Another 120 People — Many Children — Escape Afghanistan With Fairfield Man's Help

FAIRFIELD, CT — While most Fairfield residents were settling into their after-work routines Tuesday evening, Alex Plitsas was celebrating the remarkable success of having just helped 120 Americans get out of Afghanistan.

“We were able to get them all to the airport,” he said, including dozens of teens and 16 children under the age of 3.

“We still have a lot of Americans left in country,” said Plitsas, along with thousands of interpreters and other allies whose lives are in danger as long as they remain there.

“We have a sacred commitment in this country to never leave anybody behind,” he said, noting it's a key part of a warrior’s code learned through his service in the U.S. Army in Iraq, then later as an intelligence officer in Afghanistan.

As part of a coordinated effort that’s become known as “Digital Dunkirk” in homage to the World War II evacuation of Allied soldiers from northern France, Plitsas, working with a group called Human First Coalition, is doing what he can to help get people to safety. Last month, Plitsas, who is chairman of the Fairfield Republican Town Committee, worked to help 40 U.S. citizens, Green Card holders and Afghan allies escape.

“They’re people who worked with us, stood beside us when they didn’t have to,” he said, noting his life would have probably been lost on numerous occasions had it not been for the interpreters and guides who stuck their necks out to keep them safe.

“These are folks that we have an obligation to bring home,” he said.

This week, working with their network, Plitsas and his team — in cooperation with Project Dynamo, another advocacy group — were able to bring a charter flight into Kabul, Afghanistan, and carry out the large group.

READ MORE: How A Fairfield Man Helped 40 People Escape Afghanistan

Further, they saw to it that all of the people received inoculations for COVID-19, measles and rubella before boarding the plane.

Senior Taliban leadership — starting with the Civilian Aviation Authority — did not thwart their efforts, he said, and are instead proving to be cooperative.

“Believe it or not, they were remarkably cooperative,” Plitsas said.

“They posed no threat and there was no issue,” he said. “I think the senior Taliban leadership genuinely wants folks, especially Americans, out of the country who don’t want to be there.”

The reason, he said, is because they likely understand that if these people are subjected to violence, then significant retaliation would potentially follow.

In contrast, individuals and groups at the local level are still, in some cases, focused on finding those who aided American forces, in the hopes of seeking revenge against them.

“Those people are all at risk,” Plitsas noted, with work continuing to try and secure both U.S. State Department visas and transportation to get them out of the country.

“Until those two issues work out, we’re going to have to try to keep people safe,” he said.

Closer to home, Plitsas is working with a Connecticut-wide task force to help with resettling people once they begin arriving in the state.

“The initial wave is going to be 310 people,” he said, with hopefully more to follow, thanks to the work of Integrated Refugee & Immigrant Services and the Connecticut Institute for Refugees and Immigrants.

“I feel that we have a moral obligation to those people and a sense of responsibility,” said Plitsas, who, along with others on his team, put up a significant amount of money himself to get cash in hand to execute some of this work as soon as possible.

Those interested in donating to help can visit www.humanfirstcoalition.org.