Help Afghan who served with the U.S. Army to flee

My name is Walt and I am an officer in the U.S. Army Reserve. I am asking for your help to relocate “Mo”, who worked alongside me and other U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan. Mo was denied a Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) to live in the U.S. due to an administrative technicality described below, and he is at serious risk of being targeted by the Taliban in Afghanistan. I am working with Mo to explore all options to safely exit him from Afghanistan, whether to the U.S. or another country. Mo’s future is now filled with great uncertainty, and he will face many expenses in the coming months, such as travel to other countries, visa applications, living expenses, and legal fees. Due to this uncertainty, I aim to raise $10,000 to ensure he is covered for contingencies. I will be withdrawing the funds and wiring them to Mo at his bank account in Afghanistan.

As many people following the news are aware, the Taliban have retaken much of Afghanistan and the deteriorating security situation places anyone who has worked with U.S. or NATO forces at risk. While much has been written in the media about interpreters, the reality is that many other Afghans placed their lives at risk to work with and support U.S. forces in other roles.

In 2014, I deployed to Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan to lead the cash funding mission for all U.S. counter-insurgency operations in the country. Our Afghan partners were key to our success. They risked their lives traveling to and working on base every day for years to support our operations. I subsequently sponsored Mo for the SIV program to come to the U.S. Unfortunately, Mo and his colleagues worked for the U.S. under a “memorandum of agreement” rather than a formal contract. This sole administrative technicality precluded Mo and his colleagues from eligibility for the SIV program and he was denied a visa (see below letter). I personally contacted the State Department to appeal and was told he would not be eligible under current rules. In the words of Mo, the Taliban will not care whether he had a contract or not – he is already a marked man for having worked for the U.S. government for over 3 years.

Please help me to do right by Mo and show that the U.S. people will not turn their backs on the Afghan people who willingly risked their lives under the belief that the U.S. government would remain true to its principles. The U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan will soon be complete and Mo is running out of time and options.