CAIR Washington Asks Biden To Keep Promise To Afghan Refugees

SEATTLE — A local advocacy group is calling on President Joe Biden to fulfil his promise to the Afghan people, and to help all eligible refugees escape Afghanistan before withdrawing the remaining U.S. troops in Kabul.

CAIR Washington, a Seattle-based Muslim civil rights organization and the local chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, says over the past week it has received hundreds of requests for help from Americans with families in Afghanistan and people in Afghanistan with ties to Washington.

However, they say the current political situation has made it extremely difficult to help those in need of aid.

“It’s been absolutely overwhelming and deeply disheartening,” said Brianna Auffray, Legal and Policy Manager at CAIR Washington. “Out of the hundreds of people we’re actively working with, we’ve only been able to get one family aboard a flight.”

Between Taliban checkpoints, threats of violence from the Taliban and ISIS, and the large crowds of prospective refugees crowding the Kabul international airport, CAIR advocates say they worry many will be left behind if the White House goes ahead with its plan to withdraw all troops on Aug. 31.

“We have been in touch with countless vulnerable individuals and families who’ve recounted their harrowing experiences and detailed how chaotic the situation is right now,” Auffray said. “While Taliban leadership is making statements about amnesty and reconciliation, the facts on the ground state otherwise. There are widespread reports of brutality, threats of violence, and retribution taking place. We’ve had clients shot at and beaten while trying to access the Hamid Karzai Airport.”

To put a face to the crisis, CAIR is sharing the story of Ahmed Ismail, an Afghan who reached out to CAIR Washington for help, but is still waiting on his special immigrant visa before he can escape the country — and who worries he won't be able to make the Aug. 31, withdrawal deadline.

“I am beginning to lose hope,” Ismail said. “No one can get to the airport and there are tens of thousands of us waiting.”

Ismail told CAIR he has been threatened by the Taliban for years because he worked on USAID projects in Afghanistan, and was forced to flee his hometown last week, leaving his pregnant wife and first child behind.

“When the city fell to the Taliban, I knew they would come for me,” Ismail said. “One day, my doorbell rang, and my sister looked outside. She told me it was the Taliban who knew me and told me to hide. I escaped through our back door and hid in my neighbor’s backyard.”

More than 82,000 people have been evacuated from the county since Aug. 14, when the Taliban seized the capital of Kabul, the Associated Press reported. Of those, 4,500 were American citizens. Most of the other evacuees had secured limited special immigrant visas, reserved for people who have worked with the U.S. or NATO.

As the AP reports, some others have been evacuated without the special visas, but CAIR says they remain concerned it still is not enough.

“As the U.S. military exits this country, it presents a potential human-rights catastrophe if vulnerable groups are not given a pathway to evacuation," said CAIR Washington Executive Director Imraan Siddiqi. "While the Biden administration attempts to honor its timeline for withdrawal, it must not forget about the human cost for those who are potentially being left behind. Not only U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents – but mixed status families must receive expedited consideration – because as we have seen all-too-recently in U.S. history, splitting up families is traumatic and unconscionable.”