The past 10 days or so have been a full-out sprint trying to help get Afghans at greatest risk out of the country. With the early withdrawal of US troops and the temporary shutdown of the Kabul airport, that sprint has now transitioned into a marathon.
While our initial goal was to have our priority evacuees out by August 31st, this timeline became impossible due to complex operational challenges related to the final days of US withdrawal. However, the importance of getting people out of the country remains a high (or even higher) priority now that the US is no longer in the country. As difficult as it is for us to say, there are people who are on our evacuation list who have already been executed and that is heartbreaking.
Our goal remains the same: to save as many at-risk Afghan lives as possible. We are prayerfully pursuing all credible options to achieve this mission and are steadily growing a team of volunteers to resource this effort. As we have repeated in recent days, we are unable to post many specifics about the ongoing operation due to the safety considerations of the evacuees and the sensitivity of the current environment on the ground.
However, here are some of the challenges that have delayed evacuation flights in recent days following the US withdrawal:
While our initial goal was to have our priority evacuees out by August 31st, this timeline became impossible due to complex operational challenges related to the final days of US withdrawal. However, the importance of getting people out of the country remains a high (or even higher) priority now that the US is no longer in the country. As difficult as it is for us to say, there are people who are on our evacuation list who have already been executed and that is heartbreaking.
Our goal remains the same: to save as many at-risk Afghan lives as possible. We are prayerfully pursuing all credible options to achieve this mission and are steadily growing a team of volunteers to resource this effort. As we have repeated in recent days, we are unable to post many specifics about the ongoing operation due to the safety considerations of the evacuees and the sensitivity of the current environment on the ground.
However, here are some of the challenges that have delayed evacuation flights in recent days following the US withdrawal:
- Airport equipment and temporary closure of HKIA (Kabul International Airport)
- Ambiguity around airport process and procedures
- Multiple surrounding countries being unable/unwilling to receive evacuees
- Backlog at US refugee processing centers
- Reach out to your elected officials and ask for their assistance
- Help put us in contact with other organizations who are doing the same thing we are so that we can collaborate together
