Support Those that Fought for Democracy and Now Displaced in Need of Protection

By Riane Donoho

Displaced International garnered almost 1,000 global signatures on their recent Change.org petition to “Halt the Forcible Deportation of Afghan Refugees from Pakistan.” Pleased at the success of this petition, I took a few days to speak with a friend named “AC” who fled to Pakistan exactly one week ago. AC was an Afghan commando with the now-disbanded Afghan National Army Special Operations Command (ANASOC).  He worked jointly with U.S. Special Forces and Army Rangers to hunt the Taliban.  For the last three and a half years—he, like other former military post-withdrawal in Afghanistan—is the hunted.

Though gleeful for my friend’s success in escaping the Taliban regime to relative safety in Pakistan a few days ago, Pakistan’s forced repatriation of Afghan refugees is a harrowing reality. U.S. and allied forces in Afghanistan during the Global War on Terror saw multiple generations of Afghans not only become elite soldiers—working hand in hand with the United States and allied forces to secure democracy in their homeland—it also saw plumbers, electricians, air traffic control, cooks, drivers, translators, teachers and more employed. 

Since August 2021, U.S. and allied forces have been replaced by the Taliban. Associated Press reported that under Taliban rule, hundreds of Afghan allies were kidnapped, tortured, jailed, and killed.  AC evaded the Taliban for years for fear of retribution on him as ex-military—a grave reality post-withdrawal. “Killing, disappear[ing] and torture,” he says, is life under the Taliban as a former soldier, “[if you’re lucky], you can escape to Iran or Pakistan [by smuggling].”

He said, “Taliban is not the government, they are terrorists, they kill our people and our partners who were our friends.” AC reports the challenges he faced in Afghanistan included, “being ex-Army, [I’m] not free, always in hiding, very poor and no access to food or money…” Furthermore, “while working with the U.S., we had a salary.” 

Drought and famine make the crisis more severe. A 2023 Reuters article discussed “prolonged drought deepening Afghanistan’s humanitarian crisis.” Afghanistan is confronting a brutal food security crisis, with millions struggling to access adequate food. Multiple generations of Afghans who did not know American defense and economic viability congruent with U.S. intervention were left stranded.  Incidentally, with multiple generations of Afghans succumbing to starvation, joblessness, and fear of Taliban reprisal, major migration by the millions is observed post-withdrawal as a result of Taliban control of the country.

AC escaped Afghanistan on a grueling two-day winter trek with his wife and toddler to Pakistan a few days ago.  From evading the Taliban to dodging Pakistan police for fear of exile back to Afghanistan, AC faces a new set of challenges with food insecurity chief among his complaints. Food insecurity and lack of salary do not bode well with hiding to avert Taliban reprisal.  Meanwhile, looming repatriation from Pakistan diminishes AC’s new employment accessibility in winter’s most brutal months.

Displaced International seeks to mitigate Pakistan’s weaponization of refugees like AC with this petition. The repatriation of Afghans from Pakistan breaches Pakistan’s international obligation as a guarantor to the United Nation’s 1948 treaty Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

“A cornerstone of international refugee law that prohibits the return of individuals to a country where they face serious threats to their life of freedom,” Pakistan’s repatriation of Afghans to their Taliban-controlled homeland would make them brokers of non-refoulement—an egregious humanitarian problem.

While the lens in which we consider AC’s plight points to his ex-army status, the Taliban commits slow genocide against the Hazara ethnic group. They persecute other ethnicities, sects, political opposition, women, and advocates of democracy vis-à-vis suicide bombs and mass killing. In effect, atrocities committed under the Taliban are the criteria for which Pakistan must honor the Universal Declaration of Human Rights treaty signed in 1948.

Consider AC’s Priority 1 (P1) Visa case status, dictated by the Department of State as a result of his service with U.S. Special Forces: While we work to stop funding the Taliban with U.S. taxpayer dollars of $40,000,000.00 (a minimum estimate) per week, it would behoove us to vocalize protest of Pakistan’s repatriation of Afghans to Taliban controlled Afghanistan.

I call upon veterans of the global war on terror and goodwill ambassadors to sign this petition while we continue to work toward keeping our promises to our Afghan allies.

Pax Hominibus.