Sponsorship as Service: Welcoming Our Afghan Allies

After 20 years in the United States Army, including tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, I thought I knew what service meant. But civilian life introduced me to a new kind of mission — one that has enriched my life in ways I never expected.

As I approached the end of my military career in 2020, I knew I wanted to stay connected to the community and help our allies in a meaningful way. I had come across No One Left Behind, an organization supporting Iraqi and Afghan allies arriving in the U.S. through the Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) Program. They were recruiting new board members in late 2019, and shortly after retiring, I had the opportunity to serve on the primarily veteran-led board as vice chairman (https://rly.pt/NoOneLeftBehind).

When I joined No One Left Behind, the organization was focused on resettlement and advocacy. However, when Kabul fell in 2021, our mission expanded dramatically. Suddenly, our country was faced with the challenge of resettling nearly 80,000 Afghan evacuees through a resettlement infrastructure that had welcomed just 11,400 refugees the year before. The handful of government-funded groups that had traditionally overseen all resettlement efforts were quickly overwhelmed with the volume of new arrivals, which created a bottleneck for evacuees in desperate need of refuge.

In the midst of this crisis, veterans and veteran-led organizations, businesses, faith communities, and Afghan-American organizations quickly stepped in to fill gaps and help Afghan families resettle successfully in communities all across the United States.

It was through this work that I met Dr. Latifa Hamidi. Latifa had worked with the U.S. Government as an interpreter and program manager, and No One Left Behind was trying to help get her family out of Afghanistan. As I spoke to Latifa, I was struck by our similarities — we were the same age — and the vast differences in our situations. A former medical doctor turned translator, Latifa was the SIV recipient for her family, an unusual circumstance for an Afghan woman. She faced a new and uncertain future in the United States with her husband and two young children.

As our relationship developed, I wanted to do whatever I could to support Latifa. Coincidentally, my home in Stephens City, Virginia was a duplex, and the previous tenants in one unit had just moved out. I had extra room. But this felt like more than coincidence — it was my chance to make a real difference for a family that was suddenly forced to rebuild their lives. Before long, Latifa and her family had moved in and lived with me for 15 months as Latifa found work as a translator and navigated re-entry into the medical field. Last fall, the family moved to Dallas, Texas where Latifa accepted a position with the Dallas Health Department and is currently working toward getting the certifications and credentials needed to obtain a position commensurate with the medical work she did in Afghanistan.

My friendship with Latifa has become one of the most rewarding parts of my life. Yet, the reality is, even three years after U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, there are still many Afghans living abroad who worked alongside American service members for two decades and are in desperate need of safety. Now, through new resettlement pathways established by the U.S. government, anyone looking to get involved in this same work has an opportunity to do so. The Welcome Corps (https://rly.pt/WelcomeCorps), a State Department program launched in January 2023, allows groups of Americans — including military veterans — to sponsor eligible Afghan refugees for resettlement in the United States. With sponsorship, communities come together to create the financial and social support systems to help our allies establish a new beginning. And nonprofit organizations like Welcome.US are making it easier for U.S. veterans and active military members to engage in sponsorship, by providing resources to support Welcome Corps sponsor groups (https://rly.pt/SponsorGroups).

Welcoming doesn’t have to be a huge gesture — you don’t even need to have an extra room in your duplex like I did. It can be as simple as helping refugee newcomers set up their new home or showing them the best place to get groceries in the neighborhood. For me, being a welcomer is about sharing the sense of home I have found since retiring from the military. Getting to know Latifa and her family has shown me that service to others does not end when you hang up your uniform. If anything, it marks the start of a new chapter — one where we can all play a part in helping our allies build a new life in safety and with hope for the future.