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It was nearly 3 a.m. in New York, however Nazdana Hassani refused to go to sleep.
She stared at her cellphone, closing and refreshing WhatsApp, hoping that her mom’s web had been restored at her dwelling in Afghanistan.
She tried three extra instances, however the name wouldn’t undergo.
The final time Ms. Hassani noticed her mom in particular person was August 2021, days earlier than the Taliban seized management of Kabul.
Ms. Hassani, 24, served within the Afghan Nationwide Military’s Feminine Tactical Platoon, a squad of all girls that accompanied U.S. Particular Operations troops on missions in search of out high-level Taliban, Al Qaeda and ISIS targets. Because the Taliban took over two summers in the past, Ms. Hassani confronted a choice: reside beneath a repressive authorities as a lady who labored alongside the U.S. Military, or flee her dwelling nation for the US.
“If I stayed, the Taliban would have killed me and my household,” she stated.
Of the 45 Afghan girls who served in Ms. Hassani’s platoon, 39 escaped amid the chaotic withdrawal of U.S. troops almost two years in the past.
Now Ms. Hassani and most of her platoon are among the many tens of hundreds of Afghans dwelling in the US as humanitarian parolees, a short lived authorized standing. This month, the Biden administration introduced a plan to permit Afghans to use for a parole extension to allow them to proceed dwelling and dealing in the US after their standing expires in August. It’s unclear if the extensions, if granted, can be for 2 years, as they had been the primary time.
For many who had been within the platoon, the objective is to remain in the US long run and to have their households, who’re nonetheless in Afghanistan, be part of them. Ms. Hassani and almost all the platoon members have utilized for asylum — a protected standing for these fearing persecution of their dwelling nation — however the system is severely backlogged. Solely three of the ladies to this point have been granted asylum, which permits them to acquire a inexperienced card and produce their households over.
Senator Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat from Minnesota, has sponsored the Afghan Adjustment Act, a invoice that will create a authorized pathway for everlasting residency for Afghans who labored alongside People throughout the Afghanistan battle.
“So lots of our Afghan allies risked their lives and their family members’ security to guard our service members,” Ms. Klobuchar stated.
The laws stalled within the final Congress amid Republican considerations about the vetting of candidates, however Ms. Klobuchar stated she was working with Republicans to construct help for an additional try later this 12 months.
Ms. Hassani, who works at a present store in a quiet suburb of Westchester County, N.Y., shares an condo with two Afghan girls whom she met at a shelter for evacuees in 2021.
The one piece of artwork in Ms. Hassani’s room is a portray propped up by the foot of her mattress.
“I made this after I first got here to the U.S.,” she stated. “Some volunteers on the camps gave us paint and canvas.”
Becoming a member of the military was Ms. Hassani’s childhood dream. The youngest member of the platoon, she was born simply months earlier than the beginning of America’s two-decade battle in Afghanistan.
“I keep in mind my mother telling us, the People, they’re right here for us, they’re good individuals,” Ms. Hassani stated.
The thought for Ms. Hassani’s platoon got here a couple of decade into the battle, when the U.S. army determined it wanted feminine troops to assist patrol rural villages. It was thought of culturally insensitive for the male troopers to go looking or discuss to Afghan girls.
Mary Kolars, an Military captain who labored intently with the platoon, stated having them on missions was invaluable. “They’d details about tribal affiliations, they may have a look at a village and inform us what doesn’t match, they helped us seek for high-ranking targets.”
At the moment, a lot of the platoon members are scattered throughout the US working minimum-wage service jobs.
Since arriving, Ms. Hassani clings to recollections of her adventures within the military.
“I attempt to be glad about my life right here,” she stated. “However my life and job, it’s all simply very completely different now.”
Final month, Ms. Kolars, Ms. Hassani and almost all the platoon members in the US traveled to Washington, D.C., to foyer Congress to move the Afghan Adjustment Act.
“Day by day hurts, as a result of I do know that my household isn’t protected in Afghanistan,” Ms. Hassani stated.
She and different members of the platoon stated they underwent intensive background checks to serve alongside the American army. The ladies additionally stated that they needed to receive written permission from male kin to affix the Afghan Military. These paperwork contained details about the ladies’s households and remained in Afghan authorities information after Kabul fell.
Most of the girls stated that since then, kin have been threatened, tortured or killed by Talibs, in response to Ms. Kolars. She and different American troopers who labored with the platoon stated they suppose the Taliban has used the paperwork to trace down members of the family.
“It’s simply exhausting, to reside life with this fixed nervousness in regards to the household that’s again dwelling,” stated Jawida Afshari, 34, who served within the platoon for almost a decade and who helped prepare recruits, together with Ms. Hassani.
Each girls interviewed for asylum final October — Ms. Afshari was granted asylum, whereas Ms. Hassani’s utility continues to be pending.
Ms. Afshari, who works at a Chick-fil-A close to her Dallas condo advanced, stated she typically finds herself eager about life earlier than Kabul fell. She had been weeks away from acquiring a legislation diploma at Kabul College.
“I’m so fortunate, as a result of the ladies in Afghanistan, they’ll’t work at eating places, they’ll’t depart the home,” Ms. Afshari stated. “However it may be exhausting to recollect how lengthy I labored and studied at dwelling, and the way that was all taken away so rapidly.”
Whereas she waits for the chance to use for a inexperienced card, Ms. Afshari tries to carve out pockets of pleasure from her life in Dallas. Most of her neighbors are immigrants from Iraq and Mexico. “None of us can communicate English, however we discover a method to discuss,” she stated with fun.
The day she found an Arabic grocery retailer close by that shares halal meats, Ms. Afshari cooked a feast of Afghan shawarma for her neighbors.
Mahnaz Akbari, the commander of the platoon, additionally doesn’t have asylum. She has used her English language abilities to work for a nonprofit in Washington. She stated she tries to maintain morale excessive even when the ladies are exhausted, typically by means of group video calls.
Whereas cooking dinner in her Silver Spring, Md., condo final week, Ms. Akbari propped up her cellphone on the kitchen counter, ready for platoon members on the West Coast to affix.
Throughout these calls, the ladies alternate pictures, share Afghan recipes that may be made utilizing American groceries and advise each other on questions on life in the US. What number of bank cards are you alleged to open? Goes to the D.M.V. as dangerous as individuals say? Ms. Hassani stated these calls have turn out to be a lifeline.
Within the weeks after her asylum interview, Ms. Hassani was consumed by nervousness, questioning why there had been no replace on her case. She saved replaying the interview in her head, questioning if she had someway made a misstep. Ms. Hassani stated Ms. Akbari’s help helped her keep calm.
“Mahnaz takes time to cheer us up,” she stated, “so we don’t hand over.”
Luke Broadwater contributed reporting.
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