The Stories of Afghan Women Who Fought with the US

Image source: The Newyork Times

Since the United States’ invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, many Afghan women have fought alongside U.S. troops against the Taliban and other extremist groups. Now, as the U.S. withdraws its military presence from Afghanistan, these women fear for their safety and are seeking legal immigration status in the U.S.

Despite the progress made in women’s rights in Afghanistan over the past two decades, the Taliban’s return to power threatens to roll back these gains. Women who have fought with the U.S. military and other Western forces fear that they will be targeted by the Taliban for retribution.

Some of these women have applied for a Special Immigrant Visa (SIV), a program created by the U.S. government to provide a path to legal immigration for Afghan and Iraqi citizens who have worked for the U.S. military. However, the SIV program has been plagued by bureaucratic delays and backlogs, leaving many applicants waiting for years for their applications to be processed.

In addition to the SIV program, some lawmakers have proposed legislation to provide additional protections for Afghan women who have worked with the U.S. military. The Keeping Our Promise to Afghan Women Act, introduced in Congress in March 2021, would create a new category of visas specifically for Afghan women and their families.

Advocates for these women argue that the U.S. has a moral obligation to protect those who risked their lives to support U.S. military operations in Afghanistan. They also argue that allowing these women to immigrate to the U.S. would send a powerful message of support for women’s rights and gender equality in Afghanistan and around the world.

However, critics of these efforts argue that allowing large numbers of Afghan refugees into the U.S. could pose a security risk, particularly given concerns about terrorism and extremism in Afghanistan. They also argue that the U.S. has already invested significant resources in Afghanistan and that the responsibility for protecting Afghan citizens should now fall to the Afghan government and its allies.

As the U.S. continues to grapple with the fallout from its withdrawal from Afghanistan, the fate of Afghan women who worked with the U.S. military remains uncertain. While some will be able to secure legal immigration status in the U.S., many more may be left behind, facing an uncertain future in a country that is once again under Taliban control.

Re-reported from the story originally published in The Newyork Times