Afghan refugees who were waiting for resettlement have found themselves abruptly in the middle of a war zone.
Last year, President Donald Trump suspended all refugee and asylum applications from the country, including for those who served alongside U.S. forces. The move has left more than a thousand Afghans in limbo at Camp As Sayliyah, a U.S. military base-turned-refugee camp in Qatar.
Activists and family members of those inside the camp have called on the administration to help as the region descends into chaos amid the Iran war. Among them is retired U.S. Marine Ehsan Jamshidi, who has been fighting to free his brother trapped at the camp.
Jamshidi joined “The Weekend” on Sunday to discuss his family’s story and what he wants to see from lawmakers in Washington, D.C.
“He’s been in war in Afghanistan, so this is not his first rodeo,” Jamshidi said of his brother, who provided security for U.S. forces. “He has a niece, he has nephews, and he has a little son, about three years old, and he wants to get them to safety.”
“They’re waking up every day in terror, seeing missile fragments, seeing missiles being intercepted overhead, and they are on a base, stuck,” the former Marine said.
Jamshidi said the United States has abandoned his brother and the thousands like him stranded at the camp.
“This was a promise that was made to them. My brother served the United States diplomatic mission, as well as the armed forces,” he said. “His service matters, and the promise that we gave him, we have to stick to it.”
“We shouldn’t be begging here,” Jamshidi continued. “This is an individual that was vetted. This is an individual that served us, and this is an individual that’s part of the mission as much as we were in Afghanistan.” Jamshidi told MS NOW that both parties, Democrats and Republicans, are responsible for abandoning these refugees and that the refusal of the U.S. to make good on its promise would damage its credibility across the globe. “This is a bipartisan problem, and we need to be able to support these Afghan allies. Because if we don’t, American credibility is on the line, and the world’s watching,” he said. “Our Afghan partners, we need to save them, and they are currently in danger right now and stuck on a base. If we don’t do whatever we can to bring them home, then the partners around the world, they won’t work with us. They’re going to see that we are treating these individuals unfairly,” Jamshidi explained. You can watch Jamshidi’s full interview in the clip at the top of the page.
Allison Detzel is an editor/producer for MS NOW. She was previously a segment producer for “AYMAN” and “The Mehdi Hasan Show.”
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