Tucson Opinion: How you can help Afghan refugees

The following column is the opinion and analysis of the writer:

We are university educators. We have spent years guiding students through the shoals of academia to become thoughtful, ethical, humanitarian-minded professionals.

We have also worked at various times and on various projects with colleagues in Afghanistan; dozens of university teachers whom, we hope, benefited from educational interaction with their U.S. counterparts in journalism, document digitization, cultural preservation, and library and information science.

We are now getting anxious pleas from some of these colleagues. Some feel their work is now threatened by the Taliban who have taken over the country. Some are now part of more than 290,000 people recently displaced. “I left my office in my house two weeks ago and I am hiding in an unknown place. I received many threatening calls and messages from the Taliban …” wrote one colleague.

Few Afghans have sufficient resources, much less the time or ability to escape. The Taliban control the borders. Overburdened neighboring countries refuse entry of more refugees. We have all seen the videos of the chaos at the Kabul airport. Flights are limited. Many feel trapped.

The city parks in Kabul are overflowing with displaced people — mostly women, children and old men — who have fled their towns and villages seeking safety and humanitarian aid. They have found little of either. They lack shelter, water, food, schooling and medical care — in the middle of a drought and a pandemic.

Nearly one in every 100 people in the country are uprooted. The U.N. High Commission for Refugees has warned of an “imminent humanitarian crisis.” The International Rescue Committee estimates 18.4 million, nearly half of the total population, require humanitarian aid. These numbers will shift as events unfold on the ground.

The entire international community has a responsibility to protect the most vulnerable in these situations, and national governments bear responsibility for the care of its citizens. But the international community seems paralyzed, and the Afghan government is now controlled by the perpetrators of the crisis.

We Americans have a special obligation for the safety and security of the most desperate Afghans at this moment.

For some 20 years, our lives have been inextricably tied to the lives of the Afghan people. Some 2,400 U.S. military personnel have died; nearly 21,000 injured. Billions of tax-payer dollars spent. How many U.S. citizens were served and protected by Afghan interpreters, truck drivers, cooks and other local workers? How many Americans have worked with Afghan-serving NGOs and international humanitarian aid or educational organizations? At The University of Arizona alone, dozens of faculty, staff and students have worked on projects with Afghan colleagues.

Aside from our heightened connection to Afghanistan, the United States has had a long tradition of providing refuge and needed aid. We can step up for Afghanistan as we have in the past to assist those suffering from earthquakes, tsunamis and floods or fleeing violence, poverty and persecution.

Tucsonans have a history of assisting people forced from their homes. From the Sanctuary Movement to the Primavera Foundation to Casa Alitas to resettling refugees from Iraq, Sudan or Somalia, the city and its people have offered shelter to those seeking safety and have provided refugees a chance to restart their lives and contribute to the ever-diversifying culture of the city.

There is much we Tucsonans can do now to assist Afghan families. There is much more we can do later when people begin to arrive in the Sonoran Desert to begin new lives.

Right now, we can call and encourage our Congressional representatives to support humanitarian assistance for the millions displaced inside the country or forced to migrate.

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We can ask them to support a humanitarian corridor to, and international control of, Kabul international airport so those most threatened can safely leave the country and aid can get in.

We can encourage elected officials to support admitting much larger numbers of refugees — to the US and other countries. And we can specifically encourage expedited processing of the Special Immigration Visas and Priority 2 visas for those Afghans who worked closely with US servicemembers and organizations.

Arizona Senators: https://www.senate.gov/senators/senators-contact.htm

Arizona Representatives: https://www.house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative

Right now, there are the large international organizations that have been providing aid in Afghanistan and surrounding countries.

UNHCR: https://www.unhcr.org/en-us/

Red Cross/Red Crescent: https://www.icrc.org/en/where-we-work/asia-pacific/Afghanistan

Right now, there are local organizations already working with refugees to help them settle in our community. We can donate money to them:

International Rescue Committee: https://www.rescue.org/

Lutheran Social Services: https://www.lss-sw.org/refugeeservices and donations@lss-sw.org

Catholic Community Services: https://www.ccs-soaz.org/

Tucson Refugee Ministry: https://www.tucsonrefugeeministry.com/

Later, when Afghan families begin a new life here, we can volunteer with the local organizations and directly work with new Tucsonans to help them adapt. New families need ongoing support, for example, with language, shopping, tutoring and getting to medical appointments. There is something for everyone to do.

While it is easy to wring our hands or flame out in anger as we watch at the situation in Afghanistan deteriorate, we will all feel a bit better doing something to improve conditions at least for some of the Afghan people. We can support them with humanitarian aid, assist the most threatened to get out of the country and welcome them into our community.