Help now! Save our WarTime Allies .
Since AWA’s inception in 2019, two years prior to the withdrawal of the United States from Afghanistan on August 31, 2021, we have been an entirely volunteer based organization comprised of alliance of individual veterans, United States civilian subject-matter experts and Iraqi-American and Afghan-American community members. Our mission, to serve and support Iraqi and Afghan Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) applicants. These allies served alongside military personnel at great personal risk, in many cases directly saving American lives or preventing casualties. Service by these allies alongside United States military and coalition forces has resulted in ongoing extreme risk to their own lives and to the safety of their families now that the United States has withdrawn protective forces from Afghanistan and Iraq. The majority of our wartime allies have been left behind.
In August 2021, everything changed seemingly overnight. The chaotic evacuation from Kabul left an estimated 96% of our SIV applicants behind in Afghanistan. Analysis of current Department of State data tells us that at the current rate, it may take close to 31 YEARS before we can process and relocate the remaining SIV applicants out of Afghanistan. These staggering numbers don’t even include the tens of thousands of other Afghans at risk in Afghanistan that don’t fit into the niche qualifications of the SIV programs.
Given the incredulous severity of the prospects of the current processing timelines for the SIV, the systemic retribution against our Wartime Allies, atrocities, human rights violations and the dire humanitarian crisis that grows daily in Afghanistan, and a functional shuttering of the Iraqi SIV program, we must prepare for the long game which can no longer be sustained as an entirely volunteer organization. WE NEED YOUR HELP.
From what started as helping “a few cases” all those years ago, the Association of Wartime Allies (AWA) now serves as the preeminent advocate for Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) eligible individuals. AWA offers interactive, real-time technical assistance and education to 20,300+ SIV principal applicants (representing an estimated 91,350 people when family members are included) to enable them to navigate the complexities of the SIV process with as few delays of their applications as possible.
In light of its direct involvement assisting Iraqi and Afghan wartime allies, AWA has a unique, informed, and first-hand knowledge of the government’s administration and implementation of the SIV program, including the consequences of when congressionally-mandated processing periods are not met. Thus, in addition to providing technical and material assistance to SIV-eligible persons, AWA advocates for a generous, fair, and efficient SIV application process and seeks to identify and address systematic issues in the visa process that create barriers to life-saving protections. AWA’s subject matter experts advocate with key governmental agencies such as the US Department of State (DOS), Consular services, National Visa Center, USCIS and numerous U.S. based legal and resettlement organizations to offer a robust network of support to SIV applicants and recipients.
To assist us in this effort, please DONATE NOW (link below) to our mission, to which we are dedicated to seeing through until such time as our Wartime Allies are successfully resettled and established in the U.S.
