Afghan Crisis Hits Home In Marin: Report

SAN RAFAEL, CA — The head of a San Rafael nonprofit with more than 350 employees in Afghanistan has written a letter to President Joe Biden asking for help evacuating them and their immediate families, ABC 7 reports.

Heidi Kuhn, the founder and CEO of Roots of Peace, described frantic emails from employees dispersed throughout the nation plunged into crisis by the collapse of the U.S.-backed government and takeover by the fundamentalist Taliban, against whom the U.S. waged a 20-year war in the aftermath of 9/11.

Roots of Peace, a group that supports vulnerable farmers worldwide, has been on the ground in Afghanistan since 2003.

The group’s “Mines to Vines” program has worked to replace fields of land mines with orchards.

The program was funded by Diane Disney Miller, the daughter of Walt Disney and Silverado Vineyards owner who died in 2013 at 89.

Kuhn’s employees have described atrocities on the ground and fear for their lives amid threats of beheadings.

“Working for a woman CEO funding by the United States government is a double-risk,” she told the television station.

Kuhn described reports of girls as young as 14 being raped.

"According to the woman doctor I spoke to yesterday in Kabul, not only are women being raped, but they're being branded with hot iron after being raped," Kuhn told ABC 7.

"These are young girls -- 14, 15, 16 -- branded.”

In her letter to President Biden, Kuhn implores offers to fly to Kabul herself should a military plane be available “to save the lives of my 360 employees and get the safely out of Afghanistan with your kind assistance.”

The letter describes her group surviving a 2014 terror attack at the hands of the Taliban.

“If, for lack of taking decisive action, Afghan citizens who have given so much and taken significant risks in carrying out our U.S. government development programs are abandoned by our country, this would leave an indelible stain on our national honor,” Kuhn wrote.

Kuhn is asking for donations that will be used to purchase tents, blankets and food that her staff will try to distribute according to the report.

To contribute to Roots of Piece visit here.

Read more at ABC 7