The United States concluded its withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan at the end of August, marking the end of two decades of U.S. presence in the country and the completion of America’s longest war.

For many Afghans, a new journey starts — both for the tens of thousands of evacuees making their way to the United States, and for those unable to escape the Taliban’s rule in their home country.

What You Need To Know

  • A new journey is starting for tens of thousands of Afghan evacuees who were airlifted out of the country in recent weeks to escape the Taliban's rule

  • The U.S. has plans to accept at least 50,000 Afghan refugees in the coming weeks, and around 48,000 people have arrived stateside as of Sept. 7, per the State Department

  • Americans can contact one of the nine national organizations aiding the State Department with refugee resettlement to volunteer or donate

  • Pashtana Durrani, an activist and educator in Afghanistan, urges Americans to contact lawmakers in order to hold the Taliban to the promises they've made to protect the rights of women and girls in the country

The United States has already welcomed over 48,000 Afghan evacuees — including translators and interpreters who worked alongside U.S. troops, activists and other prominent anti-Taliban figures, members of the previous government and their families — as of Sept. 7, according to federal officials. The government plans to welcome, at the very least, 50,000 displaced Afghans. 

While the fate of those in the country remains tumultuous, it is certain Afghan allies can use support from Americans, just as they helped the U.S. over the past two decades. 

So, how can Americans support Afghan evacuees and those who could not leave the country?

Supporting Afghan evacuees in the U.S.

Most Afghans coming into the United States will first stop at one of eight temporary housing shelters, three of which are located in Virginia at Fort Lee, Fort Pickett and the Quantico Marine Corps Base; other shelters are in place at Wisconsin’s Camp McCoy, Texas’ Fort Bliss, Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in New Jersey, New Mexico’s Holloman Air Force Base and Camp Atterbury in Indiana. 

The first group arrived at Fort Lee in late July, and officials say there may be more bases dedicated to temporarily housing Afghans should the need arise. 

The shelters are operated by the U.S. Northern Command under “Operation Allies Refuge,” which aims to evacuate and resettle all Afghan allies who worked alongside American troops during the 20-year war. Officials working at the sites say they are in constant need of local community volunteers to help welcome Afghans to their new homes. 

“Refugee resettlement would not be possible without the support of state and local governments, resettlement partners and affiliates, non-governmental organizations, faith-based organizations, advocacy groups, and volunteers,” U.S. Army Fort Lee shared in a Facebook post in late August. “We encourage people who are interested in assisting Afghan special immigrant applicants and refugees to reach out to their local refugee resettlement agency for information about how they can support them in their communities.”

There are currently nine national organizations that are authorized by the State Department to aid in refugee resettlement, and the parent companies work with local chapters and other non-governmental organizations to organize aid for refugees in both the communities surrounding the military bases and across the country. 

The nine organizations are: The Church World Service, the Ethiopian Community Development Council, the Episcopal Migration Ministries, the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, the International Rescue Committee, the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and the World Relief Corporation.

The Refugee Processing Center offers a list of the resettlement agencies and their local affiliates for ease of searching. 

Nearly all of those organizations “rely on the public support at the local level” to aid what is typically a steady stream of refugees, Eskinder Negash, president and CEO of  the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, told Spectrum News in an interview.

Because of the sudden influx of Afghans, Negash added, the demand for volunteers has only increased. 

“We always use volunteers in different locations to provide services — to take clients to school, and for the children. Sometimes to teach them English, if they don't speak English,” Negash said. “We have always been relying on the support at the local level, from volunteers to in kind donations. Sometimes [volunteers] will donate furniture, and even, to some extent, old cars to refugees.”

Individuals who can speak any of Afghanistan’s languages — of which there are several, the most common being Pashto and Dari — are especially needed, Negash added.

Russell Worth Parker, who served 27 years in the Marine Corps and toured Afghanistan numerous times, encourages U.S. citizens to “do what we're famous for,” and reach out to their new Afghan neighbors. 

“I would ask all my fellow American citizens to think about what they would need if they had to completely start over,” Parker told Spectrum News. “It's easy to go, ‘well, let me go in the closet and get my extra clothes.’ But think about plates. Think about forks and whatnot, and...start donating that, and start organizing.”

“Just continue to care,” Parker later added. “This is a great opportunity to build kindness, you know, and I think we have such a great national opportunity here to become a better people.”

Americans who own Airbnb properties can volunteer their homes to Afghans for temporary stays, as announced by CEO Brian Chesky last week. The non-profit arm of the company will house 20,000 Afghan evacuees around the world, with at least 1,000 spots available in the United States. Already, nearly 200 Afghans have arrived at their temporary Airbnb homes across the country.

Support for those still in Afghanistan

The Taliban has made a number of promises to the international community, in part pledging no retribution for Afghans who worked alongside the U.S. and safe passage for foreign nationals through the country — although the group does not want Afghans to leave. 

The Taliban also said Afghanistan would welcome women in the workplace so long as they wear hijabs and behave “within the framework of Islamic law.” Girls will also be allowed to go to school under the same conditions. 

Despite the promises, activists both within and outside of Afghanistan have raised concerns that the Taliban will not keep their word once an international presence has left the country. Many remaining in Afghanistan still remember the Taliban’s previous rule in the late 1990s, when women were largely stripped of their rights and forbidden from going to school or work. 

“I'm gonna trust them when they appoint a woman in their leadership,” Pashtana Zalmai Khan Durrani, an activist and educator currently in hiding from the Taliban in Afghanistan, told Spectrum News in an interview. “I don't trust them. Because they're not running a country. They're keeping it as a hostage right now.”

While the future for women and girls in Afghanistan remains uncertain, Durrani is calling on the international community to stand by those who are unable to leave the country, and who fear seeing the little rights they gained slip away. 

“It's time for the world to stand in solidarity with Afghan civilians, Afghan women and Afghan girls,” Durrani said, adding: “[Americans] have a much more stronger political institutions than we do. Maybe it's time that you start a petition, you call on your representatives who ask them to pressurize (sic) the Taliban into accepting us as civilians.”

Beyond calling lawmakers, Americans can donate to a number of international organizations that have long offered support for Afghans. 

There’s the U.K..-based nonprofit Afghanaid, which provides basic services to rural communities in Afghanistan and supports women-led projects across the country. There’s also UNICEF, which works on the ground by providing health services, water and sanitation, and ready-to-use therapeutic food and vaccines for Afghan women and children.