Afghans make their way through a flooded street toward a nearby airport entrance to try their chance at evacuating out of the country in Kabul, Afghanistan, on August 25, 2021. (Marcus Yam/Los Angeles Times)

America’s disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal left thousands of brave Afghans who stood with America for two decades stranded under hostile Taliban rule.

Hudson Senior Fellow Luke Coffey’s new policy memo explains how offering America’s Afghan allies a path to safety and stability in the United States serves America’s moral, practical, and strategic interests. Read how below.

Key Insights

1. America should live up to its commitment to evacuate Afghans who helped US troops.

Leading up to the withdrawal, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, said, “We must remain faithful to those Afghans who risked their lives to help the United States troops and personnel.” Doing right by Afghan allies is a matter of national honor. The way America treats people who helped it, especially when they are in peril, says a lot about its values as a nation. Helping the Afghans who helped America is morally the right thing to do.

2. Creating a legal path to citizenship for skilled Afghans would aid American security and prosperity.

Afghans evacuated to America could play a role in improving the US economy and filling key shortages in the labor market. According to one report, more than 10,000 Afghans evacuated to the US have at least a college education. Additionally, 28.5 percent of these have master’s degrees, and 5.8 percent have advanced medical training. Adjusting the legal status of Afghans in the US using legislation could also save the US taxpayer tens of millions of dollars’ worth of asylum adjudication hearings and improve the vetting process of Afghans on humanitarian parole. 

3. Aiding Afghan allies furthers America’s strategic interests in the region and beyond.

Afghanistan and the broader regions of Central and South Asia will remain a focus of US foreign policy and counterterrorism. Policymakers should take long-term needs into account and think creatively. Afghan evacuees form a talent pool of linguists, cultural experts, and proven patriots whose service America might someday need again. Additionally, proving that American promises will be kept would make future local and indigenous partners more willing to work with the US.

Quotes may be edited for clarity and length. 

Go Deeper