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A group of international advocacy groups including Amnesty International, Oxfam, Freedom House, and nearly 100 other organizations issued a statement that tens of thousands of Afghans who worked alongside the US during 2 decades of war and reconstruction may be at high risk in Taliban-run Afghanistan. The group forwarded a letter to several senior US officials, which expressed frustration with the Biden administration’s failure to evacuate at-risk Afghans more quickly. The letter said, “We call on the Biden Administration to prioritize their safe evacuation before it is too late. Some of these individuals assisted the US and allied armed forces. Others worked for or alongside US-based and funded organizations to secure women’s rights, establish a free press, or provide desperately needed humanitarian assistance to their countrymen and women”.

The group also said, “All are now bound by their shared fear for their safety. If the White House does not move to evacuate them with haste, it will leave an indelible stain on this Administration’s stated commitment to a foreign policy centered on human rights and its repeated commitments to support at-risk Afghans”. The letter is dated October 28 and addressed to White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, and others. The group urged the Biden administration to act now to evacuate and resettle a broader spectrum of at-risk Afghans, and to reveal its strategy for doing so. The letter expressed disappointment in the Biden Administration’s overly narrow list of priority stakeholders for evacuation.

The Biden administration is prioritizing American citizens, legal permanent residents, and family members of those 2 categories, as well as embassy employees and recipients of special immigrant visas (SIV). The group argued, “Thousands of other Afghans face an immediate need for protection due to their affiliation with the US Government, while these individuals are deserving of US evacuation support. The failure to prioritize them as well imperils their lives. The Taliban is targeting Afghans, including those who have worked with the US and allied armed forces, as well as women’s rights advocates and other activists, with retaliatory killings and violence. If the US doesn’t bring these vulnerable Afghans to safety, it will have failed to uphold its commitment to human rights and turned its back on the very causes of human dignity and freedom it claims to uphold”.