Help Us Get Our Allies Out of Afghanistan

My name is John, and my wife Ellie and I are working to get some of the many stranded civilians and SIV (Special Immigrant Visa) holders out of Afghanistan. I am a 16-year veteran of the United States Army. My wife and I are both U.S. citizens, and we feel particularly inclined toward helping out those in need. We run a 501(c)3 nonprofit, albeit one that is more focused on research than on action, so this fundraiser is not being directed toward our NPO's mission; instead, it is being directed toward my past missions in Iraq and, more to the point, Afghanistan.

 

It was brought to my attention, just before the 26 August blast at Abbey gate upended any sort of perception of an orderly withdrawal, that someone with whom I work has family who are stuck in Afghanistan. They worked as interpreters for us for years. I jokingly call her (my coworker) our halfghan, since she is part Afghan and part Latina, but the truth is that her Afghan half is comprised of brothers and sisters who are hiding in Kabul in fear for their lives. As someone who works closely with her, and who has worked closely with dozens of interpreters throughout my three deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, I feel that they are just as much my family as hers. Altogether her stranded family numbers 21, which includes spouses and children (who are aged 1 - 16 years-old... 13 children in all).

 

They need out. They need help. It isn't coming through official channels, so it has to come from us.

 

Please consider donating to the cause. In you are interested in helping but do not have the money, that's also very appreciated. We can use information, as well. Any real time information on what is happening on the ground there, any information on successes you've had with contacting Senators, Representatives, embassy personnel, etc... Any new avenues of communication that can be used to reach people who have the willingness and ability to help are all extremely appreciated. If you do not have money and do not have contacts, you can also just share this story. Please share this story. Even if it seems like it is just one more echo of a story that has already been written and shared a hundred times, it is important that everyone realizes the magnitude of the difficulties and threats faced by those who were left to the mercy of the very regime they worked against for years.

 

The money itself will be used to support them while they remain in hiding and to charter flights into and back out of Kabul, as well as pay any legal or bureaucratic costs associated with getting the necessary clearances to actually make the flights. The actual cost is not clear, but it is likely to reach into the hundreds of thousands, per aircraft chartered. More to come on that as I gain more information. Money to support them as they remain in hiding will be sent via Hawala, an informal remittance system that is actually pretty secure and remains the only reliable way to get money into the intended hands. Wikipedia actually has a really good primer on how Hawala works.

 

In the future, once Mazar I Sharif's international airport is operational again, additional flights will be needed to carry out the people I know in that area (more info on this will follow in an update, but suffice to say that as I have put in the time and effort to find ways out I have also come across others who are trying to help out former colleagues and interpreters, so the list of names just keeps on growing).

 

Thank you for your time.

 

Notes:

 

I will not reveal the identities of those who I am trying to help. I will not place their lives in any more danger than they are already in. If, when they get to the States, they want to share their story, I will certainly help them do that, and I will do it in a spectacular fashion that politicians cannot ignore. - John

 

The photo above is not of one of the stranded interpreters; he was one of the "terps" I worked with in Afghanistan. He, thankfully, has already made it out of Afghanistan. This photo was taken by me at an orphanage we visited while part of a PRT in the far-eastern province of Paktika. He was always smiling, happy to help, and excited to serve. - John

 

In the time I have been working on this, the list of names of interpreters and their families has grown from just 21 to 81. The more I network with others, the more people I have found that are trying to do something similar, but who have run into all of the same dead ends I have. That number will almost certainly continue to grow. - John