Crisis in Afghanistan
I have watched the developments in Afghanistan with great sadness. I am deeply disappointed and gravely concerned for the country. The last twenty years have been challenging, but the painstaking progresses made in women's rights, education, healthcare and others are now threatened. The U.S. and the international community at large must take steps to prevent a humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan. Those Afghans who are fleeing violence must have access to both safe territory and asylum processes, and I encourage participating states to increase resettlement space for vulnerable Afghan refugees. In addition, it is essential that the international community exert pressure on the Taliban to respect the essential human rights of Afghans, particularly women and girls, and to refrain from using violence against Afghan citizens.
Here in the foundation, we are in contact with our grantees to learn of their safety and working with them to assess their needs. We will not abandon women and children in Afghanistan and recognize that they need our support now more than ever.
-Khaled Hosseini
August 15, 2021
Photo Credit: REUTERS
Photo Credit: U.S. Marines/Reuters
Our Plan
We are deeply concerned for vulnerable Afghans in Afghanistan as well as those forced to flee their homeland.
Aid in Afghanistan:
We anticipate that our healthcare grantees will be able to operate at near-normal capacity and will likely see an increase in the need for their services due to the instability and violence in the region. We also anticipate that our work with the UNHCR will continue as an extraordinary number of people become displaced. We remain steadfast supporters of our grantees providing education and other support to women, but realize that many may not be able to continue operations at this time and will continue to be in touch as best as possible to determine how we can help.
Helping Afghan Refugees:
We will be supporting refugee resettlement organizations in the U.S. to help ensure Afghan refugees can be safely and compassionately resettled in Northern California.
Photo Credit: UNICEF/UN0502897
Our Support
We have provided $100,000 in emergency aid to help support our NGO partners working in Afghanistan providing healthcare and refugee aid for the more than 500,000 internally displaced people in Afghanistan, the majority of which are children.
Photo Credit: REUTERS/Stringer
In the US we are supporting the work of refugee resettlement agencies that have already received families who have fled from Afghanistan and are anticipating hundreds more to arrive shortly. We hope you will join us in welcoming these families.
Photo Credit: U.S. Marine Corps/Sgt. Samuel Ruiz/Handout via REUTERS
