The Taliban have taken over Afghanistan after a swift siege of the capital. Images from Kabul airport show crowds and chaos as people attempt to flee the country in desperation.
Those who helped U.S. troops during the 20-year war are especially vulnerable with the collapse of the Afghan government.
Ellen Smith, executive director of Keeping Our Promise, a Rochester-based organization that works with wartime allies, said on Monday that she is now receiving hundreds of requests from Afghan allies who are still trying to get out.
“It’s just calls after calls and of course all of our SIVs (Special Immigrant Visa applicants) and all of their families are at risk and in danger from the Taliban,” said Smith,.
Some of the most vulnerable people under Taliban rule, besides U.S. allies, women, and others, are from the Hazara ethnic minority group, Smith said.
“The Hazara are always targeted by the Taliban,” she said. “It was the Hazara women’s hospital where they massacred the pregnant women and the women who had just given birth.”
That attack happened last year at a maternity ward in Kabul -- 24 people including mothers and newborns were shot and killed.
“Our Hazara friends here, it’s almost like for them, because they’re so easily identifiable because of their features that under the Taliban, who's to say there’s any hope for survival for their families?” she said.
The organization is now working with Veterans for American Ideals to assemble a database of SIV cases and outline who still needs help -- whether to get a petition for humanitarian parole, emergency evacuation, or otherwise.
