Washington, DC – With Honor Action strongly urges lawmakers to pass the appropriations package, which includes key provisions from the Afghan Allies Protection Act, bipartisan legislation led by For Country Caucus co-chair Rep. Jason Crow and member Rep. Brad Wenstrup. The bill would authorize an additional 12,000 Special Immigrant Visas (SIVs) and extend the Afghan SIV program through 2025.

Since the fall of Kabul in 2021, tens of thousands of our Afghan allies have been forced to evacuate Afghanistan due to the brutality of the Taliban. During a recent committee hearing, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark A. Milley, and former CENTCOM Commander, General Kenneth F. McKenzie, testified that these brave men and women who served beside American troops are being systematically hunted, tortured, and killed because we have failed to keep our word to have their back. Due to their assistance to the U.S. military in Afghanistan, over 100,000 Afghans currently qualify for SIVs, but there are only an estimated 7,000 remaining in the program. If passed, this bill would secure the largest-ever increase in Afghan SIVs and provide the program with a much-needed extension until December 31, 2025, allowing the State Department to continue its work to resettle our wartime allies. 

“Our Afghan allies stood with us through our nation’s longest war, fighting side by side with American troops against the Taliban. We can’t abandon them now,” said Rye Barcott, Co-Founder and CEO of With Honor Action. “With Honor Action is urgently calling on Congress to pass this bipartisan legislation and do right by our Afghan allies. We thank For Country Caucus members Rep. Crow and Rep. Wenstrup, as well as House Appropriations Chairwoman Kay Granger for their steadfast support of the Afghans who fought alongside us for nearly 20 years.”

In Congress, With Honor Action has been at the forefront of the fight to support our Afghan allies. Working alongside the members of the bipartisan For Country Caucus and the Honoring Our Promises Working Group, With Honor Action supported the passage of key legislation in the 117th Congress, including the HOPE for Afghan SIVs Act, the ALLIES Act, and the WELCOMED Act. We will continue to advocate on behalf of the over 80,000 Afghans who have come to America seeking a better life and for the tens of thousands of Afghan allies still stuck in Afghanistan and abroad. This bipartisan legislation is supported by The American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars, No One Left Behind, as well as the American public, 89% of which said they support keeping our pledge to Afghans who helped U.S. forces against the Taliban.

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With Honor Action fights polarization in Congress by supporting principled veterans across party lines who pledge to serve with integrity, civility, and courage. With Honor Action works alongside the bipartisan For Country Caucus in Congress to pass critical legislation for our nation. Learn more about our work at withhonor.org 

With Honor Action is a 501(c)(4), which serves as the organization’s policy and social-welfare arm.
With Honor has an affiliated federally registered “super PAC” called With Honor Fund II.

Lawmakers push bill to help Afghan evacuees, allies still in Afghanistan 2 years after US withdrawal
By Matthew Adams
September 14, 2023

https://www.stripes.com/theaters/us/2023-09-14/afghanistan-evacuees-legislation-house-withdrawal-11377146.html

WASHINGTON — Six House lawmakers said Thursday that they are still pushing for legislation that would help Afghans now in the U.S. gain citizenship and assist allies who remain in Afghanistan, two years after U.S. forces withdrew from the country.

“We have miles to go to fulfill our promise to those who fought and died with our soldiers in Afghanistan. Their bravery deserves more, so much more than legislative gridlock,” said Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, R-Iowa, who sponsored the legislation in the House.

Miller-Meeks was joined at a news conference in front of the U.S. Capitol by Reps. Zach Nunn, R-Iowa, Jeff Jackson, D-N.C., Michael Waltz, R-Fla., Seth Moulton, D-Mass., and Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., to stress the need for legislation to be passed soon to help these Afghans.

The Afghan Adjustment Act was first introduced in the House and Senate in August 2022 but failed to pass. The bill was reintroduced in both chambers on July 13. Miller-Meeks is the sponsor for the House’s version, while Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., is the sponsor in the Senate.

The U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, which ended Aug. 31, 2021, concluded 20 years of war in Afghanistan for the United States. It also marked the return of Taliban rule in the country, rolling back many human rights in the past 20 months, particularly for women.

The American pullout included the evacuation of thousands of Afghan nationals who fled the country with the U.S. military. The chaotic withdrawal also led to the deaths of 13 service members who were killed at the Kabul airport by suicide attackers.

“After every major conflict, we’ve passed an adjustment act to make sure that we honor the obligation to the people who put their lives on the line to help us,” said Jackson, one of 35 co-sponsors on the bill.

Jackson, who is a major in the Army National Guard, enlisted in the Army Reserve in 2002 and served in the Kandahar province in Afghanistan. He said Thursday that his missions in Afghanistan always included an interpreter. Everyone knew if something went wrong and they found themselves in an ambush, the interpreter would be the first person shot or killed.

“[The interpreter] also knew that when he decided to help us, he put his entire family at risk … and he was willing to do that because he felt it was the right thing for his country — helping us,” Jackson said. “The reason he was confident in doing that was because we told him that we would have his back. Having his back means not just what happens when you’re out there on a mission, [it] means what happens after the fight is over.”

There are more than 80,000 Afghan allies now in the U.S., said Rye Barcott of With Honor Action, the co-founder and CEO of the nonprofit that looks to promote and advance veteran leadership in public service.

Miller-Meeks said lawmakers are open to getting this bill in the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act, the annual Pentagon policy and spending priorities bill, or possibly adding it to another bill to get it passed. She said the bill is gaining momentum and hopes that the more exposure it gets, the more pressure it puts on members of Congress to act.

“We have to separate the people who came over in the airlift … and separate that from the botched withdrawal,” the congresswoman said. “These are people in the United States who we need to help, and we still have Afghan interpreters and allies who are in the Middle East … who we need to extract.”