What life looks like for one Afghan who resettled in New England, 5 years after U.S. withdrawal

This is Up Next. I'm Tiziana Dearing. It's five years this week since the United States withdrew from Afghanistan. Thousands of Afghans who fled the country have settled in New England and begun lives here since then, and for many, their future still feels uncertain. Leah left Afghanistan in 2021 and lives in southern New Hampshire. She's asked us to use her nickname because of her immigration status, although she is a green card holder. And Jeff Thielman helped Leah settle here. He's the president of the International Institute of New England. Good morning to you both. Good morning, Tiziana. Good morning. Thank you for having us. Leah, I'll start with you. You have a special immigrant visa, which means you assisted the United States government during the war. How? So when I was living in Afghanistan, obviously before 2021, I was working for an organization, U.S. organization, and we were helping women to educate and to promote them, to encourage them to get government jobs. That seems like that could have been a dangerous choice. Why did you want to do the work? It was a dangerous choice. My hope was to help women to get their rights, and I was a women's rights activist in Afghanistan. That was a choice, and I would love to help my country women. So did you leave during the chaos in 2021? Yes, left Afghanistan during the chaos. I was living with my family in northern part of Afghanistan. We had to leave the city. We had to sell our house. I remember the day we sold our house. That was the day that our city was captured by Taliban. Me, one of my sister and one of my cousins decided to go to Kabul airport because I heard that U.S. government was trying to evacuate Afghan alias, the ones who work for U.S. and put their life in danger. So we managed to enter the airport, but my family, they left behind. We got separated, and they couldn't get into the airport because it was chaos, crowd. We had to spend the night sleeping on the ground while we were waiting for our flight. It was tough, but luckily, we got evacuated. Jeff, IINE has resettled a number of Afghans here in the area. This story we just heard from Leah, how typical is it of what you've heard? It's very typical. We resettled about 625 Afghans in the four and a half months from October 21 to February 22. And many, many people had traumatic experiences at the airport. When I asked some of our Afghan colleagues or some of our Afghan clients, how are you doing? They're happy to be in the United States, but they miss home and they miss their families, and they wish they were reunited. So Leah, let's come back now. How would you describe your experience between when you leave in that chaos and some moment when you're sitting in an apartment or a home and feeling like, OK, it's going to be OK? So everything changed overnight. It was like a nightmare, like a dream. I wasn't sure what just happened. And all of a sudden, I didn't have my family beside me, and I'm in a new country. But it was much better than my situation if I was in Afghanistan at that time. Did your sister and your cousin come with you? They did come with me. We were living together for a couple of months. Now I live with my sister and my cousin is in a different city. And your family's still in Afghanistan? My family, unfortunately, they are still in Afghanistan. And my three sisters over there, they are stuck at home. They cannot go to school, no jobs, even going outside. It's hard. They cannot even have a walk in parks. Their situation over there is horrifying. And I am really worried about them. It's 2026 now here in the United States. Do you feel as welcome and safe here now as you did, let's say, a year after you arrived? I do feel welcomed over here. I have got my green card now. I am a green card holder. And I have really nice friends. I made friendship over here. I'm working. I do feel welcome. Yes. And Jeff, many people who have legal status to be here in the United States still find themselves concerned about or potentially facing challenges to that status from the Trump administration. Should the 600 plus people that IINE has resettled here feel safe and stable? And Leah, I know I'm sort of talking about you like you're not in the room, but it feels like an important question to ask, Jeff. So, yeah, I mean, to be in full disclosure, we have had some of our Afghan clients, at least one or two that I know, maybe more who have been detained for a period of time by ICE. And that is discouraging and unsettling because they had all of their paperwork. And it's absolutely wrong. And it's especially absolutely wrong when you are talking about groups of people who worked for the United States government during our 20 year presence in Afghanistan. So we have people living in fear for sure. And Jeff, what is the reality for people who came here after the 20 years of the United States in Afghanistan and now want to bring family members? The answer usually is, I'm very sorry, but we don't have a solution for you right now. And I wish we did. And we're not going to lose hope on our end. We're going to keep advocating. But in terms of a legal, tactical, practical solution that can get your family here, we don't have one right now. OK, thank you. Wait, Leah. I said yes, unfortunately, that's correct. I'm hoping once I got my citizenship, I will be reunited with my family. And I would appreciate if United States government helped me get united with my family, at least with my three sisters that they are stuck at home and they don't have the most basic rights a human, a woman could have in the world. We are using Leah's nickname because she's concerned about her immigration status. Leah is from Afghanistan, worked with the U.S. government and evacuated Afghanistan in 2021. Jeff Thielman is president of the International Institute of New England and helped Leah relocate to the United States. Thanks so much to both of you. Thank you, Tizian. Thank you for having us.