Letters from AWA:
The story behind the work.
For years, much of AWA's work has happened quietly, behind the scenes and alongside the Afghan allies we serve. As we approach five years since the fall of Kabul, we are sharing some of that story in a series of personal letters: how this work began, what we've learned, what happened when Afghanistan fell, and why our commitment continues today.
LETTER ONE:
Before there was AWA
For many people, AWA's story begins with the fall of Kabul in August 2021. Mine begins years earlier, when I started answering questions from Afghan SIV applicants and quickly learned how difficult it was to find reliable information about an extraordinarily complicated process.
I wasn't trying to build an organization. I was simply trying to help. Eventually, the need became bigger than one person, and in 2019, the Association of Wartime Allies was born.
LETTER TWO:
The AWA Model
What does "technical support" actually mean when the question being asked could affect a family's future?
AWA built a model around listening directly to Afghan SIV applicants, combining their real-world experiences with deep subject-matter expertise. That connection allows us to answer individual questions, recognize larger patterns, challenge misinformation, and sometimes identify problems affecting far more than the person who first asked for help.