Afghan Airlift & Beyond

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Emergency Relief to Extract & Support High Risk Afghan Nationals

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AA
Andrea Arias posted an update
over 2 years ago

Evacuees boarding our charter flight in Afghanistan on October 7th, 2021

AA
Andrea Arias posted an update
over 2 years ago

With the Kabul airport closed for now, other pipelines to evacuate people from Afghanistan are opening, including overland and some flights from of Mazar-i-Sharif. They are more fluid and less certain, but we’re committed to pursuing any possible route. So, we have decided to continue to work on another flight and have raised our goal to make that possible.


The situation is very complex, and there is always risk that a manifested flight can be delayed or canceled outright. We may determine a flight is too high risk based on what we hear from our partners on the ground. In order to help secure your donations as much as possible, we are pleased to confirm that donations above what we use for flights or attempted flights will go to the International Rescue Committee specifically to help at-risk Afghans still in the country and evacuees on the long road to resettlement. Even better, those donations that flow to IRC will be matched by one of IRC's generous patrons


IRC has operated in Afghanistan since 1988.  They are still providing assistance inside Afghanistan and will continue to do so under Taliban rule.  And IRC already provides services at transit points around the world and on four U.S. military bases processing incoming evacuees.


Please continue to donate. We are grateful that all the funds raised through this effort are tax deductible and go directly to our non-profit partners.

 

AA
Andrea Arias posted an update
over 2 years ago

Pictured here: A friend's child sleeps on a cot at Ramstein Airbase in Germany. 

AA
Andrea Arias posted an update
over 2 years ago

Dear Friends--

 

The crisis in Afghanistan continues to break our hearts. But we want to thank you for your overwhelming support, which has now successfully airlifted more than one thousand people out of Afghanistan.


This effort began as three friends working to raise enough money to get fifteen or twenty at-risk Afghan colleagues and their families out of Kabul by private jet. Thanks to you and our partners, it grew to an effort to raise enough money to evacuate 345 people on an A-340. Through a mixture of luck, ingenuity, experience, and hustle, that money facilitated flights for four times that number of people out of the country and to safety.  Our first flight was ready to board when it was held by officials on the ground for operational reasons. The Department of Defense then moved our passengers on a military flight! This enabled our charter operator to keep the aircraft for another mission, and they ran two flights of evacuees instead of just one! Those flights were full of at-risk Afghans who were waiting in the airport. 

 

Hundreds of people around the world came together to make our small effort and others like it possible. The US Government facilitated our efforts, especially the very high-risk process of moving from Taliban controlled streets, and through their hostile checkpoints, into the secure airport compound. We dedicated extraordinary resources to facilitate transportation and negotiate entry. Getting through this wire was a miracle when it worked, and our hearts are with those Afghans who could not make it in and must now decide whether to remain under Taliban rule or seek other ways out overland. 

 

As of today, Hamid Karzai Kabul International Airport is closed for access by civilian organizations and military flights are completing the evacuation. The situation on the ground is frightening and uncertain, with many people desperate for assistance and hope.

 

Please continue to support this effort, which will also focus on supporting organizations helping with relief and resettlement. We will be sharing some stories and details of the evacuation. We hope this effort honors all Americans who served to make a brighter future in Afghanistan, including the thirteen US Marines we lost this week.  

 

Here's a brief note from a woman whose name we are protecting for now, who we got onto a flight with her family. 


She wrote this to us from Doha: "I cannot really express how thankful we are. We know how hard it was for you to make it possible, so thanks for all your help. We will remember you guys for the rest of our lives." 

It's impossible to imagine what this looked like, and to imagine the task that lies ahead, but here's a photograph from one of the evacuees.