Former soldiers in the army of Afghanistan are resettling in Bloomington after escaping the Taliban when the country fell. Three moved into apartments on Wednesday, and there is potential for more, according to the Afghan Welcome Home Project of Central Illinois, based in Decatur.
“At the moment we have eight men here in central Illinois. There are other evacuees in the Champaign area. But that has been handled by a government-contracted resettlement agency, the refugee center, and we are not a government contracted resettlement agency,” said Welcome Home Project Operations Manager Ilene Henderson.
Henderson said the eight people she is helping at the moment come from the Khost Protection Force, a unit that operated in the southeastern part of Afghanistan, in Khost province.
“They were actually some of the last remaining Afghan forces to continue fighting against the Taliban until they were ordered to turn their weapons and equipment over to the Taliban. They actually refused to do so (and) ended up destroying and scuttling their weapons and equipment,” Henderson said on WGLT's Sound Ideas.
She said the men hid in Kabul until they could find ways to get to the airport to get evacuated by the end of August. Since then, they have been moved to the United Arab Emirates, to Germany, and to Fort McCoy in Wisconsin. They are part of a diaspora of about 50,000 evacuees at eight military bases around the country who are being processed and placed in U.S. communities, according to the federal government.
“We've been able to get those three gentlemen employment with a local medical manufacturing company that is putting together at-home COVID test kits. The owner of that company, Med-Bio, is an immigrant himself,” said Henderson.
Several others are currently staying in Decatur and Arcola, she said, adding the ex-soldiers don't speak English, but do have employment permits. “They're used to being taught by demonstration as a result of their time in the military,” said Henderson.
She said the men left their families behind. For now, other villagers and extended families are taking care of their wives and children.
Henderson said there is a long list of things needed to get the men started. Housing has been a challenge. Laws meant to limit human trafficking prevent placing people in dorm-like situations. Unrelated adults must each have their own bedroom, Henderson said.
She’s looking for legal help to assist the men in the immigration process they hope will result in green cards, citizenship, and eventually a way to bring their families to the U.S.
“Here's something that a lot of people do not know. A good number of them are here on ‘humanitarian parole status.’ What that means is that they're only allowed to be here for two years, at the moment. It's not guaranteed that they can stay here any longer after the two years,” said Henderson.
This status differs from the Special Immigrant Visa Program established by the U.S. State Department. That applies to people who have been directly employed by the U.S. government or U.S. companies. Special Immigrants, Henderson said, have a guaranteed pathway to citizenship.
She said assistance in driver training for U.S. drivers licenses also is needed, as is dental care. “Some of these men have not seen a dentist for months or years,” said Henderson.
Employment opportunities are valuable, too, she said. And translators. All the men speak Pashtu, because they come from the Pashtun tribal area. A couple speak Urdu because Khost borders Pakistan. But they need help communicating until they learn English, she said.
The Afghan Welcome Home Project largely consists of Henderson, other family members, and friends. She said she spent 21 years in the Army, deployed to Afghanistan and served in the same general area as these evacuees.
“We have fought the same enemy. In the army, part of our motto is, ‘Never leave a fallen comrade.’ It doesn't say never leave a US soldier. It just says comrade, and these are my comrades. And so, I feel a personal obligation to help them.
