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Tell President Biden to Protect Afghans Who Worked for the United States
Posted on Jun 22 2021
Tens of thousands of Afghans who worked for the U.S. military—and their families—are in danger of Taliban retaliation as U.S. troops pull out. With rising COVID infections in Afghanistan, the U.S. Embassy suspended visa processing in early June, stranding visa applicants whose work with U.S. forces puts their lives and their families in danger.
Contact President Biden today and tell him to evacuate Afghans whose work for the United States puts them and their families in danger.
The New York Times reported on their plight recently:
“’I get phone calls from the Taliban saying, ‘We will kill you’ — they know who I am and that I worked for the Americans,’ Mr. Walizada said. He has delayed marriage because he does not want to put a wife at risk, he said, and he has moved from house to house for safety….
“More than 18,000 Afghans are awaiting decisions on their S.I.V. applications, according to the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan. Many say they are seized by dread, fearing they will be denied, or approved only after they have been hunted down and killed.”
The Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) program lets Afghans who worked with the U.S. for two years move to the U.S. with their spouse and children. The application process is long and complicated. Apart from those waiting to apply, a backlog of 18,000 applications are waiting to be processed.
It is time to evacuate these Afghan nationals and their families before the final U.S. troop withdrawal—something the U.S. government has done previously when winding down military operations in Vietnam, Iraq, and Kosovo. They cannot wait inside Afghanistan for lengthy visa processing. We owe it to our allies who served alongside our troops and diplomats to protect them.
Bipartisan groups of Senate and House members have called on the Biden administration to prioritize the protection of Afghan allies. There’s no time to delay – the Biden administration must act now to evacuate these Afghans to a place of safety while their applications are being processed.
Contact President Biden today and tell him to evacuate Afghans whose work for the United States puts them and their families in danger.
Sample message:
Afghan nationals who have worked with U.S. troops and diplomats are in danger. The Special Immigrant Visa process is slow and has a backlog of more than 18,000 applications. We need to honor our commitment to these allies and evacuate them NOW, with their families, to a safe place. This is a moral and humanitarian imperative.