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News // Refugee Resettlement

LIRS on CNN: We Must Protect Afghan Allies

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LIRS Staff

July 29, 2021

Krish O’Mara Vignarajah is the president and chief executive of the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service. She previously served as a senior adviser at the State Department and as a policy director in the Obama administration. This Opinion piece originally appeared in CNN on July 28, 2021.

Sohail Pardis was on his way to pick up his sister in Afghanistan’s Khost province for the upcoming Eid celebrations marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan. What was supposed to be a joyous occasion turned into a horrific nightmare as he reached a Taliban-controlled checkpoint along his route to Kabul. As CNN reported Friday, villagers witnessed Taliban militants drag Pardis out of the vehicle and behead him.

This abhorrent act of violence was far from random — Pardis was one of the thousands of Afghan interpreters and allies who served alongside US personnel during two decades of war in Afghanistan. As a result, they and their family members live in constant fear of persecution, torture, and murder at the hands of a vengeful Taliban with growing power as the American withdrawal reaches 95% completion…

Read the Full Piece on CNN

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