Two years ago, the Taliban marched into Kabul, the Afghan government collapsed, and the United States, already scheduled to depart on August 31, rushed to evacuate Americans and Afghan allies. Not everyone who should have gotten on those planes did, but the US airlifted some 120,000 people in two chaotic weeks.
About 78,000 were Afghans, who arrived in the US as part of Operation Allies Welcome. They were vetted, screened, and stayed for weeks, sometimes months, at US military bases, before they were resettled in communities around the country. Most of these arrivals were granted humanitarian parole, a two-year temporary status.
Two years later, the majority of these Afghan arrivals are still on parole, their statuses stuck in limbo. That includes thousands of Afghans who supported US troops, or embassies.
There is a pretty simple fix to all this: the Afghan Adjustment Act (AAA).
The legislation would give Afghan allies in the US a clear pathway to legal permanent residency. The US used to pass this kind of legislation with some regularity, and most notably did so in the 1970s for tens of thousands of South Asians after the Vietnam War. The Afghan Adjustment Act has strong bipartisan support in both chambers of Congress, and a diverse coalition of backers, from Afghan groups to immigration advocates to veterans groups to former top national security and military officials. The issue has traditionally had broad public support, too.
And yet, the Afghan Adjustment Act is stuck in Congress. It has been that way for more than a year, leaving Afghans in a constant state of uncertainty.
“It’s a microcosm. It’s a very straightforward thing that the US can do to follow through on a promise it made to Afghans,” said Joseph Azam, board chair of the Afghan-American Foundation. “And so far, the government’s demonstrated a manifest inability to deliver on that promise. Which is kind of the story of Afghanistan for the US.”
Why are so many Afghans still in…
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