WISCONSIN — This week marks one year since the U.S. and international allies left Afghanistan and the Taliban took over the country. Yet the work to help settle Afghan refugees throughout Wisconsin continues.
"Almost everybody that we know of had to leave people behind," Tami McLaughlin, director of World Relief Fox Valley, said. "It's a great despair and it's a great burden, and it's something that's on their hearts and their minds continuously."
Of the nearly 13,000 initial Afghan refugees who stayed at Fort McCoy in Monroe County, roughly 400 remained in Wisconsin; the rest resettled across the country.
"We have welcomed a total of 183 Afghans from the 'Operation: Allies Welcome'initiatives [to the Fox Valley]," McLaughlin added. "Most are in place, they're settled, they have homes, they have jobs— it was an effort that we were very proud to be a part of."
Watch the full interview above.