The order the State Department has received to close the Office of the Coordinator for Afghan Relocation Efforts (CARE) by April 2025 has left many Afghans and military veterans shocked and upset at this decision. The program has not officially closed yet, but all signs point to its permanent shutdown.
The decision to close CARE means that about 200,000 Afghans could see the door of opportunity to come to the US as closed. This group includes family members of those who were part of the Afghan-American U.S. military personnel, children waiting to join their families, and those who helped the U.S. government during the 20 years the U.S. was in Afghanistan
Afghans in the U.S. who have helped the U.S. while in Afghanistan are expressing their concern and discontent with this decision. Afghan brothers in Texas, who both currently serve for the U.S. military, say they “feel betrayed. We serve this country because it protected us, but now it is abandoning my sister, who is in danger because of our work with America.” Their sister was one of the Afghans who were denied entrance to the U.S. following the announcement of the closure of CARE.
An Afghan couple, who were translators for the U.S. military, has been in the U.S. for the past three years. They had refugee cases for their young children between the ages of six and seventeen. Their children were so close to being reunited with their parents in the U.S. when the executive orders suddenly prevented them from boarding their flight. These young children are now stuck in Doha without their parents or a plan for the future. According to Gul, “When my wife heard this news, she fell on the ground and lost consciousness. We waited years for them to come and in a few hours, everything changed.”
U.S. military veterans and advocates are also standing beside Afghans and calling on the U.S. government to reverse the order to close CARE. Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) released a statement on X that said “Many Afghans in this program worked with the U.S. military during the war. Shutting down this office and abandoning them now after all they’ve done to help protect American troops would be a disgrace.”
Leading the veterans’ call to support Afghan refugees is Shawn VanDiver, a Navy veteran and founder of #AfghanEvac. VanDiver released a statement on behalf of #AfghanEvac that said, “These are men and women who served beside us: the interpreters who ran into fire to pull us to safety, the intelligence officers who helped dismantle IED networks, the contractors who supplied our bases. Many of them have already sold everything they own, fled their homes, and put their families in peril based on our promise.”
Jason Nelson, a veteran who served in Afghanistan, echoes VanDiver’s call on X – “Part of what eats at me every day is the failed withdrawal from Afghanistan. As a veteran of that war, I see that failure as the sad culmination of a lifetime’s work, the outcome over which I had no control. It tears your soul up, one tiny piece at a time.”
Both Afghans who helped the U.S. and the veterans who served alongside Afghans feel frustrated and upset at the closure of the refugee resettlement program. Afghans are struggling to cope with the news that their families cannot be reunited in the U.S. and are facing heightened risk in Afghanistan given that they have helped the U.S. previously. Many are stuck in Pakistan, running out of visas and the financial means to support themselves and are threatened to be deported by the government of Pakistan.
On the other hand, U.S. veterans feel strong moral obligations to support their fellow servicemen who risked their lives to help the U.S. The call to reestablish the Afghan refugee resettlement program is a united community effort from both Afghans and U.S. veterans that needs to be amplified.
How you can help:
Call your Members of Congress and urge them to stop the closure of CARE and “keep America’s word to Afghan allies.” Here’s how you can find them easily: https://afghanevac.org/elected-officials
Sources: Reuters, ProPublica, #AfghanEvac, X