Afghan Evacuees Arriving in Boston

Friendly Handshake – Taken by the U.S. Army

https://www.flickr.com/photos/35703177@N00/6268465873

Annalise McDonnell
 

On Aug. 27, 2021, Frozan Kazimi fled Afghanistan, her homeland. — the day after, an ISIS suicide bomber killed 13 U.S. service members and 170 Afghans at the Kabul airport.
 

It was a crazy day, the U.S. was pulling out its troops, and the Taliban’s presence was growing stronger. Despite the difficulty of leaving one’s home country, the increasing attacks in larger cities left no other option.
 

There was no security for Afghanistan and its citizens. The only way was to escape as quickly as possible. As a woman in her 30s who has lived in Afghanistan all her life, she had to leave everything behind and only bring items of utmost importance in her suitcase.
 

The only thing on Kazimi’s mind was arriving in a new world with her husband.
 

Kazimi worked for the U.S. Embassy while she lived in Afghanistan, which made her a potential target of the Taliban, making it easier for her to come to the United States. Her journey began in Kuwait, where she boarded a plane that arrived at Fort McCoy, a Wisconsin Army Base. She did this through the Refugee and Immigrant Assistance Center, a U.S. organization. Her final destination would be Boston.
 

Since Kazimi had arrived with her husband, the transition and resettling were much more manageable. However, she can’t help but think about her mother, father, and five sisters, who are still in Afghanistan with no way out due to the U.S.’s pull-out. Getting them into the United States is difficult, as there is no military assistance. However, Kazimi has hope. She’s currently getting her permanent residency, also known as a green card, which will allow her to get a U.S. passport and help her family resettle in the United States.
 

Afghan evacuees are far from their loved ones and are trying to get their families out of Afghanistan and into the United States. The process can take up to years. They need a special visa that will allow them to stay in the United States for a more extended period.
 

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has stated that “…about 40% will eventually qualify for a special immigrant visa, a lengthy and complex process that ultimately provides a permanent legal residency and a path to residency.” However, because this process takes so long, there’s an immediate need for an expedition to get Afghan citizens into the United States, where they can resettle safely.

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Afghan refugees are struggling to resettle in Boston after abruptly leaving their homeland due to the end of a 20-year war that began when the U.S. invaded in 2001, ostensibly looking for Osama bin Laden, the alleged mastermind of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The U. S. left Afghanistan and said it believed that the United States government had accomplished its mission ten years ago with the assassination of Osama bin Laden.

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“With the terror threat now in many places, keeping thousands of troops grounded and concentrated in just one country and across the billions (of dollars spent) each year makes little sense to me and our leaders," President Joe Biden stated in his announcement to withdraw U.S. military in Afghanistan.

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But the people do not trust the government as it has continually failed its citizens. The lack of trust weakened Afghanistan, allowing the Taliban and their fighters to move in from the suburbs and Pakistan to take over larger cities and the government.

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Those left behind are risking their lives every day. The Taliban’s takeover has caused a sizeable economic crisis, with millions of dollars in lost income and limited access to food, water, and healthcare. In addition to the continuation of attacking significant cities, they are risking people’s lives. Additionally, under the Taliban, women are limited to healthcare and have substantial restrictions regarding higher education and what they wear, who they talk to, and how they travel.

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More recently, the issue is the United States pull out of Afghanistan and how it has affected the loved ones of those resettled in the U.S. Kazimi reflects on her family in Afghanistan and says, “…yes, no, there is no chance. I can’t even fight for them here. I need my passport and green card to get my mother into the United States.”

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The history between the United States and Afghanistan continues to affect its people today. Especially the difficulty with getting temporary protected status, TPS or temporary protected status is a temporary status given by the United States government to eligible nationals of designated countries determined by the Department of Homeland Security.

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Jeff Theilman, the president of the International Institute of New England, an agency that resettles refugees, pointed out about 80,000 people evacuated from Afghanistan last summer. Of those 80,000, about 2,000 of them reside in Massachusetts. “Specifically, they are placed in apartments and homes as far south as New Bedford and as far north as Haverhill and Newburyport in Massachusetts,” Thielman said.

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Kazimi’s family is from Kabul. When she entered the U.S., she applied for her green card and submitted the I-485 form, an application to register permanent residence. Kazimi was interviewed in Afghanistan, expediting her entry into the United States.

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“When we were in Afghanistan, I worked for the U.S. Embassy for almost seven years, and when the Afghanistan government began to collapse, and the Taliban began to take over, we received emails to evacuate the area immediately. We tried three times to go to the airport but we could not. On August 27th, we finally got through the airport, waited for three hours, and then got on a plane to Kuwait where we went to Washington, D.C. and spent a few days there and then arrived in Wisconsin.”

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Kazimi recalls that “it was too hard to adjust in that situation” of living on a  military base. Those weeks were problematic because they constantly moved and lived in a shared space.

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However, since arriving in Boston in December, Kazimi has found peace with her husband.

Kazimi has loved the new culture she is adapting to. People are so kind and appreciative. Additionally, she is working for the International Institute of New England as a representative for Afghan evacuees and helping them enter the United States. She believes a more reformed relationship between the Taliban and the United States is detrimental to allowing more Afghans to enter the United States. However, humanitarian parole has helped those desperately trying to leave their country.

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“When it comes to the steps taken when arriving in the United States, there are multiple factors to consider. Theilman explained that the U.S. State Department contacts the evacuees, about 75,000 people. Then the U.S. Department contacts nine voluntary agencies. We have people in contact with our partners USCRI where they assign people to us, and we go to the airport and pick them up.”

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After picking them up from the airport, the resettlement agency helps them by providing housing, schooling, money, and even jobs. The case management team at IINE helps with housing, education, and healthcare.

There’s a formal program called reception and placement, a 90-day federal program that IINE administers. However, after the 90-days, IINE still helps out those who are resettling.

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“There’s a matching grant program that helps people save money, and there's still case management, as well as state money that is distributed anywhere between 2-7 months,” Thielman said. “When it all works out, our relationship with these families can last five years. We are all they got in many ways as they try to navigate a new country, so we try to be there as much as possible.”

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Regarding COVID, refugees who have arrived in the United States are usually vaccinated on U.S. military bases while waiting to be sent to a different city to resettle and start their new life. However, there have been outbreaks within these military bases, which then elongates the process of trying to place Afghans into a more permanent city where they can begin to work and fully start their resettlement.

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People who have families and work for the government have helped the United States by putting their lives in danger in Afghanistan. Having refugees arrive also affects those living in Boston because there’s a need for specific resources to provide to those arriving evacuees, which includes transportation, food, money, school, and even housing. Therefore, people living in the local area must work with organizations to ensure a smooth transition for those arriving from Afghanistan to help them resettle into the United States, specifically in Boston, Massachusetts.

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Kazimi’s new life in Boston involves learning more about the culture daily. Since she works with IINE, she is constantly helping other Afghan evacuees arrive in the United States and desperately trying to find solutions to help those families out, as well as trying to help her own family who is still struggling to find a way to the United States to escape the humanitarian crisis.

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