Five years after the chaotic U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan, many Afghan nationals who assisted American military and federal operations remain separated from their families. Among them is a 33-year-old law graduate living in Northern California, identified only as S, who served as a linguist for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration starting in 2018. During the 2021 evacuation of Kabul, S was separated from two of her children while attempting to secure entry to the airport, leaving her older daughter and son behind while she was evacuated to the United States with her infant son.
S's journey mirrors the trajectory of many Afghans who came of age following the 2001 U.S. invasion. Benefiting from expanded access to education after the initial collapse of Taliban rule, she mastered English and eventually took on high-risk work targeting drug trafficking networks and human traffickers who funded insurgent activities. When the Taliban regained control of Kabul in August 2021, armed fighters targeted her family home, prompting her immediate attempt to flee the country.
At Kabul's airport, S attempted to negotiate with guarding U.S. personnel to allow her family through the perimeter. After asking her mother to hold her two older children so she could present her credentials while holding her newborn, the surging crowd pushed her past the checkpoint. U.S. troops subsequently loaded her onto an outbound flight without her daughter and older son. Five years later, her older children remain in Afghanistan under Taliban rule, where girls are prohibited from attending school past age 12.
Despite earning a law degree in the U.S. and pursuing legal avenues for family reunification, bureaucratic delays and shifting U.S. immigration policies have repeatedly stalled her efforts. Although a court ruling against federal restrictions temporarily cleared her children for travel following extensive vetting, the process recently collapsed once again. For former Afghan allies, these persistent obstacles highlight the lingering humanitarian fallout 25 years after the start of the war in Afghanistan.