VOICES OF THE DIASPORA 2 - VOICES OF THE DIASPORA

Isaiah Campbell) 14 SPECIAL INSPECTOR GENERAL I AFGHANISTAN RECONSTRUCTION VOICES OF THE DIASPORA -------- VOICES OF THE DIASPORA Since the fall of the Afghan government in 2021, SIGAR has interviewed members of the Afghan diaspora in the United States and elsewhere about the current situation in Afghanistan, their work in Afghanistan prior to the Taliban takeover, how they departed Afghanistan, a. [...] I had no money, no docu- ments, everything was left in the plane that crashed,” he said.12 A former member of the ANDSF described in detail how it was not just the withdrawal of Coalition forces that left the country vulnerable, but also the failure of the Afghan government to reevaluate its position and take action to defend the country in accordance with its existing plans. [...] The cousin has since relocated to the United States, but the 14-year-old daughter and the rest of the family remain in Afghanistan where they are subject to Taliban threats and intimidation.17 The Taliban’s Continuous Human Rights Abuses Across the board, Afghans said they feared the Taliban for their continuous abuses of human rights. [...] Unable to speak English, often illiterate, and stuck at home in small apartments with lots of children, they find themselves isolated in the United States.61 One inter- viewee told SIGAR many of the ex-Afghan military members in the United States were also seriously depressed due to the traumatic nature of their mission in Afghanistan, the events that led to their evacuation, the con- cern of losi. [...] From reprisal killings and other human rights violations to the staggering decline of access to and quality of education, Afghans in the United States fear the consequences of the Taliban’s draconian restrictions of the Afghan people’s rights.