Save the Lives of Afghan Allies

My name is Rachel and I'm fundraising to establish a flex fund to support the evacuation and resettlement of eight of my Afghan friends and their families (43 people total) trapped under Taliban rule. These friends were my colleagues while I served as an aid worker in Kandahar and Kabul from 2013-14. All seven worked shoulder to shoulder with Americans to restore peace and stability to Afghanistan. All are now on Taliban kill lists because of that work. US intervention in Afghanistan was only possible because of the risk Afghan colleagues absorbed on our behalf while believing in an unfulfilled promise of a better future. In that way, they prevented the deaths of many Americans; it's my turn now to sacrifice something for their survival.

 

Amongst the 43 people this fund aims to save are women who endured death threats and attempts on their lives while publicly advocating for the education and empowerment of women; a journalist who authored investigative pieces on the Taliban's brutality and was consequently shot in both legs in front of his house; an aid worker whose brother and son nearly died when the Taliban planted an IED at his front gate; and a young woman whose husband was recently arrested by the Taliban when he refused to give up her whereabouts. Over half of the 43 are children.

 

The money raised here will serve as a flex fund to cover visas, flights/overland travel, living expenses, humanitarian parole application fees and other costs as they arise. In this highly uncertain and dynamic situation, opportunities for flights and visas become available with little notice, and ensuring each family is prepared with all the required paperwork to be eligible for flight manifests is key to facilitating their evacuation. Additionally, all of these families are in hiding and unable to generate income. They are running low on savings and will soon need financial support for food, lodging, baby formula, and other critical resources while they await a chance to evacuate and resettle somewhere where employment is possible.

 

We were all traumatized by the footage of Afghan citizens clinging onto airplanes at Kabul Airport. While those images have left our televisions, that very real existential terror still lives on for hundreds of thousands of Afghans that bet their lives on the American cause. I am reminded of it every day as my colleagues text me desperate for updates. Please contribute to this fund so that money is not the determining factor in their fates. Help me assure them that Americans value their sacrifices and courage amidst circumstances beyond our comprehension but not our responsibility. I can't show their faces here for security reasons but hope you will someday get to FaceTime them and meet the lives you've saved.

 

 

Logistics: For expenses such as visas and flights, funds will go through Transition Initiatives (an evacuation coordination group run by Americans volunteers [i.e. aid workers, veterans, and journalists]) to vetted travel agencies. Living expense needs will be wired directly to the recipients via Western Union or Moneygram, depending on what's reliable at the time. Humanitarian parole fees will be disbursed to the American parole sponsors. Sanctions against the Taliban will be carefully monitored and observed in all transactions.