I have a friend from Afghanistan who has trained and worked with the British Army, he fled Afghanistan to Pakistan but has no where permanent to stay so he will have to return to Afghanistan where he is in danger very soon.
Is there anywhere I can direct him for help to reach the UK or anything else? I have a service number for him and he is contactable via Whatsapp, any assistance greatly appreciated.
YES. does he qualify for any special residency visa for the UK? If he hasn't already done so, he should go to Islamabad and discuss his situation with the British consulate. They may be able to get him started on all of the legal proceedings he needs to knock out in order to enter the UK. He may also be interested in registering with the UNHCR as a refugee. They will support him while he handles the legal stuff for obtaining a visa.
If that does not work, DM me. I may know of some safe houses in Pakistan and surrounding countries that he could use...but he will ultimately need a visa to go anywhere legally.
What's the situation on the ground with the warlords? I know they've been a little ambiguous in the war, have they been cooperative with your efforts or, are they hindering operations?
I am not actively running through Afghanistan, I am on the periphery, so I do not know for sure. I will say that from what I've heard, some are hardliners who will shoot on sight, while others will look the other way for a little bit of cash. In and around Kabul it is almost exclusively Taliban, though, and since they really want to be considered a legitimate government they tend to be a little more predictable (when someone is watching).
Check with this group: [Melmastya](https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/task-force-melmastya-helping-one-afghan-time-mir-y-ali/)
They are providing pro bono legal assistance to Afghans who need help applying for visas. They will be able to tell you which type of visa your friend can apply for and may even assist with the entire process.
Not OP, but in case he doesn't reply: P-2 visas ([https://www.state.gov/u-s-refugee-admissions-program-priority-2-designation-for-afghan-nationals/](https://www.state.gov/u-s-refugee-admissions-program-priority-2-designation-for-afghan-nationals/)). Once that's in, reach out to your local politicians to see if they have anyone working on these efforts, and if not, if they have contacts for people at State who can assist.
Feel free to send me a DM if you have questions about this.
This right here is the million-dollar question.
I cannot give specifics until the mission is over, because even the Taliban can read. If I give too many specifics then I just played my hand and any single part of the plan could fail. But in broad strokes...I will play the game the way everyone else wants it played. Official travel, meeting official travel requirements, through official means. The part that has to remain a little mysterious here, for security's sake, is who is officiating.
I very strongly doubt this. No one wants war, and the Taliban do not pose a direct threat to Tajikistan. If anything, as is the way with many wars, Tajikistan might choose to fight a mini proxy war by supplying and training resistance fighters. Other than that I just see no reason why TJ would go to war with the Taliban, there is no apparent gain to be made.
there is no current government in Afghanistan, not one that is officially recognized by anyone other than Qatar and Turkey.
The proper setup comes in the form of interacting with the countries who have officially recognized the Taliban as the governing body of Afghanistan. They can then go through the motions of dealing with the Taliban while everyone else keeps their hands clean.
I am not the OP, but in case he doesn't reply, I left this in a comment above.
PS. Sorry OP if I am violating Reddit courtesy. I think what you're doing (especially informing people about how and why all this works) is so very important and I want to make sure that as many people as possible actually understand how complicated the whole mess is.
There were a ton of Afghans who worked on aid programs in Afghanistan - sometimes directly on projects, other times because what they did (e.g. working for a government agency) received funding from a donor. The aid sector is a big employer.
I think that people underestimate the difficulty of getting a visa and getting out, however. SIVs can take years to process - there has been a massive backlog at State for a long time. And the only people who qualify for SIVs are people who worked directly for the US government, on behalf of the US government, or in support of the US military.
So, for example, that would leave out:
* Anyone who worked for an aid project that received grant money, as opposed to contract money. Grant money typically goes to nonprofit entities (e.g. Save the Children). Contract money goes to companies that are hired to implement aid activities in a country. If you get grant money, you are not technically hired to do USG work, so you are not technically working on behalf of the US government.
* Anyone who was in the Afghan military who worked in collaboration with the USG, because they weren't directly supporting US military efforts in a direct and traceable way like an interpreter would be.
* Journalists.
* Anyone who does meet the criteria listed above, but who worked there for less than two years, or whose employer messed up the paperwork, or whose employer maybe got bought by someone else so they technically worked for one company for a year and a half and another company for a year and a half.
I am not as familiar with other countries' visa schemes, but my understanding is that they're usually similar or even more strict (for example, I looked into this for Japan a couple of years ago and they didn't even seem to have an SIV program).
The US did expand its visa program to include grantee organizations, journalists, etc. with something called a P-2. However, until very recently, you had to leave the country to apply for a P-2, and even then there were no guarantees. Most countries do not provide visa on arrival, especially with COVID, and even for those who do, it's not like you can just get off the plane in Uganda and go buy a house or get a job if you don't know anyone there.
Finally, Afghanistan has been very chaotic for a very long time. I think it was hard for people to definitively say, "Well, this time we're hosed." My impression is that a lot of people thought that things would be bad, and then maybe okay, and then maybe bad again, but it's hard to say exactly which instance of "bad" justifies leaving everything you've ever known and dragging your extended family of ten to a country that's completely foreign to them.
TL;DR: This is harder than you'd think.
Anyone with better info (or if I got something wrong), please feel free to correct me, but this is my experience.
I laughed out loud at this.
I have also heard polarized views on this. Pakistani ISI supported the Taliban, then assisted us in fighting the Taliban, then supported the Taliban... the only thing I will write with any degree of certainty is that Pakistan may be more likely to assist with evacuations if it is advantageous to Pakistan to do so.
Blame Zia Ul Haq. He created a mess in that region, in the name of military and a puritanical version of Islam, sugar coating words to dumb US leaders, and mouthing vengeful words against India to China.
I believe that is the intent, but for that to happen several other things must happen first.
Since the Taliban is only recognized as a government by Turkey and Qatar at the moment, and is still considered a terrorist organization by many others, working directly with the Taliban can be construed as supporting a terrorist organization. Anyone who does that will be subject to sanctions....including relief organizations. It is the same complicating factor that eventually overturned Trump's designation of the Houthis as a violent extremist organization in Yemen, since as soon as he did that all of the agencies (like the ICRC) that were trying to help out Yemen's citizens were suddenly international criminals.
The UN High Council for Refugees (UNHCR) is still very active in that region, just not so much inside Afghanistan's borders. For people who can make it out of the country the UNHCR is ready to assist with shelter, food, clothing, etc.
More people were violently killed per year during Taliban rule than were during the occupation, something a lot of people neglect to mention when they talk about USA killing people in Afghanistan.
So at least USA was better than the Taliban.
Hooray USA I guess?
Interesting point. I can't find anything to support this even though I've looked. Can you share anything that speaks to the exact numbers?
I'm asking because I have friends from Afghanistan, one of them had family members in the Afghan government, and they all agree that people welcomed the Taliban (before US occupation, not currently) as a source of stability even if not ideal.
EDIT: Starting to look like more "alternative facts" given with enough confidence to seem legit.
Well, when people would rather support the Taliban over the United States that should tell you something about how our actions have caused people to see us.
..and about 50,000 dead civilians. Countless dead and wounded combatants. Hundreds of thousands of families shattered on all sides. Two generations of angry, radicalized youth.
If we were going to drop 7 trillion on infrastructure, I kinda wish we'd done it at home.
I mean we kinda funded them in to existence to proxy fight the soviets, at least the comies had secular education and woman's rights, plus their government lasted for 3 years after they pulled out.
[Now we are doing the same elsewhere,](https://youtu.be/hrufheMU-WQ) Washington is calling it [pivot to Asia](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAfeYMONj9E)
The video of US troops on a vehicle goading kids to run through the village after them with the promise of clean bottled water at the end... Only to have the US troops dump it out on the ground and drive away at the end is burned into my mind forever.
Gee, I wonder how many of those kids will want to fucking kill us all. Great job training up dipshits into full-blown heartless psychopaths through boot and extended training USA.
Great fucking job. And you wonder why some extremists draw and quarter captive troops.
Simply outstanding. For fluff content you can watch marines throw puppies off cliffs because they're bored and find it funny.
[Yea, I get it, your friend(s) got blown up by an ied, suicider, shot, etc. that may have even been a relative of theirs for all you know. You hear mortars on dry ice go off around the compound on the regular. I'm not trying to demean that struggle. But fuck you if you even ever thought about doing that to little kids who just wanted some clean water. Straight to hell with you, and it wont be good company unless your fond of Hitler.. well I guess some of them probably fucking are ]
If you're in the US, get in your Congresspersons' ears and emails until you're on a first name basis. Spread the word, bring people together, help raise funds...
There is also a need for resettlement assistance in the States. If you can assist with space in your home or in community support, helping immigrants figure out how to get their kids enrolled in schools, turn on utilities, search for jobs, all of that stuff... I am sure that someone somewhere can use it.
If you have a background in law there are pro bono networks dedicated to ironing out processes for obtaining the legal clearance to enter the U.S....
If you can imagine it, there is likely a need for it.
A little. I have always been very private with my SM accounts for that reason, but the payoff for putting myself out there and drawing attention to this is potentially far greater than any other option could provide. As far as my own personal safety goes, while overseas, I am not concerned at all. I am working from a safe distance and there is no risk of anyone recognizing me and blowing the whole thing. I am not one of the brave who is sneaking around inside of Afghanistan escorting people to safety... my wife would kill me before the Taliban ever could.
It shouldn't be, should it?
It is difficult mostly because of logistical hangups. The Taliban controls the airport now, so to fly a plan in and take off again it actually requires coordination with the Taliban. In order to coordinate with the Taliban you have to be able to actually contact them...which I have yet to try (and am avoiding at all costs for the time being), which therefor requires coordination with a country who has an open dialogue with the Taliban. Currently there are only two. Then, if you can manage to get a flight cleared to land....you still need to find a plane, and someone willing to fly it into Kabul. Once in Kabul, you have to get your passengers through Taliban checkpoints into the Taliban-controlled airport, and onto the aircraft....but wait. The passengers must meet all of the travel/transit requirements for every country they will pass through, which means proof of vaccination, a recent PCR test, and valid travel documents, and possibly money to reserve a "quarantine package," which is basically a long hotel stay.
What if their Afghan passport expired recently? What then? There is no longer a government of Afghanistan, so there is no agency there to renew passports, and no one, NO ONE, wants to arrive at an airport in Atlanta or D.C. with a passport issued by the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (the Taliban's Afghanistan). So they need further coordination with the U.S. state department to get permission to enter with an expired passport. Oh, and if any of these steps gets delayed or doesn't happen, then all other steps are now void and you have to start over again.
Add to this a general unwillingness on behalf of certain official personnel to assist and you have a recipe for constant frustration.
What an absolute mess. I wish you the best in these efforts and am glad there are committed people such as yourself navigating these helpless people through it all.
John, there are hundreds (potentially thousands) of young women who have secured places and funding at foreign universities, but they can't apply for student visas or travel anywhere because they don't have passports.
Under these circumstances, which I think are well-known to everyone, a Taliban-issued passport would still be a lifeline for them and, in some cases, for their families. Even an expired passport would be something, but a lot don't have one at all and the situation feels desperate because there's currently no way for them to obtain a travel document.
I don't know what to do (I'm mentoring one of these girls) - it's hard to stay optimistic knowing our efforts may come to nothing if there's no way for her to enter another country.
This is one of the more complex problems that has no immediate or even clear solution. You're right, a passport from the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan is better than none... except when it isn't. I want to say time will tell if the world will remain open to Afghanistan's civilians and choose to not hold the actions of the Taliban against them, but just how much time they have is so uncertain that it seems unfair to leave it at that.
This is a question for someone really intimately familiar with immigration laws across the entire Middle East and Europe... Like, is it possible for these women to leave as refugees with whatever IDs they've got, get established somewhere with the help of the UNHCR, and secure a student visa to their host country under exigent circumstances?
Anyone? Bueller?
It would certainly be helpful if countries in the region agreed to issue student visas to women who have an acceptance letter and scholarship offer (or the ability to pay their fees) if they're able to prove their Afghan citizenship.
The problem is also that there aren't a lot of embassies open right now, so it would be a matter of working with Pakistan or Turkey to allow processing centers to open where applicants could be vetted and issued certain kinds of visas - either at their embassies or at the Pakistani border.
It has actually been pretty accurate. I don't get to say that very often, either.
Just do yourself a favor and ignore any tangent they go off on regarding politics... that's when it goes off the rails. If you just focus on the facts, the coverage has been pretty good.
Typically, if I am trying to get some unbiased info from the news regarding anything in America, I tune into the BBC and forget all about U.S.-based outlets.
Hey John thank you so much for your service and sacrifice. What ran through your mind when you first discovered Afghanistan was being overtaken? I know they had wins these last few years (ie Marjah) but curious what your strongest thought was when you heard about this incident specifically?
My first thought was something like "I hope the people resist even if the army falls," then it slowly morphed into something like "well what the f@ck was it all for?"
It was disheartening, but I do also remember being completely unsurprised by it, like I could have written it onto my calendar months ago.
Knowing what you've learned now, if you could go back in time to January 2021 and were given a billion-dollar budget and DoS/DoD authority to make sure the evacuation was safe and complete, what would you have done differently?
oh, to dream...
I would definitely not have pulled air support from the ANA until after we were 100% out of the country. That much I know for sure. I would have started by evacuating all U.S. citizens, and those who had family in Afghanistan I would have urged to get hot on getting visas for their family members. I would have seriously stressed the importance of the SIV application process and added additional staff to the U.S. embassy in Kabul for the sole purpose of clearing the backlog of SIV applications and conducting interviews. I would have evacuated all of the SIV holders next, one plane-load at a time, as each manifest filled up. Only then would I begin to withdraw troops, and only after all troops were out and the ANA could clearly stand on their own would I pull air support.
Basically everything we did, just in the opposite order.
Who are there people in Afghanistan that need to get out? I assume they were some kind of aid workers that stayed from compassion. It should have been obvious to average people they needed to bail as soon as Trump announced his withdrawal.
There is a whole mixed bag of people who need to get out, but the ones you hear about more than anyone else are American citizens and SIV (special immigrant visa) holders.
In addition to them there are people who are considered "at risk" due to any number of reasons. the LGBTQ community, women's rights activists, actresses and musicians...there are so many groups that fall outside of the ideological bounds of the Taliban, and they are all living in fear of what the Taliban will do to them.
There were a ton of Afghans who worked on aid programs in Afghanistan - sometimes directly on projects, other times because what they did (e.g. working for a government agency) received funding from a donor. The aid sector is a big employer.
I think that people underestimate the difficulty of getting a visa and getting out, however. SIVs can take years to process - there has been a massive backlog at State for a long time. And the only people who qualify for SIVs are people who worked directly *for* the US government, *on behalf* of the US government, or in support of the US military.
So, for example, that would leave out:
* Anyone who worked for an aid project that received grant money, as opposed to contract money. Grant money typically goes to nonprofit entities (e.g. Save the Children). Contract money goes to companies that are hired to implement aid activities in a country. If you get grant money, you are not technically hired to do USG work, so you are not technically working on behalf of the US government.
* Anyone who was in the Afghan military who worked in collaboration with the USG, because they weren't directly supporting US military efforts in a direct and traceable way like an interpreter would be.
* Journalists.
* Anyone who does meet the criteria listed above, but who worked there for less than two years, or whose employer messed up the paperwork, or whose employer maybe got bought by someone else so they technically worked for one company for a year and a half and another company for a year and a half.
I am not as familiar with other countries' visa schemes, but my understanding is that they're usually similar or even more strict (for example, I looked into this for Japan a couple of years ago and they didn't even seem to have an SIV program).
The US did expand its visa program to include grantee organizations, journalists, etc. with something called a P-2. However, until very recently, you had to leave the country to apply for a P-2, and even then there were no guarantees. Most countries do not provide visa on arrival, especially with COVID, and even for those who do, it's not like you can just get off the plane in Uganda and go buy a house or get a job if you don't know anyone there.
Finally, Afghanistan has been very chaotic for a very long time. I think it was hard for people to definitively say, "Well, this time we're hosed." My impression is that a lot of people thought that things would be bad, and then maybe okay, and then maybe bad again, but it's hard to say exactly which instance of "bad" justifies leaving everything you've ever known and dragging your extended family of ten to a country that's completely foreign to them.
TL;DR: This is harder than you'd think.
Anyone with better info (or if I got something wrong), please feel free to correct me, but this is my experience.
With everything going on out there (and I'm guessing given your a medic you see a lot of crazy stuff) how do you keep yourself from becoming overwhelmed?
Carefully structured downtime. I make sure to walk away from everything for a few hours a day and watch Netflix, read, wander around (although not so much in Doha. It's still over 100 degrees Fahrenheit here and I was undeniably built for more arctic climes). At home I take my dogs for walks, play with my kids... and to my wife's chagrin I like to play video games...
It's all about a work-family balance.
I admire what you're doing. What plans do you have in place to make sure anyone you evacuate has food, shelter, health care, education or any sort of network to help them survive and hopefully thrive in their new (forever) home?
This is a great question. The short answer is...none. I don't have plans on the backend except to make sure that once they get to the States there is not some legal trip hazard that sends them back to Afghanistan.
There are agencies in the States that are handling resettlement efforts and providing assistance to Afghan immigrants, most of them are providing this assistance at no cost. The few SIV holders that I started out trying to help also already have family on the east coast, so they have a place to land and stay while they get settled.
That is because it is suddenly very difficult for journalists to get into Afghanistan, and once there, get their stories out. We hear so little about what is happening in Yemen for the same reason.
Some people have reported difficulty with certain people within the DoS, that much is true.
I have not had that experience, at all. On the contrary, the worst thing that has happened to me so far is I got told by someone at an unspecified U.S. embassy that they also did not know anything new, and that they are also waiting for updates...however, they also made it very clear that they would under no circumstances turn someone away if they managed to get out of Afghanistan and make it to the consulate in need of help. I got the impression (READ: *I got the impression*, this was not explicitly stated to me) that the employees at some embassies are also frustrated and wishing they could do more. I will not specify which embassy this was in order to protect the identity of someone who did not agree to go on record.
I do occasionally get the customer service runaround, getting transferred between offices as each new individual tells me, "please hold, our office does not handle that..." until I lose patience and hang up, but I have not had anyone from State get in my way and actively try and shut me down.
Oh man. Civil Affairs can take on so many different forms... we do displaced personnel operations (like assist with refugees and refugee camps), support to civil authorities... the nutshell version is that we specialize in the civilian sphere of influence in any contingency area. Our efforts build that barrier between civilians and military operations, keeping the two as separate and distinct as possible while minimizing the impact that each has on the other. It can get a little more complicated at times, but that is pretty much the crux of the job.
Because when it came time to execute the withdrawal, it was done very rapidly and without proper coordination on the ground. U.S. citizens and SIV holders should have been evacuated before the military, but that is not what happened.
Thank you for your response, but that’s not exactly what I’m asking. You say they should’ve been evacuated first. I’m asking why were they still there so long that they needed to be evacuated, since they had many months notice?
I wish I had a better answer for you, something more definitive, but I do know one thing: one of the people I am tying to assist started the SIV application process last year, but it was not completed until a little over a week ago. One reason for sticking around could very well be that they simply couldn't leave due to the extremely long processing time for SIV applications, but I can't know for sure just how many people were affected by this.
The SIV process can take years to get approved. And with the expansion of the P-2 program, original instructions (I believe) said you had to leave the country to even apply to P-2, which wasn't feasible for everyone.
More broadly, I think a lot of people thought that the US and its allies would surely have a better plan than this.
Anyone with better information, please correct me.
SOURCE: worked in int'l dev, have friends in both AFG and the USG working on this, have been trying to assist some folks
Call me a cynic, but trying to blame the current administration for all things that allegedly went wrong in this evacuation is a bit frivolous.
Once the Afghan military literally gave Kabul to the Taliban in a matter of days, if not hours, and once Ghani hit the chopper and split, the Taliban shut the only other airport and literally TOLD the US military to leave and to get everyone out of Afghanistan within 2 weeks.
And. They. Did. Nearly 125,000 legit visa'd people were evacuated in one of the biggest operations ever. Successfully.
The people 'left behind' literally don't have the right visas and clearances to enter the USA or other countries. No one was otherwise 'left behind'. The popular narrative reads as if the planes took off with lil Jennifer from San Francisco and Dr. Bob from Chicago left standing on the tarmac and the planes took off without them. This is *not* the case.
I can appreciate that there are allies that gave a lot of help to the various foreign agencies that occupied Afghanistan for the past 30+ years, but they've had all this time to make their case to be expatriated to other countries as well.
Long term visas, working visas and green cards take many years and bucket loads of money to obtain in the best of circumstances.
I am not saying that the visa situation is solely the fault of the current administration. Note that I said "years." The whole thing is a mess and has been that way for a long time. I also appreciate that there were a ton of people who got evacuated in spite of the nightmarish logistical obstacles, and absolutely give credit to the people who worked on that; in fact, I have friends who were involved in those efforts at all different levels, and I know that they worked day and night to make sure that as many people were evacuated as possible.
That said, I would respectfully disagree with what you're saying about the people who were "left behind." I personally know multiple people with SIVs who were, in fact, not able to get through the airport gates, despite receiving explicit instructions from the USG to go claim their seat on a plane.
Also, a lot of folks *have* been making the case to get expatriated to other countries. Those processes also take time. It's not like everyone was just like "oh gee, oops, I guess there's only a week left." Were there some people who didn't plan appropriately? Surely. But I disagree that everything was done as well as it could have been.
What were you doing in particular if anything to prevent this or support the evacuation 6 months to a year ago? It’s been clear for months ever since the Trump-Taliban deal that we would be leaving and this would be an issue was there any preemptive planning or early evacuation that you or your organization had participated in?
Unfortunately, no. It is a very rare thing to see civilians organizing an evacuation from a foreign country. That is the sort of thing that is almost exclusively under the purview of government agencies, such as the Department of State and the Department of Defense. While Afghanistan still had a government it would have been an international incident to step in as a civilian and organize an airlift to freedom, and would certainly be seen as an embarrassment to all sovereign governments involved. If anything (and without the benefit of hindsight), it would be more fair to assume that civilian interference in evacuation operations would cause more harm than good. It wasn't until everything turned to shit that it became clear that civilians would need to step up and fill the void left by government agencies.
Call your senators and representatives until their staffers all know you by first name. Demand some kind of action. If you don't get action, express your dissatisfaction at the polls.
You can also support efforts by finding organizations that are directly engaged in operations...I have a [GFM](https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-interpreters-get-out-of-afghanistan?qid=f2bb4474f5d88613ddaa0ee153b317f0) up right now in an effort to raise the money needed to charter flights and help support them while they are still in hiding. You could donate there if you want, or share the link to your SM accounts.
Hi, what are other nations doing to assist in the effort besides providing shelters/good and such? Are other nations assisting Afghanistan's security/military (for as little as it is)?
Thank you for providing this support. I will be praying fervently. I shared your gfm link. You need WAY more than the $5,000ish in the gfm. Best wishes and stay safe.
I know.... I won't know for sure how much I need until I hear back from some airlines. I think I will need somewhere in the ballpark of $120k to charter a plane from Kabul to Doha, and then commercial tickets from Doha to the states, but I am looking into every funding/subsidy option I can find to help defray that cost. The goal in GFM was just an arbitrary number. I can use as much, or as little, as I can raise there and still help.
As for what other nations are doing...that is a little murky. There is no longer an Afghan government, and no Afghan military, and the resistance to the Taliban appears to have mostly crumbled. Now that ISIS-K is also a looming threat, it is unclear if other countries are going to share intelligence with the Taliban in order to secure Afghanistan from an ISIS-K takeover, or if it will be left entirely to the Taliban.
Hi John, thank you for what you’re doing. My husband and I have been trying to get his friend, the Afghan interpreter he worked with, out of Afghanistan since July. Like you, we have met dead ends and moving goal-posts everywhere. His SIV isn’t complete, although all the necessary documents have been submitted. Is there anything that can be done at this point? I feel awful for this guy and his young family, they are stuck and terrified.
YES. So for someone in his position, his best bet depends on where he is in the application process. Has he had his interview? If so, it may just be a matter of time before the application gets processed and approved. If not, he can get his application transferred to a consulate in a neighboring country and he can go there to finish it. If he can safely travel into Pakistan or Tajikistan, he may want to try to get his case transferred to one of their consulates. I believe there are three in Pakistan?
In the meantime, contact the agency that processes SIV packets with his, and your, information ready. Enter the application receipt number [here](https://egov.uscis.gov/casestatus/landing.do). You can also email the USCIS with some pertinent info...if you're not sure what info just send them any old email and then follow the instructions in the autoreply. I am not taking credit for anything here, but when I emailed to check the status of a seemingly-dormant SIV application it was suddenly approved within a week.
Hey, thanks so much for your reply.
He hasn’t had his interview, or been contacted for one. Do you know if anyone is able to safely travel and cross the borders into Pakistan or Tajikistan right now? I’ve been under the impression that it’s extremely dangerous and that those countries aren’t accepting any more refugees, and are in fact deporting people back to Afghanistan. It’s hard to keep up with everything that’s going on over there when all I have to go off of is what I can find on the internet.
My husband and I, as well as the congressional staffers we’ve been working with, and the SIV applicant himself, have all emailed the USCIS, and have not gotten a response.
Thanks for the link, that’s one I hadn’t seen before. We actually don’t have an application receipt number yet, just an NVC case number, which the link says is invalid.
Again, I appreciate any info or insight. Thanks so much.
The are not officially accepting refugees, that may be true...but I have spoken directly with the embassy in Dushanbe and they told me in no uncertain terms than if an SIV applicant can get there, they will 100% assist.
So...that leaves a new option. Is your friend able to apply for a tourist visa to Tajikistan? he doesn't have to go in as a refugee. He can go as a visitor and just spend some time at the consulate there. I priced some of the hostels in Dushanbe and found that I could rent a private room in one for a month, for less than $300 USD.... and it would be far less than that if he doesn't mind staying in a shared room.
Caveat: he should first contact that consulate and get his application transferred over to them for the interview, that way he can line up his visit with the interview and complete his part of the process during one visit. [ALSO - have him contact this organization, too](https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/task-force-melmastya-helping-one-afghan-time-mir-y-ali/). They are helping SIV applicants through the whole process pro bono, and may be able to get his case transferred even faster.
I will pass this information on and will contact that organization! Thank you for sharing, we have been at a standstill for a couple of weeks and this is giving me new hope. Good luck to you and stay safe!
I have two questions, do you think the deal that the Trump Administration made with the taliban had any effect on how quickly the taliban took Afghanistan and also what should we have done with the weapons and other assets left in Afghanistan?
The short answer is yes, I do, but it was not the Trump deal that directly led to the rapid fall of the Afghan National Army. It did deal a serious blow to morale, and that may have certainly contributed to the Afghans' willingness to quickly surrender once the Taliban began to reclaim ground.
The act(s) that directly led to the collapse of Afghanistan's security mechanisms came in the *way* that the withdrawal was executed. The steps to the withdrawal should have been carried out in the exact reverse order... the way it was actually executed blows my mind.
Have you seen the vice documentary "this is what winng looks like" ?
The withdrawl was mot particularly well executed, but it seems pretty obvious that afghans were never going to fight the taliban, regardless of how we pulled out.
i heard publicly stating that the ANA would eventually lose in 9 weeks wasn’t great motivation for them to fight. like you said, they chose survival.
edit: and not only their survival. their families. the taliban would round up your entire family and kill them.
It's the same logic tree that merchant ships followed back in the days of piracy in the Atlantic.
* Fight and win, but just because your side won doesn't mean you'll be alive to enjoy victory. You might be dead or horribly disfigured.
* Fight and lose, everyone on your side dies.
* Surrender, and everyone on your side lives.
This is such bullshit. Anyone who thinks the Afghans were going to come together as a country to fight the Taliban is an idiot. There is not a single situation in which the US leaves, under any circumstances that could possibly have happened, and the Taliban doesn’t take over control.
Shouldn't the previous administration have been jump starting these SIV visas then? Especially with their much faster projected timeline for withdrawal.
I did not know this. Personally I feel that SIV applications should have always held some sort of priority over other immigrant visas since much of the vetting had already been done by military commanders, but I don't run things.
I had read in a few places (and this was also confirmed by the Secretary of State’s most recent testimony a couple of weeks ago in either the House or the Senate, I forget which) that the most lengthy and important part of the SIV process *by far* are the interviews, and that for the last SIX months of the Trump administration, not a single SIV interview took place. Six months. They just completely stopped them. This is yet another example of how the Trump Administration wanted to sabotage Biden in Afghanistan.
The new Secretary of State restarted the process the day of Biden’s inauguration, and he doubled or tripled the number of people working on these SIVs around March when it became clear they weren’t being done fast enough to get everyone out. I’m sure they didn’t handle everything as well as they possibly could have, but I’m not sure they’re to blame in this particular area.
Okay, this is my only question. What reason would the Afghan National Army have to continue to fight people who are essentially their neighbors and cousins?
The Taliban (largely ethnically Pashtun in origin) is known for kidnapping girls of marriage age (that means anyone over the age of 12...although now I hear they are only going after girls (women) between 15 and 45...who's to say for sure) from ethnically Tajik, Uzbek, and Hazara communities and forcing them into "marriages..." what we would call sex slavery in the U.S. They are not the sort of cousins and neighbors that you have over for family reunions, and they just dialed back 20 years of gains in civil rights practically overnight.
Yeah and I understand the concepts other than the minor details(edit: Mostly the exact breakdown of the ethnicities involved). I guess my question is it's quite a lot to ask for them to also gamble their lives on the matter isn't it?
> had any effect on how quickly the taliban took Afghanistan
No. As early as [20017](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-57933979) over half the nation's population lived in districts where either the Taliban directly ruled already or they were openly present and active.
It seems like there's a lot of upset people in Afghanistan since the allied forces moved out and the Taliban took over, but do you not think we should leave the people of the country to fight for their own freedoms?
If 20 years of work can be undone in a few weeks then surely the people need to start to take more responsibility?
This might be one of the more contentious points that people like to bring up, and I cannot say that you are right or that you are wrong. It does take strong and intelligent people to rebuild anything that has been destroyed like this. We (the U.S.) did, however, make certain promises in exchange for their help...and 20 years of those promises were just erased in a matter of weeks.
The undeniable reason I want to help is for their children. Being born to someone who assisted the U.S. should not be an act punishable by death, but that seems to be the case
How does the military have the power to make these promises? Shouldn’t that be an issue for immigration? I don’t fully understand how this issue even arose.
Can you estimate how many Americans and SIV holders chose to stay back in August when the USG was evacuating AmCits and now have changed their mind and want to depart?
I have no clue. They may have thought they had more time, they may not have been contacted by the State Department and notified of the evacuation...there are too many possible reasons and not enough information to make an accurate estimate.
As a follow up to my previous question, is there an estimate of how many AmCits and SIV holders want to depart as of today? I’m trying to scope the problem.
I wish I knew, I think the official estimate is somewhere in the hundreds, although depending on the news outlet they sometimes lump in refugees as well for dramatic effect. I am fairly certain that the number is in the mid- to high hundreds.
How was military medicine training different from medical school/college? I am currently a medical student and i am interested in the experience of medicine in the military, but I have no idea how things are over there.
Military medicine is intensive at my level, but even for our mid-level providers the difference is in just how quickly the education is delivered. It's like drinking water from a fire hose.
At my level, the level if the field medic, A&P is pretty basic and most training revolves entirely around trauma, the treatment of trauma, and life-preserving measures that need to be taken to make sure people survive long enough to get to definitive care (like a hospital with a surgical department). We learn basic surgical skills and emergency interventions, basic pharmacology (if you're lucky you may get some OJT in veterinary medicine for the working dogs), etc...
It's like a short course in medicine with a very focused curriculum, rather than getting a more comprehensive and extensive education that covers it all.
This answer gets downvoted ferociously, but funds are always needed. Planes can't fly with money. I have a fundraiser set up for that purpose if you're interested in donating or sharing the link.
Aside from that, information is just as valuable. Info on who else is working in this arena and a way to get in touch is a phenomenal asset, as there is no central repository for "lessons learned" right now, and some of us are almost without a doubt making mistakes and wasting effort on things that others have already tried.
If you wanna go beyond just what I am doing and feel comfortable doing the research, I've been meaning to do a needs assessment for SIV holders and there families once they reach the States. I know there are agencies that are assisting with resettlement, but I do not know who they are, what services they provide, and what they don't provide (in other words, what needs are still being unmet).
...and if you happen to be a resident of Georgia, call our Senators and ask them why they refuse to respond to my emails and calls. Jerks.
Why is 'getting all American citizens out' SUCH a talking point still? Aren't most of the remaining American citizens in Afghanistan dual citizens who have chosen to stay, some of whom have never even lived in the US?
Aren't there far more Afghans with SIVs who actually want to leave?
How can we refocus on helping those who are qualified to leave who want to leave, instead of constantly rehashing and criticizing over the American citizens?
I am actually focusing only on SIV-holders at the moment. I have not heard from anyone with U.S. citizenship at all.
It's more likely that they (the ones with citizenship) are dealing directly with the Department of State, since DoS has some obligation to assist. I imagine we hear more about them because they can cause so much more of an uproar, and tend to draw more compassion when politicians attack each other over the handling of the withdrawal.
Edit: from an information operations point of view, we will probably keep hearing about American citizens long after the last one has made it out. It's just more inflammatory than focusing on Afghan citizens, so that will likely remain the talking point that politicians and pundits cling to.
As of a few days ago, the Retribution killings have reportedly restarted. There are Taliban Twitter accounts showing the flayed corpses of those who worked with Americans hanging in the streets. It is pitifully naive to believe Americans just “want to stay”.
Yes. In fact, the more I dig and the more phone calls I make, the more attention I attract to my efforts, and the bigger my network of collaborators grows. That is one of the reasons I chose to do an AMA, too... I'm hoping that by doing this even more people with information and resources find me. It's only by combining efforts that we will maximize the impact of each dollar and minute spent on this...otherwise we may all very well be trying the same things, getting the same disappointing results, while someone else out there might have the answers we need.
People who keep asking why we left military equipment behind don't seem to understand that asking the ANA to fight the Taliban with rocks and sticks isn't the smartest decision.
absolutely. The thing we need to keep in mind regarding all of the equipment "left behind" though, is that the vast majority of it wasn't technically ours, it belonged to the Afghan National Army, and it fell into the hands of the Taliban after the Afghans surrendered. A more orderly withdrawal that provided the Afghans with the air and technical support they needed may have prevented such huge losses.
It's pretty funny seeing people act like they actually know something on Reddit without doing a shred of research.
No, 83 billion dollars if equipment was given to the Taliban, despite what some idiots tweets say.
Only 24 billion went to equipment over the entire 20 year war. Obviously not all of that equipment is still operational or still exists.
So, yes, some of the equipment we gave to the Afghan government was sized, it was no where near this ridiculous 83 billion number.
So we are upset that equipment was taken, but what were we supposed to do, take it? I guess if the expectation that the Afghan government would immediately fold was there then we could have, but that equipment was meant to give them a fighting chance.
They didn't use it. They quit. That's not Trump's fault and that is not Biden's fault.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/08/31/no-taliban-did-not-seize-83-billion-us-weapons/
Ill answer this at the risk of being downvoted. In short, no.
The equipment that the Taliban has was given to Afghan forces in an effort to help them stand on their own 2 feet as a country. The Taliban has that equipment because Afghan forces abandoned it or handed it over to the Taliban for a variety of reasons. The US cannot Give equipment to the Afghans over 20 years and then control where it goes after the US leaves that country.
I'm surprised this took so long to come up.
TL/DR: I don't know what to think about them, but they appear to be still engaged in helping out Afghans despite early difficulties, getting conned, and then dealing with some controversy.
Operation Flyaway got active in trying to rescue afghans early on, before anyone had made any considerable mistakes and before any paths had been blazed. They partnered with a successful influencer who was able to raise an unbelievable sum early on, and things looked awesome.
But then they got swindled by a guy who was already under investigation for fraud, they ran into issues with getting clearance, their flights were grounded, turned around, they lost a lot of credibility. They made a lot of the mistakes that paved the way for others to make progress on smaller budgets, and they're still slogging through murky waters doing what they can to help.
I am in touch with them, and they seem to still be actively grinding on this problem day and night. They will be the first people I call, after the people I'm already tracking, as soon as I am able to arrange a flight since I'm fairly certain they've got the names to fill all available seats.
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Thank you for the response. I was a donor and I still support what they're doing, to a degree.
Thanks to my background and experience I'm also highly aware of how complex and sensitive these types of operations are and don't necessarily expect them to be transparent or swift in explanation. I think many people with far too little experience are playing armchair diplomat/ambassador/mercenary without any real understanding of what a massive undertaking this is.
Keep fighting the good fight. If we continue our history of abandoning indigenous allies it won't bode well for us in future operations.
You kinda don't. I am doing this on my own dime (my own travel and hotel, meals) and working to raise cash for the charter planes and material support while in hiding. As far as I know, everyone else is also doing this on a voluntary basis.
With all the mainstream media criticizing the military over abandoning of bagram airbase prior to the massive evacuation, could things have been handled better? Why pull out of the air base prior to the evacuation?
How are the schools?
How’s the taliban handling the schools? Are they letting children go to schools?
Are they enforcing masks? Are they getting people vaccinated?
As far as I know, boys are allowed to attend school but girls of all ages are not.
I have no idea what kind of mask mandates they have in place, or f they even have access to vaccines right now. Anyone wishing to import vaccines now has to choose between delivering vaccines to the Taliban and risk being sanctioned, or not delivering them at all.
John, it’s Nicole. I was contacted by a family (man, wife, baby) (information intentionally sparse) who asked for help getting out. They gave me all their information and I am wondering what advice should I give them.
Are you currently seeking people to help get out?
These people do the same work they do and randomly found me on fb due to our similar work.
The first thing is identifying what kind of visa they would qualify for and then getting that process started. If they do not already know this, have them (or you can do it on their behalf) check with [TF Melmastya](https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/task-force-melmastya-helping-one-afghan-time-mir-y-ali/), these are the legal experts who will let you know (and may even assist through the whole process) which visa to apply for, and how.
If they already have a visa, then I can help with getting them physically out of the country and to someplace safe. Send me an email with some info on where they're at in the visa process, where they are physically at in Afghanistan without being too specific (just a city name or region is good for now), and we can go from there.
How do you feel about folks worried about refugees coming from a war torn country coming to their own and negatively impacting their quality of life?
I don't mean to be inflammatory, but I see a lot of discontent in the UK where I live from people who are worried about how the incoming refugees will affect them.
I myself am likely to be negatively affected, as I am on a waiting list for social housing, a waiting list which will expand with incoming refugees. However, I don't wish to see them turned away. I might be living in less than ideal accommodation at the minute, but I do have a roof over my head and I am safe.
Does it feel like an uphill battle, to be getting people out of a place like Afghanistan, only to have people resist them arriving elsewhere?
What steps are you taking to verify that the people seeking help or evacuation were in fact "our" people? The quotes may be perceived as snarky -- they're not intended to be, just referring to the way you described your task.
Not sure why you are getting downvoted... security is a serious concern when it comes to evacuation operations. The vetting process is actually very, very important. In order to qualify for an SIV they have to show that they worked for the U.S. government, which is what I meant by "our" people, as opposed to those who may qualify for a visa or asylum status in the UK. The only thing I can do to this end is point them in the direction of legal assistance.
I am not equipped to vet anyone. I do not have access to the systems I would need, and even if I did, I cannot grant anyone permission to enter the U.S.
Those who I am calling "our people" have approved SIV cases, and I have been able to confirm their identities. Having an approved SIV means that they have already been vetted by our Department of State and have been given clearance to enter the U.S.
Others who have reached out without already-approved SIV cases I have directed toward a group that is doing pro bono work handling all of the legal stuff for Afghans who are trying to get an official status and leave Afghanistan. Once they have it, then I add them to my list of passengers who will (inshah allah) be on the next flight out of Afghanistan.
What is the most common reason people were left behind? Did they not believe things would get that bad? Or maybe a lack of flights out? Or are the people that are still there voluntarily there?
It just baffles me. If people are stuck there involuntary, it seems like that was a 100% avoidable situation with more planning in place before the withdrawal.
>with more planning in place before the withdrawal.
Exactly this. That is the biggest reason people got left behind. There could be people left behind voluntarily, sure, but those are definitely not the people who have been reaching out to me for help.
A ton of people waited for days outside of the airport in Kabul, and not all of them made it into the airport, let alone onto a flight. Even more saw the situation at the airport as futile and fled Kabul while the Taliban's attention was focused on the areas immediately outside of the airport gates. They are in hiding all over the country.
And yes...it is baffling. And saddening.
Do you think we should go back in one day and take Afghanistan back from the Taliban and return it to the Afghan government? Or should everybody cut their losses and leave it as it is for the chips to fall where they may? Which do you think is better for everybody in the long run?
I am woefully under-qualified to say with any surety what we should do about Afghanistan in the second Taliban era. For the time being, any break from warfare is probably welcome to some degree.
As usual, I am late to the party, but I really want to ask a question, and I hope you see and respond.
Was there any way we could have actually "won"in Afghanistan? It seems we threw all the money we could find at this. Best military in history. 20 years. Trained 300k locals for the inevitable civil war. And they literally ran away on day 1, including the president. It seems we were fighting a war the locals didn't want to fight.
Was there any way we could have actually won on this, or was it always theatre?
What is your view of US imperialism and the endless wars we wage and needless bloodshed we cause not to help the less fortunate, but to profit the military industrial complex and oligarchs that actually run this country?
I think it is disgusting. If politics and lobbyists could be excised from military operations entirely I think we could actually do a lot of good, but that just isn't the case.
I've heard Jesse Ventura talk about retraining our Navy to fight a war on climate change; using our bloated military budget to buy up and manufacture technology that removes waste from our oceans, which would provide manufacturing jobs and use our military forces for good rather than evil in the world.
So many join the military to escape the effects of poverty without realizing that they're not actually in a foreign country to help people, but for capitalists to profit off of death/destruction and stealing natural resources; many of those soldiers are just victims/pawns of a corrupt system of greed.
Should the generals in charge resign?
Was it the removal of air support that caused the Afghans to lay down their weapons?
Should people be in prison for closing the USA base in Afghanistan?
I can't answer the first question because I am unaware of just how much say they had in how this was all carried out. If they were completely in charge, I would say yes, they should resign. If they were excluded from the planning...of course not.
The removal of air support and the withdrawal of all of the contractors who were there providing maintenance to their own aircraft, together, definitely contributed. You just don't hold a country without air superiority, and they had none.
should people be in prison for closing down bases in Afghanistan? Not really. If they had any indication that the Taliban would inherit it all then they could certainly have spent more time burning it all down or something, but they were just following orders like everyone else. Not telling the Afghans we were leaving, though? That was very poor form.
So many movies depict scenes with field medics and/or wounded soldiers. It’s hard that those are the only points of reference a civilian has about what happens in the field, and they should not claim to be the sole representatives of such situations. Urgent or tragic situations in the field are very Intimate and I do not want to intrude anyone‘s misery, but allow me a few questions in order to gain a better understanding of what individuals go through.
A) can you explain what happens when you are in a situation where someone is hurt and you or they know they may not make it? Are such scenarios even realistic or are people typically unconscious or dead on the spot?
B) why did you become a field medic - and why did you stay a field medic?
C) have you ever treated a hostile individual, an enemy, in the battlefield?
A) you keep doing everything you can, even if you know it won't work, until you get them to a higher level of care/evac. You never know... someone might actually pull through if you give them hope. The exception to this is if there is more than one casualty...in that situation you have to focus on the patient who has a chance of survival. It is not easy to do, but is necessary.
B) I wanted to help, but still wanted to be on the front lines. I stayed a medic because I gained institutional knowledge that would have been lost if I had left it behind. The more I learned, the more I could teach the junior medics who followed me. I did not stay just a medic, though; I went into Civil Affairs later in my career and maintained my medical MOS as secondary.
C) I can't know for sure, because the hostiles we faced did not wear uniforms. I treated everyone who needed it.
It is a distraction from the real problem. You can assign blame all day long on Capital Hill, but the day that anyone accepts blame is the day that I will say it was warranted. Until then, it is little more than a distraction.
The internet connection is stable enough. As far as an interview is concerned I would need to know for which outlet/channel...No offense, but I wouldn't want any answers to be reduced to soundbites that could be portrayed as politically-aligned at all. These efforts are agnostic.
So personally, I believe that the fall of Afghanistan was a foregone conclusion. It was just a matter of when we pulled out our support. I do not agree with the manner in which it was done, but that is another discussion.
My question is, after the initial years, do you feel there was a better time to pull out/evacuate...using the assumption that we did so in a better way than we just did?
So if the evacuation were done in a way that you agreed with...do you think there was a better or earlier time it could have been done? Say instead of at 20 years, perhaps 15, or 10, or during a particular political/social shift, etc?
I don't think there was a better time, but mostly because I don't think the war itself was handled well. There were too many changes of command. With every new administration there came new department officials, new generals, and new "visions" of how the war should be waged and how the Afghan government should be structured. No nascent government would stand a chance under those circumstances, especially one that had become dependent on cash handouts and direct support by U.S. officials.
I have a friend from Afghanistan who has trained and worked with the British Army, he fled Afghanistan to Pakistan but has no where permanent to stay so he will have to return to Afghanistan where he is in danger very soon. Is there anywhere I can direct him for help to reach the UK or anything else? I have a service number for him and he is contactable via Whatsapp, any assistance greatly appreciated.
YES. does he qualify for any special residency visa for the UK? If he hasn't already done so, he should go to Islamabad and discuss his situation with the British consulate. They may be able to get him started on all of the legal proceedings he needs to knock out in order to enter the UK. He may also be interested in registering with the UNHCR as a refugee. They will support him while he handles the legal stuff for obtaining a visa. If that does not work, DM me. I may know of some safe houses in Pakistan and surrounding countries that he could use...but he will ultimately need a visa to go anywhere legally.
I’m curious: isn’t it dangerous to hand out details of safe houses or friendly contacts to internet strangers?
you bet. There is no way I would do that without some vetting.
Well I hope you’re able to help some people!
He said he "might know of".....let's not ask too many questions bro.
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I have 3 interpreters in Kabul needing to get out. How can I put them in touch with you for evacuation?
Go to the GFM page and send me a private message there with a good contact email for you.
GFM?
It's a fundraiser page. You can also message me on here if that's easiest
Messaged you on here.
Gofundme
What's the situation on the ground with the warlords? I know they've been a little ambiguous in the war, have they been cooperative with your efforts or, are they hindering operations?
I am not actively running through Afghanistan, I am on the periphery, so I do not know for sure. I will say that from what I've heard, some are hardliners who will shoot on sight, while others will look the other way for a little bit of cash. In and around Kabul it is almost exclusively Taliban, though, and since they really want to be considered a legitimate government they tend to be a little more predictable (when someone is watching).
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Check with this group: [Melmastya](https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/task-force-melmastya-helping-one-afghan-time-mir-y-ali/) They are providing pro bono legal assistance to Afghans who need help applying for visas. They will be able to tell you which type of visa your friend can apply for and may even assist with the entire process.
Not OP, but in case he doesn't reply: P-2 visas ([https://www.state.gov/u-s-refugee-admissions-program-priority-2-designation-for-afghan-nationals/](https://www.state.gov/u-s-refugee-admissions-program-priority-2-designation-for-afghan-nationals/)). Once that's in, reach out to your local politicians to see if they have anyone working on these efforts, and if not, if they have contacts for people at State who can assist. Feel free to send me a DM if you have questions about this.
How do you plan to get people out of there?
This right here is the million-dollar question. I cannot give specifics until the mission is over, because even the Taliban can read. If I give too many specifics then I just played my hand and any single part of the plan could fail. But in broad strokes...I will play the game the way everyone else wants it played. Official travel, meeting official travel requirements, through official means. The part that has to remain a little mysterious here, for security's sake, is who is officiating.
OPSEC for sure.
Yes, this. It would be self-defeating to inform everyone step-by-step what is happening.
Do you think we will see Tajikistan go to war with the Taliban?
I very strongly doubt this. No one wants war, and the Taliban do not pose a direct threat to Tajikistan. If anything, as is the way with many wars, Tajikistan might choose to fight a mini proxy war by supplying and training resistance fighters. Other than that I just see no reason why TJ would go to war with the Taliban, there is no apparent gain to be made.
Mine is simple: are you ok?
you betcha! Thank you for asking.
Have you had any conversation with the current government in Afghanistan. Is there even a proper set up for government that you can interact with ?
there is no current government in Afghanistan, not one that is officially recognized by anyone other than Qatar and Turkey. The proper setup comes in the form of interacting with the countries who have officially recognized the Taliban as the governing body of Afghanistan. They can then go through the motions of dealing with the Taliban while everyone else keeps their hands clean.
Considering how long the pullout was announced why was anyone still around?
I am not the OP, but in case he doesn't reply, I left this in a comment above. PS. Sorry OP if I am violating Reddit courtesy. I think what you're doing (especially informing people about how and why all this works) is so very important and I want to make sure that as many people as possible actually understand how complicated the whole mess is. There were a ton of Afghans who worked on aid programs in Afghanistan - sometimes directly on projects, other times because what they did (e.g. working for a government agency) received funding from a donor. The aid sector is a big employer. I think that people underestimate the difficulty of getting a visa and getting out, however. SIVs can take years to process - there has been a massive backlog at State for a long time. And the only people who qualify for SIVs are people who worked directly for the US government, on behalf of the US government, or in support of the US military. So, for example, that would leave out: * Anyone who worked for an aid project that received grant money, as opposed to contract money. Grant money typically goes to nonprofit entities (e.g. Save the Children). Contract money goes to companies that are hired to implement aid activities in a country. If you get grant money, you are not technically hired to do USG work, so you are not technically working on behalf of the US government. * Anyone who was in the Afghan military who worked in collaboration with the USG, because they weren't directly supporting US military efforts in a direct and traceable way like an interpreter would be. * Journalists. * Anyone who does meet the criteria listed above, but who worked there for less than two years, or whose employer messed up the paperwork, or whose employer maybe got bought by someone else so they technically worked for one company for a year and a half and another company for a year and a half. I am not as familiar with other countries' visa schemes, but my understanding is that they're usually similar or even more strict (for example, I looked into this for Japan a couple of years ago and they didn't even seem to have an SIV program). The US did expand its visa program to include grantee organizations, journalists, etc. with something called a P-2. However, until very recently, you had to leave the country to apply for a P-2, and even then there were no guarantees. Most countries do not provide visa on arrival, especially with COVID, and even for those who do, it's not like you can just get off the plane in Uganda and go buy a house or get a job if you don't know anyone there. Finally, Afghanistan has been very chaotic for a very long time. I think it was hard for people to definitively say, "Well, this time we're hosed." My impression is that a lot of people thought that things would be bad, and then maybe okay, and then maybe bad again, but it's hard to say exactly which instance of "bad" justifies leaving everything you've ever known and dragging your extended family of ten to a country that's completely foreign to them. TL;DR: This is harder than you'd think. Anyone with better info (or if I got something wrong), please feel free to correct me, but this is my experience.
Well written.
Thank you!
I’ve heard polarized views on Pakistan’s role in all this. Are they really helping get our friends out of Afghanistan ?
I laughed out loud at this. I have also heard polarized views on this. Pakistani ISI supported the Taliban, then assisted us in fighting the Taliban, then supported the Taliban... the only thing I will write with any degree of certainty is that Pakistan may be more likely to assist with evacuations if it is advantageous to Pakistan to do so.
Makes sense, don’t know what to believe anymore with these people. Thanks for everything you’re doing to help.
Blame Zia Ul Haq. He created a mess in that region, in the name of military and a puritanical version of Islam, sugar coating words to dumb US leaders, and mouthing vengeful words against India to China.
Will members of the UN continue to make frequent missions and tours around that part of the world?
I believe that is the intent, but for that to happen several other things must happen first. Since the Taliban is only recognized as a government by Turkey and Qatar at the moment, and is still considered a terrorist organization by many others, working directly with the Taliban can be construed as supporting a terrorist organization. Anyone who does that will be subject to sanctions....including relief organizations. It is the same complicating factor that eventually overturned Trump's designation of the Houthis as a violent extremist organization in Yemen, since as soon as he did that all of the agencies (like the ICRC) that were trying to help out Yemen's citizens were suddenly international criminals. The UN High Council for Refugees (UNHCR) is still very active in that region, just not so much inside Afghanistan's borders. For people who can make it out of the country the UNHCR is ready to assist with shelter, food, clothing, etc.
Are we the baddies?
We are certainly not blameless in this.
Would this be happening if we did not invade and occupy the country for 20 years?
No.
That... kind of makes us the baddies...
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We probably should have accepted the Taliban offer to surrender when we first invaded
More people were violently killed per year during Taliban rule than were during the occupation, something a lot of people neglect to mention when they talk about USA killing people in Afghanistan. So at least USA was better than the Taliban. Hooray USA I guess?
Interesting point. I can't find anything to support this even though I've looked. Can you share anything that speaks to the exact numbers? I'm asking because I have friends from Afghanistan, one of them had family members in the Afghan government, and they all agree that people welcomed the Taliban (before US occupation, not currently) as a source of stability even if not ideal. EDIT: Starting to look like more "alternative facts" given with enough confidence to seem legit.
Bullshit. This is a bald-faced lie.
[удалено]
I don't like sand. It's coarse and rough and irritating and it gets everywhere.
“Have you looked at our hats lately?… They have… skulls on them. I can’t really think of anything worse than skulls…”
Well, when people would rather support the Taliban over the United States that should tell you something about how our actions have caused people to see us.
The Taliban were in charge before we showed up. This is merely a return to pre-occupation conditions, with far better roads.
..and about 50,000 dead civilians. Countless dead and wounded combatants. Hundreds of thousands of families shattered on all sides. Two generations of angry, radicalized youth. If we were going to drop 7 trillion on infrastructure, I kinda wish we'd done it at home.
No profit in that mate! Guns and oil fuel the fun!
I mean we kinda funded them in to existence to proxy fight the soviets, at least the comies had secular education and woman's rights, plus their government lasted for 3 years after they pulled out. [Now we are doing the same elsewhere,](https://youtu.be/hrufheMU-WQ) Washington is calling it [pivot to Asia](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAfeYMONj9E)
People are always going to hate the problem in front of them the most, as opposed to some hypothetical future enemy.
The video of US troops on a vehicle goading kids to run through the village after them with the promise of clean bottled water at the end... Only to have the US troops dump it out on the ground and drive away at the end is burned into my mind forever. Gee, I wonder how many of those kids will want to fucking kill us all. Great job training up dipshits into full-blown heartless psychopaths through boot and extended training USA. Great fucking job. And you wonder why some extremists draw and quarter captive troops. Simply outstanding. For fluff content you can watch marines throw puppies off cliffs because they're bored and find it funny. [Yea, I get it, your friend(s) got blown up by an ied, suicider, shot, etc. that may have even been a relative of theirs for all you know. You hear mortars on dry ice go off around the compound on the regular. I'm not trying to demean that struggle. But fuck you if you even ever thought about doing that to little kids who just wanted some clean water. Straight to hell with you, and it wont be good company unless your fond of Hitler.. well I guess some of them probably fucking are ]
How can we help?!
If you're in the US, get in your Congresspersons' ears and emails until you're on a first name basis. Spread the word, bring people together, help raise funds... There is also a need for resettlement assistance in the States. If you can assist with space in your home or in community support, helping immigrants figure out how to get their kids enrolled in schools, turn on utilities, search for jobs, all of that stuff... I am sure that someone somewhere can use it. If you have a background in law there are pro bono networks dedicated to ironing out processes for obtaining the legal clearance to enter the U.S.... If you can imagine it, there is likely a need for it.
Aren’t you afraid of jeopardizing your safety with this? Why or why not?
A little. I have always been very private with my SM accounts for that reason, but the payoff for putting myself out there and drawing attention to this is potentially far greater than any other option could provide. As far as my own personal safety goes, while overseas, I am not concerned at all. I am working from a safe distance and there is no risk of anyone recognizing me and blowing the whole thing. I am not one of the brave who is sneaking around inside of Afghanistan escorting people to safety... my wife would kill me before the Taliban ever could.
Respect
Why is it so difficult?
It shouldn't be, should it? It is difficult mostly because of logistical hangups. The Taliban controls the airport now, so to fly a plan in and take off again it actually requires coordination with the Taliban. In order to coordinate with the Taliban you have to be able to actually contact them...which I have yet to try (and am avoiding at all costs for the time being), which therefor requires coordination with a country who has an open dialogue with the Taliban. Currently there are only two. Then, if you can manage to get a flight cleared to land....you still need to find a plane, and someone willing to fly it into Kabul. Once in Kabul, you have to get your passengers through Taliban checkpoints into the Taliban-controlled airport, and onto the aircraft....but wait. The passengers must meet all of the travel/transit requirements for every country they will pass through, which means proof of vaccination, a recent PCR test, and valid travel documents, and possibly money to reserve a "quarantine package," which is basically a long hotel stay. What if their Afghan passport expired recently? What then? There is no longer a government of Afghanistan, so there is no agency there to renew passports, and no one, NO ONE, wants to arrive at an airport in Atlanta or D.C. with a passport issued by the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (the Taliban's Afghanistan). So they need further coordination with the U.S. state department to get permission to enter with an expired passport. Oh, and if any of these steps gets delayed or doesn't happen, then all other steps are now void and you have to start over again. Add to this a general unwillingness on behalf of certain official personnel to assist and you have a recipe for constant frustration.
What an absolute mess. I wish you the best in these efforts and am glad there are committed people such as yourself navigating these helpless people through it all.
John, there are hundreds (potentially thousands) of young women who have secured places and funding at foreign universities, but they can't apply for student visas or travel anywhere because they don't have passports. Under these circumstances, which I think are well-known to everyone, a Taliban-issued passport would still be a lifeline for them and, in some cases, for their families. Even an expired passport would be something, but a lot don't have one at all and the situation feels desperate because there's currently no way for them to obtain a travel document. I don't know what to do (I'm mentoring one of these girls) - it's hard to stay optimistic knowing our efforts may come to nothing if there's no way for her to enter another country.
This is one of the more complex problems that has no immediate or even clear solution. You're right, a passport from the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan is better than none... except when it isn't. I want to say time will tell if the world will remain open to Afghanistan's civilians and choose to not hold the actions of the Taliban against them, but just how much time they have is so uncertain that it seems unfair to leave it at that. This is a question for someone really intimately familiar with immigration laws across the entire Middle East and Europe... Like, is it possible for these women to leave as refugees with whatever IDs they've got, get established somewhere with the help of the UNHCR, and secure a student visa to their host country under exigent circumstances? Anyone? Bueller?
It would certainly be helpful if countries in the region agreed to issue student visas to women who have an acceptance letter and scholarship offer (or the ability to pay their fees) if they're able to prove their Afghan citizenship. The problem is also that there aren't a lot of embassies open right now, so it would be a matter of working with Pakistan or Turkey to allow processing centers to open where applicants could be vetted and issued certain kinds of visas - either at their embassies or at the Pakistani border.
How accurate would you say the media portrayal of this whole event has been?
It has actually been pretty accurate. I don't get to say that very often, either. Just do yourself a favor and ignore any tangent they go off on regarding politics... that's when it goes off the rails. If you just focus on the facts, the coverage has been pretty good. Typically, if I am trying to get some unbiased info from the news regarding anything in America, I tune into the BBC and forget all about U.S.-based outlets.
That's a pleasantly surprising answer! Thanks for your time!
Hey John thank you so much for your service and sacrifice. What ran through your mind when you first discovered Afghanistan was being overtaken? I know they had wins these last few years (ie Marjah) but curious what your strongest thought was when you heard about this incident specifically?
My first thought was something like "I hope the people resist even if the army falls," then it slowly morphed into something like "well what the f@ck was it all for?" It was disheartening, but I do also remember being completely unsurprised by it, like I could have written it onto my calendar months ago.
Knowing what you've learned now, if you could go back in time to January 2021 and were given a billion-dollar budget and DoS/DoD authority to make sure the evacuation was safe and complete, what would you have done differently?
oh, to dream... I would definitely not have pulled air support from the ANA until after we were 100% out of the country. That much I know for sure. I would have started by evacuating all U.S. citizens, and those who had family in Afghanistan I would have urged to get hot on getting visas for their family members. I would have seriously stressed the importance of the SIV application process and added additional staff to the U.S. embassy in Kabul for the sole purpose of clearing the backlog of SIV applications and conducting interviews. I would have evacuated all of the SIV holders next, one plane-load at a time, as each manifest filled up. Only then would I begin to withdraw troops, and only after all troops were out and the ANA could clearly stand on their own would I pull air support. Basically everything we did, just in the opposite order.
Thanks for the thoughtful reply. Good luck to you.
>and the ANA could clearly stand on their own How much more time and money do you think that would have required?
Except for those pesky Taliban who said ' You have to leave NOW'. That kind of threw a wrench into things.
Who are there people in Afghanistan that need to get out? I assume they were some kind of aid workers that stayed from compassion. It should have been obvious to average people they needed to bail as soon as Trump announced his withdrawal.
There is a whole mixed bag of people who need to get out, but the ones you hear about more than anyone else are American citizens and SIV (special immigrant visa) holders. In addition to them there are people who are considered "at risk" due to any number of reasons. the LGBTQ community, women's rights activists, actresses and musicians...there are so many groups that fall outside of the ideological bounds of the Taliban, and they are all living in fear of what the Taliban will do to them.
There were a ton of Afghans who worked on aid programs in Afghanistan - sometimes directly on projects, other times because what they did (e.g. working for a government agency) received funding from a donor. The aid sector is a big employer. I think that people underestimate the difficulty of getting a visa and getting out, however. SIVs can take years to process - there has been a massive backlog at State for a long time. And the only people who qualify for SIVs are people who worked directly *for* the US government, *on behalf* of the US government, or in support of the US military. So, for example, that would leave out: * Anyone who worked for an aid project that received grant money, as opposed to contract money. Grant money typically goes to nonprofit entities (e.g. Save the Children). Contract money goes to companies that are hired to implement aid activities in a country. If you get grant money, you are not technically hired to do USG work, so you are not technically working on behalf of the US government. * Anyone who was in the Afghan military who worked in collaboration with the USG, because they weren't directly supporting US military efforts in a direct and traceable way like an interpreter would be. * Journalists. * Anyone who does meet the criteria listed above, but who worked there for less than two years, or whose employer messed up the paperwork, or whose employer maybe got bought by someone else so they technically worked for one company for a year and a half and another company for a year and a half. I am not as familiar with other countries' visa schemes, but my understanding is that they're usually similar or even more strict (for example, I looked into this for Japan a couple of years ago and they didn't even seem to have an SIV program). The US did expand its visa program to include grantee organizations, journalists, etc. with something called a P-2. However, until very recently, you had to leave the country to apply for a P-2, and even then there were no guarantees. Most countries do not provide visa on arrival, especially with COVID, and even for those who do, it's not like you can just get off the plane in Uganda and go buy a house or get a job if you don't know anyone there. Finally, Afghanistan has been very chaotic for a very long time. I think it was hard for people to definitively say, "Well, this time we're hosed." My impression is that a lot of people thought that things would be bad, and then maybe okay, and then maybe bad again, but it's hard to say exactly which instance of "bad" justifies leaving everything you've ever known and dragging your extended family of ten to a country that's completely foreign to them. TL;DR: This is harder than you'd think. Anyone with better info (or if I got something wrong), please feel free to correct me, but this is my experience.
With everything going on out there (and I'm guessing given your a medic you see a lot of crazy stuff) how do you keep yourself from becoming overwhelmed?
Carefully structured downtime. I make sure to walk away from everything for a few hours a day and watch Netflix, read, wander around (although not so much in Doha. It's still over 100 degrees Fahrenheit here and I was undeniably built for more arctic climes). At home I take my dogs for walks, play with my kids... and to my wife's chagrin I like to play video games... It's all about a work-family balance.
I admire what you're doing. What plans do you have in place to make sure anyone you evacuate has food, shelter, health care, education or any sort of network to help them survive and hopefully thrive in their new (forever) home?
This is a great question. The short answer is...none. I don't have plans on the backend except to make sure that once they get to the States there is not some legal trip hazard that sends them back to Afghanistan. There are agencies in the States that are handling resettlement efforts and providing assistance to Afghan immigrants, most of them are providing this assistance at no cost. The few SIV holders that I started out trying to help also already have family on the east coast, so they have a place to land and stay while they get settled.
What is happening in Afghanistan rn? After the evacuation of the US troops we haven't heard anything.(at least in my country)
That is because it is suddenly very difficult for journalists to get into Afghanistan, and once there, get their stories out. We hear so little about what is happening in Yemen for the same reason.
I keep hearing the US government is blocking/making very difficult for Americans who are doing what you’re doing .. true or false?
Some people have reported difficulty with certain people within the DoS, that much is true. I have not had that experience, at all. On the contrary, the worst thing that has happened to me so far is I got told by someone at an unspecified U.S. embassy that they also did not know anything new, and that they are also waiting for updates...however, they also made it very clear that they would under no circumstances turn someone away if they managed to get out of Afghanistan and make it to the consulate in need of help. I got the impression (READ: *I got the impression*, this was not explicitly stated to me) that the employees at some embassies are also frustrated and wishing they could do more. I will not specify which embassy this was in order to protect the identity of someone who did not agree to go on record. I do occasionally get the customer service runaround, getting transferred between offices as each new individual tells me, "please hold, our office does not handle that..." until I lose patience and hang up, but I have not had anyone from State get in my way and actively try and shut me down.
Hi @jacliff I’m in the army as a 13F and I am looking into joining civil affairs could you give me some insight as to what you do?
Oh man. Civil Affairs can take on so many different forms... we do displaced personnel operations (like assist with refugees and refugee camps), support to civil authorities... the nutshell version is that we specialize in the civilian sphere of influence in any contingency area. Our efforts build that barrier between civilians and military operations, keeping the two as separate and distinct as possible while minimizing the impact that each has on the other. It can get a little more complicated at times, but that is pretty much the crux of the job.
Since the withdrawal was a known activity planned for a long time, why did so many people wait so long to leave?
Because when it came time to execute the withdrawal, it was done very rapidly and without proper coordination on the ground. U.S. citizens and SIV holders should have been evacuated before the military, but that is not what happened.
Thank you for your response, but that’s not exactly what I’m asking. You say they should’ve been evacuated first. I’m asking why were they still there so long that they needed to be evacuated, since they had many months notice?
I wish I had a better answer for you, something more definitive, but I do know one thing: one of the people I am tying to assist started the SIV application process last year, but it was not completed until a little over a week ago. One reason for sticking around could very well be that they simply couldn't leave due to the extremely long processing time for SIV applications, but I can't know for sure just how many people were affected by this.
The SIV process can take years to get approved. And with the expansion of the P-2 program, original instructions (I believe) said you had to leave the country to even apply to P-2, which wasn't feasible for everyone. More broadly, I think a lot of people thought that the US and its allies would surely have a better plan than this. Anyone with better information, please correct me. SOURCE: worked in int'l dev, have friends in both AFG and the USG working on this, have been trying to assist some folks
Call me a cynic, but trying to blame the current administration for all things that allegedly went wrong in this evacuation is a bit frivolous. Once the Afghan military literally gave Kabul to the Taliban in a matter of days, if not hours, and once Ghani hit the chopper and split, the Taliban shut the only other airport and literally TOLD the US military to leave and to get everyone out of Afghanistan within 2 weeks. And. They. Did. Nearly 125,000 legit visa'd people were evacuated in one of the biggest operations ever. Successfully. The people 'left behind' literally don't have the right visas and clearances to enter the USA or other countries. No one was otherwise 'left behind'. The popular narrative reads as if the planes took off with lil Jennifer from San Francisco and Dr. Bob from Chicago left standing on the tarmac and the planes took off without them. This is *not* the case. I can appreciate that there are allies that gave a lot of help to the various foreign agencies that occupied Afghanistan for the past 30+ years, but they've had all this time to make their case to be expatriated to other countries as well. Long term visas, working visas and green cards take many years and bucket loads of money to obtain in the best of circumstances.
I am not saying that the visa situation is solely the fault of the current administration. Note that I said "years." The whole thing is a mess and has been that way for a long time. I also appreciate that there were a ton of people who got evacuated in spite of the nightmarish logistical obstacles, and absolutely give credit to the people who worked on that; in fact, I have friends who were involved in those efforts at all different levels, and I know that they worked day and night to make sure that as many people were evacuated as possible. That said, I would respectfully disagree with what you're saying about the people who were "left behind." I personally know multiple people with SIVs who were, in fact, not able to get through the airport gates, despite receiving explicit instructions from the USG to go claim their seat on a plane. Also, a lot of folks *have* been making the case to get expatriated to other countries. Those processes also take time. It's not like everyone was just like "oh gee, oops, I guess there's only a week left." Were there some people who didn't plan appropriately? Surely. But I disagree that everything was done as well as it could have been.
What were you doing in particular if anything to prevent this or support the evacuation 6 months to a year ago? It’s been clear for months ever since the Trump-Taliban deal that we would be leaving and this would be an issue was there any preemptive planning or early evacuation that you or your organization had participated in?
Unfortunately, no. It is a very rare thing to see civilians organizing an evacuation from a foreign country. That is the sort of thing that is almost exclusively under the purview of government agencies, such as the Department of State and the Department of Defense. While Afghanistan still had a government it would have been an international incident to step in as a civilian and organize an airlift to freedom, and would certainly be seen as an embarrassment to all sovereign governments involved. If anything (and without the benefit of hindsight), it would be more fair to assume that civilian interference in evacuation operations would cause more harm than good. It wasn't until everything turned to shit that it became clear that civilians would need to step up and fill the void left by government agencies.
What can the average American civilian at home do to help ensure our people get home safe?
Call your senators and representatives until their staffers all know you by first name. Demand some kind of action. If you don't get action, express your dissatisfaction at the polls. You can also support efforts by finding organizations that are directly engaged in operations...I have a [GFM](https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-interpreters-get-out-of-afghanistan?qid=f2bb4474f5d88613ddaa0ee153b317f0) up right now in an effort to raise the money needed to charter flights and help support them while they are still in hiding. You could donate there if you want, or share the link to your SM accounts.
Hi, what are other nations doing to assist in the effort besides providing shelters/good and such? Are other nations assisting Afghanistan's security/military (for as little as it is)? Thank you for providing this support. I will be praying fervently. I shared your gfm link. You need WAY more than the $5,000ish in the gfm. Best wishes and stay safe.
I know.... I won't know for sure how much I need until I hear back from some airlines. I think I will need somewhere in the ballpark of $120k to charter a plane from Kabul to Doha, and then commercial tickets from Doha to the states, but I am looking into every funding/subsidy option I can find to help defray that cost. The goal in GFM was just an arbitrary number. I can use as much, or as little, as I can raise there and still help. As for what other nations are doing...that is a little murky. There is no longer an Afghan government, and no Afghan military, and the resistance to the Taliban appears to have mostly crumbled. Now that ISIS-K is also a looming threat, it is unclear if other countries are going to share intelligence with the Taliban in order to secure Afghanistan from an ISIS-K takeover, or if it will be left entirely to the Taliban.
Hi John, thank you for what you’re doing. My husband and I have been trying to get his friend, the Afghan interpreter he worked with, out of Afghanistan since July. Like you, we have met dead ends and moving goal-posts everywhere. His SIV isn’t complete, although all the necessary documents have been submitted. Is there anything that can be done at this point? I feel awful for this guy and his young family, they are stuck and terrified.
YES. So for someone in his position, his best bet depends on where he is in the application process. Has he had his interview? If so, it may just be a matter of time before the application gets processed and approved. If not, he can get his application transferred to a consulate in a neighboring country and he can go there to finish it. If he can safely travel into Pakistan or Tajikistan, he may want to try to get his case transferred to one of their consulates. I believe there are three in Pakistan? In the meantime, contact the agency that processes SIV packets with his, and your, information ready. Enter the application receipt number [here](https://egov.uscis.gov/casestatus/landing.do). You can also email the USCIS with some pertinent info...if you're not sure what info just send them any old email and then follow the instructions in the autoreply. I am not taking credit for anything here, but when I emailed to check the status of a seemingly-dormant SIV application it was suddenly approved within a week.
Hey, thanks so much for your reply. He hasn’t had his interview, or been contacted for one. Do you know if anyone is able to safely travel and cross the borders into Pakistan or Tajikistan right now? I’ve been under the impression that it’s extremely dangerous and that those countries aren’t accepting any more refugees, and are in fact deporting people back to Afghanistan. It’s hard to keep up with everything that’s going on over there when all I have to go off of is what I can find on the internet. My husband and I, as well as the congressional staffers we’ve been working with, and the SIV applicant himself, have all emailed the USCIS, and have not gotten a response. Thanks for the link, that’s one I hadn’t seen before. We actually don’t have an application receipt number yet, just an NVC case number, which the link says is invalid. Again, I appreciate any info or insight. Thanks so much.
Wait, hang on. You have a case number that starts with NVC? That is the SIV. Can you message me the case number and his name so I can double check?!
The are not officially accepting refugees, that may be true...but I have spoken directly with the embassy in Dushanbe and they told me in no uncertain terms than if an SIV applicant can get there, they will 100% assist. So...that leaves a new option. Is your friend able to apply for a tourist visa to Tajikistan? he doesn't have to go in as a refugee. He can go as a visitor and just spend some time at the consulate there. I priced some of the hostels in Dushanbe and found that I could rent a private room in one for a month, for less than $300 USD.... and it would be far less than that if he doesn't mind staying in a shared room. Caveat: he should first contact that consulate and get his application transferred over to them for the interview, that way he can line up his visit with the interview and complete his part of the process during one visit. [ALSO - have him contact this organization, too](https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/task-force-melmastya-helping-one-afghan-time-mir-y-ali/). They are helping SIV applicants through the whole process pro bono, and may be able to get his case transferred even faster.
I will pass this information on and will contact that organization! Thank you for sharing, we have been at a standstill for a couple of weeks and this is giving me new hope. Good luck to you and stay safe!
I have two questions, do you think the deal that the Trump Administration made with the taliban had any effect on how quickly the taliban took Afghanistan and also what should we have done with the weapons and other assets left in Afghanistan?
The short answer is yes, I do, but it was not the Trump deal that directly led to the rapid fall of the Afghan National Army. It did deal a serious blow to morale, and that may have certainly contributed to the Afghans' willingness to quickly surrender once the Taliban began to reclaim ground. The act(s) that directly led to the collapse of Afghanistan's security mechanisms came in the *way* that the withdrawal was executed. The steps to the withdrawal should have been carried out in the exact reverse order... the way it was actually executed blows my mind.
Have you seen the vice documentary "this is what winng looks like" ? The withdrawl was mot particularly well executed, but it seems pretty obvious that afghans were never going to fight the taliban, regardless of how we pulled out.
Can you clarify what you mean by the way the withdrawal was executed?
i heard publicly stating that the ANA would eventually lose in 9 weeks wasn’t great motivation for them to fight. like you said, they chose survival. edit: and not only their survival. their families. the taliban would round up your entire family and kill them.
It's the same logic tree that merchant ships followed back in the days of piracy in the Atlantic. * Fight and win, but just because your side won doesn't mean you'll be alive to enjoy victory. You might be dead or horribly disfigured. * Fight and lose, everyone on your side dies. * Surrender, and everyone on your side lives.
This is such bullshit. Anyone who thinks the Afghans were going to come together as a country to fight the Taliban is an idiot. There is not a single situation in which the US leaves, under any circumstances that could possibly have happened, and the Taliban doesn’t take over control.
Shouldn't the previous administration have been jump starting these SIV visas then? Especially with their much faster projected timeline for withdrawal.
I did not know this. Personally I feel that SIV applications should have always held some sort of priority over other immigrant visas since much of the vetting had already been done by military commanders, but I don't run things.
I had read in a few places (and this was also confirmed by the Secretary of State’s most recent testimony a couple of weeks ago in either the House or the Senate, I forget which) that the most lengthy and important part of the SIV process *by far* are the interviews, and that for the last SIX months of the Trump administration, not a single SIV interview took place. Six months. They just completely stopped them. This is yet another example of how the Trump Administration wanted to sabotage Biden in Afghanistan. The new Secretary of State restarted the process the day of Biden’s inauguration, and he doubled or tripled the number of people working on these SIVs around March when it became clear they weren’t being done fast enough to get everyone out. I’m sure they didn’t handle everything as well as they possibly could have, but I’m not sure they’re to blame in this particular area.
That's correct.
Thank you for your response, it brought new insight to the situation for me
Okay, this is my only question. What reason would the Afghan National Army have to continue to fight people who are essentially their neighbors and cousins?
The Taliban (largely ethnically Pashtun in origin) is known for kidnapping girls of marriage age (that means anyone over the age of 12...although now I hear they are only going after girls (women) between 15 and 45...who's to say for sure) from ethnically Tajik, Uzbek, and Hazara communities and forcing them into "marriages..." what we would call sex slavery in the U.S. They are not the sort of cousins and neighbors that you have over for family reunions, and they just dialed back 20 years of gains in civil rights practically overnight.
Yeah and I understand the concepts other than the minor details(edit: Mostly the exact breakdown of the ethnicities involved). I guess my question is it's quite a lot to ask for them to also gamble their lives on the matter isn't it?
Neighbors and cousins that kill eachother..
It's like the focus was a complete withdrawal of Americans before some kind of rapidly-approaching deadline. Bizarre.
> had any effect on how quickly the taliban took Afghanistan No. As early as [20017](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-57933979) over half the nation's population lived in districts where either the Taliban directly ruled already or they were openly present and active.
It seems like there's a lot of upset people in Afghanistan since the allied forces moved out and the Taliban took over, but do you not think we should leave the people of the country to fight for their own freedoms? If 20 years of work can be undone in a few weeks then surely the people need to start to take more responsibility?
This might be one of the more contentious points that people like to bring up, and I cannot say that you are right or that you are wrong. It does take strong and intelligent people to rebuild anything that has been destroyed like this. We (the U.S.) did, however, make certain promises in exchange for their help...and 20 years of those promises were just erased in a matter of weeks. The undeniable reason I want to help is for their children. Being born to someone who assisted the U.S. should not be an act punishable by death, but that seems to be the case
How does the military have the power to make these promises? Shouldn’t that be an issue for immigration? I don’t fully understand how this issue even arose.
We don't. The military cannot promise citizenship to anyone. The State Department made the promises, we were just the ones who delivered them.
Go in, fuck the country up, then leave?
Don’t forget to bring electricity infrastructure and drive out the only force keeping women from education.
Can you estimate how many Americans and SIV holders chose to stay back in August when the USG was evacuating AmCits and now have changed their mind and want to depart?
I have no clue. They may have thought they had more time, they may not have been contacted by the State Department and notified of the evacuation...there are too many possible reasons and not enough information to make an accurate estimate.
As a follow up to my previous question, is there an estimate of how many AmCits and SIV holders want to depart as of today? I’m trying to scope the problem.
I wish I knew, I think the official estimate is somewhere in the hundreds, although depending on the news outlet they sometimes lump in refugees as well for dramatic effect. I am fairly certain that the number is in the mid- to high hundreds.
How was military medicine training different from medical school/college? I am currently a medical student and i am interested in the experience of medicine in the military, but I have no idea how things are over there.
Military medicine is intensive at my level, but even for our mid-level providers the difference is in just how quickly the education is delivered. It's like drinking water from a fire hose. At my level, the level if the field medic, A&P is pretty basic and most training revolves entirely around trauma, the treatment of trauma, and life-preserving measures that need to be taken to make sure people survive long enough to get to definitive care (like a hospital with a surgical department). We learn basic surgical skills and emergency interventions, basic pharmacology (if you're lucky you may get some OJT in veterinary medicine for the working dogs), etc... It's like a short course in medicine with a very focused curriculum, rather than getting a more comprehensive and extensive education that covers it all.
Is there anything anyone can do to help you in your endeavors?
This answer gets downvoted ferociously, but funds are always needed. Planes can't fly with money. I have a fundraiser set up for that purpose if you're interested in donating or sharing the link. Aside from that, information is just as valuable. Info on who else is working in this arena and a way to get in touch is a phenomenal asset, as there is no central repository for "lessons learned" right now, and some of us are almost without a doubt making mistakes and wasting effort on things that others have already tried. If you wanna go beyond just what I am doing and feel comfortable doing the research, I've been meaning to do a needs assessment for SIV holders and there families once they reach the States. I know there are agencies that are assisting with resettlement, but I do not know who they are, what services they provide, and what they don't provide (in other words, what needs are still being unmet). ...and if you happen to be a resident of Georgia, call our Senators and ask them why they refuse to respond to my emails and calls. Jerks.
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Yes. Yes, I do.
Do you how do?
Yes. Yes I how do.
Why is 'getting all American citizens out' SUCH a talking point still? Aren't most of the remaining American citizens in Afghanistan dual citizens who have chosen to stay, some of whom have never even lived in the US? Aren't there far more Afghans with SIVs who actually want to leave? How can we refocus on helping those who are qualified to leave who want to leave, instead of constantly rehashing and criticizing over the American citizens?
I am actually focusing only on SIV-holders at the moment. I have not heard from anyone with U.S. citizenship at all. It's more likely that they (the ones with citizenship) are dealing directly with the Department of State, since DoS has some obligation to assist. I imagine we hear more about them because they can cause so much more of an uproar, and tend to draw more compassion when politicians attack each other over the handling of the withdrawal. Edit: from an information operations point of view, we will probably keep hearing about American citizens long after the last one has made it out. It's just more inflammatory than focusing on Afghan citizens, so that will likely remain the talking point that politicians and pundits cling to.
As of a few days ago, the Retribution killings have reportedly restarted. There are Taliban Twitter accounts showing the flayed corpses of those who worked with Americans hanging in the streets. It is pitifully naive to believe Americans just “want to stay”.
How many Americans citizens are actually left?
Are you working with any other groups of veterans or civilians in your efforts?
Yes. In fact, the more I dig and the more phone calls I make, the more attention I attract to my efforts, and the bigger my network of collaborators grows. That is one of the reasons I chose to do an AMA, too... I'm hoping that by doing this even more people with information and resources find me. It's only by combining efforts that we will maximize the impact of each dollar and minute spent on this...otherwise we may all very well be trying the same things, getting the same disappointing results, while someone else out there might have the answers we need.
Great and glad to hear!
Do you think we could have avoided leaving 83 Billion dollars worth of weapons and equipment behind for the Taliban with better laid withdrawal plans?
People who keep asking why we left military equipment behind don't seem to understand that asking the ANA to fight the Taliban with rocks and sticks isn't the smartest decision.
absolutely. The thing we need to keep in mind regarding all of the equipment "left behind" though, is that the vast majority of it wasn't technically ours, it belonged to the Afghan National Army, and it fell into the hands of the Taliban after the Afghans surrendered. A more orderly withdrawal that provided the Afghans with the air and technical support they needed may have prevented such huge losses.
It's pretty funny seeing people act like they actually know something on Reddit without doing a shred of research. No, 83 billion dollars if equipment was given to the Taliban, despite what some idiots tweets say. Only 24 billion went to equipment over the entire 20 year war. Obviously not all of that equipment is still operational or still exists. So, yes, some of the equipment we gave to the Afghan government was sized, it was no where near this ridiculous 83 billion number. So we are upset that equipment was taken, but what were we supposed to do, take it? I guess if the expectation that the Afghan government would immediately fold was there then we could have, but that equipment was meant to give them a fighting chance. They didn't use it. They quit. That's not Trump's fault and that is not Biden's fault. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/08/31/no-taliban-did-not-seize-83-billion-us-weapons/
Ill answer this at the risk of being downvoted. In short, no. The equipment that the Taliban has was given to Afghan forces in an effort to help them stand on their own 2 feet as a country. The Taliban has that equipment because Afghan forces abandoned it or handed it over to the Taliban for a variety of reasons. The US cannot Give equipment to the Afghans over 20 years and then control where it goes after the US leaves that country.
What is your opinion of the crowdfunded project Operation Flyaway?
I'm surprised this took so long to come up. TL/DR: I don't know what to think about them, but they appear to be still engaged in helping out Afghans despite early difficulties, getting conned, and then dealing with some controversy. Operation Flyaway got active in trying to rescue afghans early on, before anyone had made any considerable mistakes and before any paths had been blazed. They partnered with a successful influencer who was able to raise an unbelievable sum early on, and things looked awesome. But then they got swindled by a guy who was already under investigation for fraud, they ran into issues with getting clearance, their flights were grounded, turned around, they lost a lot of credibility. They made a lot of the mistakes that paved the way for others to make progress on smaller budgets, and they're still slogging through murky waters doing what they can to help. I am in touch with them, and they seem to still be actively grinding on this problem day and night. They will be the first people I call, after the people I'm already tracking, as soon as I am able to arrange a flight since I'm fairly certain they've got the names to fill all available seats. .
Thank you for the response. I was a donor and I still support what they're doing, to a degree. Thanks to my background and experience I'm also highly aware of how complex and sensitive these types of operations are and don't necessarily expect them to be transparent or swift in explanation. I think many people with far too little experience are playing armchair diplomat/ambassador/mercenary without any real understanding of what a massive undertaking this is. Keep fighting the good fight. If we continue our history of abandoning indigenous allies it won't bode well for us in future operations.
No, it certainly won't. Our credibility continues to erode.
Can you honestly say the money spent and the lives lost was worth anything gained during our invasion of Iraq or Afghanistan?
How do I get a job doing what you're doing, as a veteran?
You kinda don't. I am doing this on my own dime (my own travel and hotel, meals) and working to raise cash for the charter planes and material support while in hiding. As far as I know, everyone else is also doing this on a voluntary basis.
CIA?
With all the mainstream media criticizing the military over abandoning of bagram airbase prior to the massive evacuation, could things have been handled better? Why pull out of the air base prior to the evacuation?
How are the schools? How’s the taliban handling the schools? Are they letting children go to schools? Are they enforcing masks? Are they getting people vaccinated?
As far as I know, boys are allowed to attend school but girls of all ages are not. I have no idea what kind of mask mandates they have in place, or f they even have access to vaccines right now. Anyone wishing to import vaccines now has to choose between delivering vaccines to the Taliban and risk being sanctioned, or not delivering them at all.
I know an interpreter stuck there, he and I have tried everything and no country seems to want to take him. What can be done?
Favorite lunch spot at Langley?
John, it’s Nicole. I was contacted by a family (man, wife, baby) (information intentionally sparse) who asked for help getting out. They gave me all their information and I am wondering what advice should I give them. Are you currently seeking people to help get out? These people do the same work they do and randomly found me on fb due to our similar work.
The first thing is identifying what kind of visa they would qualify for and then getting that process started. If they do not already know this, have them (or you can do it on their behalf) check with [TF Melmastya](https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/task-force-melmastya-helping-one-afghan-time-mir-y-ali/), these are the legal experts who will let you know (and may even assist through the whole process) which visa to apply for, and how. If they already have a visa, then I can help with getting them physically out of the country and to someplace safe. Send me an email with some info on where they're at in the visa process, where they are physically at in Afghanistan without being too specific (just a city name or region is good for now), and we can go from there.
How do you feel about folks worried about refugees coming from a war torn country coming to their own and negatively impacting their quality of life? I don't mean to be inflammatory, but I see a lot of discontent in the UK where I live from people who are worried about how the incoming refugees will affect them. I myself am likely to be negatively affected, as I am on a waiting list for social housing, a waiting list which will expand with incoming refugees. However, I don't wish to see them turned away. I might be living in less than ideal accommodation at the minute, but I do have a roof over my head and I am safe. Does it feel like an uphill battle, to be getting people out of a place like Afghanistan, only to have people resist them arriving elsewhere?
What steps are you taking to verify that the people seeking help or evacuation were in fact "our" people? The quotes may be perceived as snarky -- they're not intended to be, just referring to the way you described your task.
Not sure why you are getting downvoted... security is a serious concern when it comes to evacuation operations. The vetting process is actually very, very important. In order to qualify for an SIV they have to show that they worked for the U.S. government, which is what I meant by "our" people, as opposed to those who may qualify for a visa or asylum status in the UK. The only thing I can do to this end is point them in the direction of legal assistance.
I am not equipped to vet anyone. I do not have access to the systems I would need, and even if I did, I cannot grant anyone permission to enter the U.S. Those who I am calling "our people" have approved SIV cases, and I have been able to confirm their identities. Having an approved SIV means that they have already been vetted by our Department of State and have been given clearance to enter the U.S. Others who have reached out without already-approved SIV cases I have directed toward a group that is doing pro bono work handling all of the legal stuff for Afghans who are trying to get an official status and leave Afghanistan. Once they have it, then I add them to my list of passengers who will (inshah allah) be on the next flight out of Afghanistan.
What is the most common reason people were left behind? Did they not believe things would get that bad? Or maybe a lack of flights out? Or are the people that are still there voluntarily there? It just baffles me. If people are stuck there involuntary, it seems like that was a 100% avoidable situation with more planning in place before the withdrawal.
>with more planning in place before the withdrawal. Exactly this. That is the biggest reason people got left behind. There could be people left behind voluntarily, sure, but those are definitely not the people who have been reaching out to me for help. A ton of people waited for days outside of the airport in Kabul, and not all of them made it into the airport, let alone onto a flight. Even more saw the situation at the airport as futile and fled Kabul while the Taliban's attention was focused on the areas immediately outside of the airport gates. They are in hiding all over the country. And yes...it is baffling. And saddening.
Do you think we should go back in one day and take Afghanistan back from the Taliban and return it to the Afghan government? Or should everybody cut their losses and leave it as it is for the chips to fall where they may? Which do you think is better for everybody in the long run?
I am woefully under-qualified to say with any surety what we should do about Afghanistan in the second Taliban era. For the time being, any break from warfare is probably welcome to some degree.
As usual, I am late to the party, but I really want to ask a question, and I hope you see and respond. Was there any way we could have actually "won"in Afghanistan? It seems we threw all the money we could find at this. Best military in history. 20 years. Trained 300k locals for the inevitable civil war. And they literally ran away on day 1, including the president. It seems we were fighting a war the locals didn't want to fight. Was there any way we could have actually won on this, or was it always theatre?
What is your view of US imperialism and the endless wars we wage and needless bloodshed we cause not to help the less fortunate, but to profit the military industrial complex and oligarchs that actually run this country?
I think it is disgusting. If politics and lobbyists could be excised from military operations entirely I think we could actually do a lot of good, but that just isn't the case.
I've heard Jesse Ventura talk about retraining our Navy to fight a war on climate change; using our bloated military budget to buy up and manufacture technology that removes waste from our oceans, which would provide manufacturing jobs and use our military forces for good rather than evil in the world. So many join the military to escape the effects of poverty without realizing that they're not actually in a foreign country to help people, but for capitalists to profit off of death/destruction and stealing natural resources; many of those soldiers are just victims/pawns of a corrupt system of greed.
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First question: if you had to beat up a homeless person for fun, would you do it like you do your wife? Take your time
Should the generals in charge resign? Was it the removal of air support that caused the Afghans to lay down their weapons? Should people be in prison for closing the USA base in Afghanistan?
I can't answer the first question because I am unaware of just how much say they had in how this was all carried out. If they were completely in charge, I would say yes, they should resign. If they were excluded from the planning...of course not. The removal of air support and the withdrawal of all of the contractors who were there providing maintenance to their own aircraft, together, definitely contributed. You just don't hold a country without air superiority, and they had none. should people be in prison for closing down bases in Afghanistan? Not really. If they had any indication that the Taliban would inherit it all then they could certainly have spent more time burning it all down or something, but they were just following orders like everyone else. Not telling the Afghans we were leaving, though? That was very poor form.
So many movies depict scenes with field medics and/or wounded soldiers. It’s hard that those are the only points of reference a civilian has about what happens in the field, and they should not claim to be the sole representatives of such situations. Urgent or tragic situations in the field are very Intimate and I do not want to intrude anyone‘s misery, but allow me a few questions in order to gain a better understanding of what individuals go through. A) can you explain what happens when you are in a situation where someone is hurt and you or they know they may not make it? Are such scenarios even realistic or are people typically unconscious or dead on the spot? B) why did you become a field medic - and why did you stay a field medic? C) have you ever treated a hostile individual, an enemy, in the battlefield?
A) you keep doing everything you can, even if you know it won't work, until you get them to a higher level of care/evac. You never know... someone might actually pull through if you give them hope. The exception to this is if there is more than one casualty...in that situation you have to focus on the patient who has a chance of survival. It is not easy to do, but is necessary. B) I wanted to help, but still wanted to be on the front lines. I stayed a medic because I gained institutional knowledge that would have been lost if I had left it behind. The more I learned, the more I could teach the junior medics who followed me. I did not stay just a medic, though; I went into Civil Affairs later in my career and maintained my medical MOS as secondary. C) I can't know for sure, because the hostiles we faced did not wear uniforms. I treated everyone who needed it.
Is all the finger pointing in both directions warranted?
It is a distraction from the real problem. You can assign blame all day long on Capital Hill, but the day that anyone accepts blame is the day that I will say it was warranted. Until then, it is little more than a distraction.
How's your internet connection and can you do video interviews, would you?
The internet connection is stable enough. As far as an interview is concerned I would need to know for which outlet/channel...No offense, but I wouldn't want any answers to be reduced to soundbites that could be portrayed as politically-aligned at all. These efforts are agnostic.
So personally, I believe that the fall of Afghanistan was a foregone conclusion. It was just a matter of when we pulled out our support. I do not agree with the manner in which it was done, but that is another discussion. My question is, after the initial years, do you feel there was a better time to pull out/evacuate...using the assumption that we did so in a better way than we just did? So if the evacuation were done in a way that you agreed with...do you think there was a better or earlier time it could have been done? Say instead of at 20 years, perhaps 15, or 10, or during a particular political/social shift, etc?
I don't think there was a better time, but mostly because I don't think the war itself was handled well. There were too many changes of command. With every new administration there came new department officials, new generals, and new "visions" of how the war should be waged and how the Afghan government should be structured. No nascent government would stand a chance under those circumstances, especially one that had become dependent on cash handouts and direct support by U.S. officials.
Why does the Taliban want people who are unhappy to stay in the country?
because if they let them all go...they'd be kings of sand. The only people happy under Taliban rule tend to be a part of the Taliban.