August is here.
It’s been almost two years since the collapse of Afghanistan, when the lives of millions of Afghans were upended, and tens of thousands of American veterans and civilians pivoted towards arresting a seemingly hopeless humanitarian crisis. I’ve never been one for minding my words, and many of you will hear more of my thoughts on the matter as the month progresses. For now though, I would like to highlight what we have going on.
Most notably of course, will be the event that we are hosting at Georgetown on August 15th. While the date is auspicious -it is the two year anniversary of the fall of Kabul- we are not congregating simply to mourn or bemoan our own moral injury, but to look forward. Many of those who will speak will have significant roles to play in Afghanistan’s future, and with an exceptional degree of media coverage expected, this will resonate far outside of the confines of Washington DC.
The main event will start at 6:30 EST, and will be live-streamed on Twitter and YouTube. You can find it via our @1208Foundation handle.
For those attending in-person and who show up at 5:30, there will be a special screening of the short documentary “More than Brothers” which chronicles the activities of 1208 since 2021.
In the meantime, we have continued to build our reach on Capitol Hill, as we led the charge in supporting the EVAC Act. This is only a tiny step in the right direction. While few of us in the Afghan-NGO community expect reimbursement to actually happen, this bill will help keep the discussion about Afghanistan alive a little while longer
As far as our evacuation efforts go, we are still making steady progress. To be sure, July was nothing compared to the 47 people we helped bring to the US in June because of circumstances beyond our control. However, we still helped three families make it here, and as you can see in the above picture, those who have made it are adapting nicely. Barely a month ago, Leyaqat and his son Abdullah were in a safehouse in Pakistan; as you can see in the above picture, suffice to say that they are doing very well!
Until next time,
Tom