"Save The Stranded: A Post Afghan-American War Project"

By Scott Chapman and Russ Pritchard

The people of Afghanistan were our loyal Allies in the Global War on Terror for twenty years (2001-2021). The Afghan military professionals built careers around selfless service, and many trained extensively in the United States at the expense of the American taxpayer. When the United States withdrew from Afghanistan in August 2021, the country collapsed to the Taliban. 

Many will recall the horrific last days when Afghans clung to the departing American planes hoping to escape. Our Afghan Allies lost their homes, their pensions, and their families. The men and women of the Afghan Air Force and Special Mission Wing (SMW) arrived in the United States with the clothes on their backs and nothing more. 

They were given food stamps and a few months rent. At a time when our country is in dire need of pilots and airplane mechanics, the aviation professionals from Afghanistan living in the United States are working jobs in the rideshare industry or as cashiers in convenience stores. Most are trapped working several menial jobs to support themselves and feed their families still hiding from the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Afghan American Development Group (AADG) takes a tactical, and more logical, approach to helping former Afghan Air Force and Special Mission Wing personnel adjust to life in America. This requires a multi-step approach to overcoming mountains of paperwork, reunification with loved ones left behind, transitioning from military to civilian careers, and finding the right job. AADG creates hope, focused efforts, and helping new Afghan refugees succeed. 

Flooded by requests from around the world, a unanimous message vocalized to the writing team of Chapman and Pritchard, is a fear-driven plea for help. Since the Fall of Kabul, many Afghans are tortured and killed by the Taliban. Hunting humans while using tools and tactics taught by us, the U.S. Entire families, 11+++, are forced to relocate every few days to stay ahead of the Taliban death squads.

Our Afghan Allies were there for us for twenty years; we need to be here for them now. 

This is the story of three families:

In the States on the east coast, we wake at 4:30 to the constant thrum of messages coming across our phones. While messages come all night long, 4:30 rings out like the start of a horse race. The gates open and the sprint through the day commences. The time zone differences are brutal. Kabul, Afghanistan is 8.5 hours ahead of EST in the States. It’s 4:30am EST, and Afghans in peril seek food, safe shelter to stay ahead of the Taliban, and medical care before their day ends and curfew begins. It’s three hours until the sun comes up in the States and four hours until the sun goes down in Kabul.

The Ahmadi (name changed) family had a nice life. Married for ten years, Rafay worked as an accountant for a private company funded by the U.S. Department of State, and his wife worked as an interpreter. They had a house, two cars and three young children. When the Afghan Government fell to the Taliban, Rafay lost his job and his medical identity was in the State biometric system making it easy for the Taliban to track him if he attempted to travel. Within a week, the Taliban came to the Ahmadi house. They took the cars, smashed the furniture and windows, and lit the house on fire. The Ahmadi’s had left two days prior, and moved into hiding with friends. Their bank accounts seized, a former work associate demanded Rafay do accounting work on the side for free via computer. If Rafay didn’t do the work, the former work associate said he would tell the Taliban where Rafay’s parents lived. Yesterday, Rafay Ahmadi texted they were out of food and could no longer leave the house. 

The Khan (name changed) family is a large one. Saimal and his wife raised two boys and a daughter. All received formal education. Saimal worked as training manager for Raytheon, an American company, which manufactures Black Hawk helicopters. His two boys became journalists and married, and his daughter became a teacher. They lived within several miles of each other and enjoyed weekly family get togethers - three generations of the Khan family living a good life. The day the President of Afghanistan fled the country in a helicopter full of cash and cars, Saimal and his two sons went to their local bank to clear out their accounts. The Taliban surrounded the bank and fired shots down the street towards Saimal and his boys. They ran. The Taliban searched for all members of the Khan family. In Afghanistan, the entire family is held responsible for the sins of one. With the father working for Raytheon, the two boys having reported as journalists on the Taliban, and the daughter teaching in a local school, the Taliban marked the Khan family for execution. They fled and live in a house belonging to a distant relative under a fake name and pray for evacuation. Yesterday, they called and said they could no longer go outside because a neighbor had been watching them and asking questions. They had food for only one more day.

 Zohra (name changed) grew up in a small family with two brothers. One of her brothers had two children and his wife died from endometritis. Several years later, her brother remarried, and there were problems with the stepmother. Zohra volunteered to care for his two boys with assistance from her parents. Sadly, her parents died from chronic medical issues within two years of each other while she completed her graduate degree in business administration. A single mother, technically a single aunt, Zohra started her own food packaging business growing it to over a hundred employees and marketed it with a culinary magazine with favorite recipes and local stories. Her other brother became the Chief Financial Officer, and business flourished until the second week of August 2021 when the Taliban burned her office and fired rocket propelled grenades into her plant killing her brother and several workers. Zohra fled with her two nephews and moved into one room of a distant cousin’s unoccupied house. There is no power, and they have not been outside in more than two months. A neighbor, who was bringing them food and charging Zohra’s phone, disappeared two days ago. Yesterday, Zohra texted that she and her nephews had run out of food.

Three families without food, without money, without hope for evacuation, and going into a dark and desolate winter where people burn feces for heat when the wood runs out. Maybe by a miracle, or maybe by the miracle of many people working tirelessly behind the scenes thousands of miles away, these three families woke to food at their front door. If it sounds implausible, it’s not. It’s just Wednesday morning in the States, and the day is just getting started.

Help Feed the Starving in Afghanistan. Help AADG.