Betraying Our Afghan Allies

If they return home, there is no doubt that they will be brutally executed by the Taliban.

Jun 13, 2025

Families evacuated from Kabul, Afghanistan, walk through the terminal before boarding a bus after they arrived at Washington Dulles International Airport, in Chantilly, Va. Aug. 27, 2021. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

The British invaded Afghanistan during the First Anglo-Afghan War, which began on October 1, 1838, and lasted until October 1842. What started as a successful invasion and occupation of Kabul turned into a disastrous retreat in 1842 that resulted in the deaths of nearly the entire British contingent, with only one survivor from the original force making it back to safety.

Inside Afghanistan in 1986 with the mujahideen. I am standing in the middle.

The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan on December 24, 1979, aiming to prop up the communist government, which was facing opposition from various insurgent groups known as the Mujahideen. The conflict lasted for nearly a decade, and again ended in a disastrous retreat in February 1989.

I was covering the war inside the country with the Mujahideen (freedom fighters) in 1986. It seemed clear to me even then that the Afghan people would fight endlessly against any invader, and that the only way to “win a war” there would necessitate destroying the entire nation.

For America, it was a 20-year war that also ended in disaster.

Following the 9/11 attacks, the U.S. invaded Afghanistan on October 7, 2001, hoping to dismantle Al-Qaeda and crush the Taliban controlled government, which was refusing to hand over Osama bin Laden.

2,400 American military personnel were killed in the war, and over 20,000 U.S. service members were wounded in action. Bin Laden was never turned over.

On February 29, 2020, in what was perceived by many to be an unspoken surrender, Donald Trump signed a peace agreement with the Taliban during his first presidency, agreeing to a complete withdrawal of U.S. troops by May 1, 2021.

The agreement was delayed until August 30, 2021, and became a debacle for the Biden administration when thirteen U.S. service members were killed in a suicide bombing outside Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, where more than one hundred thousand people were gathered trying to flee the country.

Among those fleeing were tens of thousands of Afghans who had worked with U.S. forces and the U.S. government, including interpreters, contractors, and other support personnel who had assisted U.S. military operations and diplomatic efforts during the conflict.

Now, they are being betrayed.

The Trump administration has now revoked the legal status of immigrants who were allowed to enter the U.S., including Afghans who aided the U.S. during the war in their home country.

"We're breaking our promises," said Zia Ghafoori, a former Afghan interpreter who worked with Army Special Forces before coming to the U.S. in 2014 and now runs a nonprofit that aids other former interpreters. Quoted in Military.com, Ghafoori notes, "We promised these people that if you stood with me, we will stand with you. But where are those promises today?"

One of two masked men wearing ICE jackets stands in front of a man from Afghanistan as he is detained after an appearance in San Diego Immigration Court Thursday. (Photo by Adrian Childress/Times of San Diego)

An Afghan national was whisked away by armed ICE agents on the fourth floor of the San Diego Immigration Court on Thursday after attending a routine hearing.

According to the Times of San Diego, while being arrested, he said, “I didn’t know that this would happen … I worked with the U.S. military. I worked in a very dangerous part of Afghanistan with the U.S. military.”

A stain on our national honor.

“It’s an absolute stain on our national honor that we’ve pulled the rug out from under people who have patiently been awaiting relocation and those here in the US who have recently arrived,” said Shawn VanDiver, a Navy veteran and head of #AfghanEvac, a coalition supporting Afghan resettlement efforts.

Betraying allies who assisted in conflicts, such as those in Afghanistan, undermines trust and discourages other nations from forming alliances with the U.S. in the future.

Once a leader of the free world, our nation is spiraling into isolationism, authoritarianism, and cruelty, with the future of American democracy and its role in the global order at stake.