Dear Friends,

This weekend, with the fall of Kabul, we witnessed the end to a twenty-year effort to create a stable, rights respecting, inclusive government in Afghanistan. This effort, which involved 20 years of war and often brutal occupation, produced real but ultimately temporary gains in rights for women and other vulnerable groups in Afghanistan. Now, as the U.S. finally ends the war and leaves Afghanistan, we are seeing those temporary gains stripped away while women, minorities, and Afghans who worked with the U.S. fear for their lives.

After 20 years of war, it is crucial that the U.S. now make every effort to help Afghans who want to leave Afghanistan - especially women, members of minority groups, and those who worked with the U.S. during the occupation. Further, the U.S. should welcome all Afghans who want to escape Taliban rule into our own country. It is the least we can do after 20 years of occupying theirs without producing any tangible long-term benefit.

Please write to your Members of Congress and to President Biden and tell them that they need to make every effort to evacuate vulnerable Afghans from Kabul and other areas, that they need to focus the U.S.' diplomatic heft on ensuring that neighboring countries open their doors to Afghan refugees, and that they need to ensure that all vulnerable Afghans have an expedited legal path for immigrating to the United States.  

After writing, please also consider donating to denominational relief efforts or other organizations that support Afghan resettlement.

Thank you for writing to President Biden and your Members of Congress today.

Sincerely,

Matt Hawthorne
Policy Director