dulles expo center afghan refugees volunteer

On July 19, as districts across Afghanistan were falling to the Taliban’s military advance, we-the original Afghanistan Coordination Task Force-started our race against the clock. The Biden administration faced a backlog of more than 17,000 Special Immigrant Visa applications, each representing lives to be saved. diplomatic and military mission over the past 20 years. forces from Afghanistan approached in the summer of 2021, urgency increased for bringing to safety thousands of Afghan citizens who were at risk because of their work for or on behalf of the U.S. Taliban can be seen in white on top of the wall.Īs the deadline for the withdrawal of U.S. A Race Against the ClockĪ scene of the chaos around the HKIA gates. We also hear from an Afghan interpreter who describes his family’s journey from Kabul to Colorado in an article that follows the compilation.Įach of these individuals has written in a personal capacity, and the views expressed do not necessarily represent the views of the U.S. Their essays-organized by the staging of the overall evacuation and resettlement effort-offer a unique inside look at the still-unfolding events. military bases across the United States (the “safe havens”) housing the Afghan guests until they are resettled in American communities where they can start to build new lives.

receiving airports (Dulles and Philadelphia), and at the U.S. They served on the task force in Washington, at the airport in Kabul, at the “lily pads” and other landing spots for evacuation flights, at the U.S. We are so grateful to the authors for writing about their challenging, heart-wrenching work. We received more than two dozen responses. In early December, we invited members to share their experience working on any aspect of this crisis, including the successes as well as the adversity and tragedy. Foreign Service stood up to assist in the critical hour and played a vital role in evacuating more than 120,000 people from Afghanistan in the largest air evacuation ever and in an ongoing resettlement effort of unprecedented scale.

The events continue to elicit a great deal of commentary in the United States and elsewhere, much of it delivered without an appreciation of what was taking place on the ground. military withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021 and the evacuation, relocation and resettlement of allies is a defining moment in U.S.

Dulles expo center afghan refugees volunteer