone Survivor', Luttrell was the only one of four Navy SEALs to survive a nightmarish firefight in northeastern Afghanistan in June 2005.

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Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrell (left) was the lone survivor of a firefight with the Taliban in northeastern Afghanistan in June 2005. Gravely wounded, he was protected by Mohammad Gulab until his rescue by U.S. forces

When Gulab found Luttrell he had been shot twice, suffered several cracked vertebrae and had shrapnel wounds to his leg.

Speaking through a translator to CBS's '60 Minutes' in 2013, Gulab said: 'I knew I had to help him; to do the right thing, because he was in a lot of danger.'

'He very well could have just left me laying there on the side of that waterfall and let me die,' Luttrell said. 'But he didn't.'

Marcus Luttrell, pictured third from right, was operating in Afghanistan supporting Operation Red Wings, when the rest of his team (pictured with him) were killed in a firefight with the Taliban in June 2005

Luttrell was rescued by American forces and came home to the US, back to his native Texas.

Now Gulab needs help from the U.S.

After his crucial role in Luttrell's survival, Gulab and his family had to go into hiding as they received death threats from the Taliban, their house was burned down, and his cousin was killed.

These threats had worsened after the release of the movie 'Lone Survivor' depicting the events surrounding Gulab's heroism and Luttrell's dramatic survival.

Once audiences in Afghanistan had seen the movie and understood the role Gulab had played, it became dangerous for him to stay in the same place for longer than a night.

Mark Wahlberg (second from left) played Luttrell in the 2013 movie 'Lone Survivor'. Once it had been seen in Afghanistan, threats against Gulab's life intensified as his role in Luttrell's survival became more widely known

Last Saturday, with the help of the U.S., he managed to escape Afghanistan with family members to a neutral, undisclosed, third country.

He is now working with New York immigration attorney Michael Wildes to gain refugee status to enter the U.S. – the first step towards being granted asylum, CBS reports.

Wildes is working on the exceptionally complicated case on a pro bono basis.

Mohammad Gulab (left) attended the 'Lone Survivor' New York premiere in December 2013. Immigration lawyer Michael Wildes (right) has said that if he had applied for asylum then he probably could have stayed in the U.S.

Much of the complexity comes from the number of agencies involved, from the United Nations to the Department of Homeland Security – and ultimately it is the latter that will make the decision.

Ironically, the process could have been made much simpler.

Gulab has been to the U.S. before, occasionally visiting Luttrell on his ranch in Texas, and attending the movie's premiere in New York in December 2013.

Wildes said Gulab probably could have stayed had he applied for asylum on one of those visits.

Despite a language barrier between the two of them, Luttrell and Gulab have become friends and have even gone shooting together on the Texas ranch.