A new poll conducted in early October by With Honor Action and Ipsos found that 89% of Americans said they support keeping our pledge to Afghans who helped U.S. forces against the Taliban, with 56% of Americans “strongly” supporting the claim. 92% of Democrats and 87% of Republicans agreed, demonstrating strong bipartisan support for our allies left in Afghanistan.
According to the U.S. State Department Inspector General Diana Shaw, at least 152,000 Afghans qualifying for resettlement in the United States still remain in Afghanistan, not including family members. These allies face danger and retribution at the hands of the Taliban for their work with the American military.
“Americans want us to help our Afghan allies. But we remain plagued by inaction. Congress must act now to help clear the immigration backlog for highly vetted Afghan allies, many of whom fought loyally by our sides for years in America’s longest war,” sad Rye Barcott, CEO and Co-Founder of With Honor Action and U.S. Marine Corps veteran.
The U.S. only evacuated around 124,000 Afghan allies during the 2021 military withdrawal from Afghanistan, 90,000 have since arrived in the United States. The rest are in third countries awaiting evacuation to the US. Of those who arrived in the US, only 21,000 have been issued a Special Immigrant Visa (SIV), which provides much-needed clarity on their legal status, including the right to remain and work in the United States. Most of the remaining evacuated Afghans in the United States are in the country under a process known as humanitarian parole preventing them from prospects of having a long term legal status and maintaining stability for themselves and families.
The poll also highlighted specifics of the American public’s support for Afghan allies resettlement in the U.S. with avenues toward citizenship. Congress must authorize more visa and immigration authorities for refugees from the Taliban. These allies fulfilled their promises to the U.S., and the U.S. needs to do the same for them.
You can help too. Call your representative and senator and urge them to support the Afghan Adjustment Act.
