Monday Morning Update -- August 18, 2025
Anniversary of the fall of Kabul, new legislation coming
For many of us who have been involved in Afghan relocation and resettlement work, these last two weeks of August can be really difficult – bringing back memories of the chaotic evacuation and withdrawal in 2021. Our Afghan friends and colleagues bear the worst of that, and we remain always grateful for their resilience and tenacity. Last Friday marked the 4th anniversary of the fall of Kabul; I sent a letter (attached to this email) to the coalition marking the progress we made and the hardships we now face because of the policy decisions of the Trump Administration.
We know that many other organizations in the coalition and across this ecosystem are marking the anniversaries of this month in a variety of ways:
The Center for New American Security (CNAS) hosted a virtual panel, “Policy Options on Afghanistan Four Years after the U.S. Withdrawal” that’s worth a watch.
Beth Bailey’s Afghanistan Project hosted our friends John M and Kate K to talk about the Afghan cases that stick with them.
I wrote an op-ed with my good friend Chris Purdy from The Chamberlain Network about how the military bases we used to host evacuated Afghans in 2021 are being prepped as civilian immigration detention centers.
We are proud to see so many of these organizations still fighting for what’s right and standing with our wartime allies.
There will be new bipartisan legislation introduced in Congress this week which, if passed, will require relocations to restart and help shift us back in the right direction. We are grateful to the legislators who worked to bring this to fruition and will have more updates on that soon.
Battle Buddies is still going strong and we are seeing more and more immigration appointments and court dates submitted for assistance every week. Our training is now available online so if you haven’t signed up to stand with our allies here at home, please do so today.
We have updated numbers, current as of July 29, 2025
Consular Track (SIV focused)
Applicants with COM approval – ~178,000
Of that 178,00 – 34,000 are Principal Applicants and 144,000 are derivatives (family)
The number of SIVs issued since 9/2021 – 77,232, for 17,473 PAs and 59,759 derivatives
Number of SIV principal applicant visas remaining: ~9,000
Applicants at COM awaiting decision – ~45,000
Average number of SIVs processing per month – ~200 per month since January 2025, prior to that it was a few thousand a month
Refugee track
There remain about 60,000 Afghans in the refugee track across the world stuck in limbo due to executive order 14163 and the travel ban presidential proclamation. This includes family of active duty military, family reunification cases, and more.
What else to read:
Exclusive: Trump administration weighing refugee cap of 40,000 with focus on white South Africans – Reuters
The Enduring Betrayal of America’s Afghan Allies – The Dispatch
4 years since Taliban took Kabul, millions of Afghans have been sent back – MSN
Afghans in Vermont recognizes 4-year anniversary of U.S. withdrawal – Vermont Biz
Support is Back for Afghan SIV Holders – International Rescue Committee
On an administrative note, we’re going to transition this Monday email update over to Substack in the coming weeks. We’re hopeful that it will be an easier delivery mechanism, and as a bonus, readers will have all the information accessible in one place. We’ll add the old content as well, though probably not all at once, and you’ll still get an email notification when the substacks post.
We know that where things stand right now is not where we want them to be – and that makes the marking of these anniversaries even more difficult. AfghanEvac is proud to still be in this fight along with so many others, and we will continue to push for this country to keep the promises it made to our wartime allies.