San Diego-based Afghan advocacy group says Trump admin’s offer to help a ‘welcome surprise’

Joel Anderson speaks before those gathered at the USS Midway in 2023. (File photo courtesy AfghanEvac) A San Diego group that supports the resettlement of Afghan wartime allies in the United States Sunday said President Donald Trump’s offer to help Afghans stranded in the United Arab Emirates is a “welcome surprise.” “His words — `I will try to save them, starting right now’ —  could mean the difference between life and death for the brave Afghan men, women and children currently stuck in the UAE, in Qatar and elsewhere around the world, ” AfghanEvac officials said in a news release. Trump posted on his Truth Social platform Sunday that he “will try to save” Afghans who have been “detained in the United Arab Emirates for years after fleeing their country when the United States pulled out and the Taliban took power.” “We urge President Trump to follow through on this commitment — not just with a Truth Social post, but with action,” AfghanEvac added. “That means working to immediately secure protections and departures for the Afghans at the Emirates Humanitarian City in UAE and Camp As Sayliyah in Qatar, and ensuring they are not deported back into the hands of the Taliban.” As a nonprofit group formed after the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan in August 2021, AfghanEvac describes itself as administering a coalition “focused on deconflicting communications, effort and systemic issues across the full enterprise of efforts focused on helping Afghans evacuate and resettle safely, swiftly and within the bounds of the law. “It also means addressing the broader pipeline: tens of thousands of U.S.-affiliated Afghans who remain in danger across the globe — from Islamabad to Istanbul, from Albania to Africa — because they believed in America and helped our forces in their hour of need,” they added. Last month, AfghanEvac said it was “deeply concerned” over federal immigration officials’ arrest and detainment of a former Afghan National Army soldier in Texas. The man, whose name was unavailable, “had previously been granted asylum protections, but those were revoked under the (Trump) administration’s new executive orders,” the group stated. Shawn VanDiver, AfghanEvac president and board chairman, said earlier that he met with Democratic U.S. Rep. Scott Peters of San Diego regarding the Afghan soldier’s situation. Trump “has the authority to do the right thing,” the group said. “He should instruct the (U.S. Department of Homeland Security) and the Department of State to expedite processing, push for third-country partnerships and ensure that we never again leave our wartime allies behind.” AfghanEvac said it welcomes “any step that brings our Afghan allies closer to safety — and we are ready to work with anyone, including the president, to make that happen.”