Afghanistan Operations
In the chaos of August 2021:
“A new group made up of former military members and Bay Area tech and legal experts is helping to rescue dozens of people from Afghanistan.”
-NBC Bay Area
We quickly started getting people through the chaos into Hamid Karzai International Airport (HKIA).
A Veteran's story
Our former CFO Moises E. is a Veteran of Helmand Province, Afghanistan. Listen to his story about how he refused to give up on his interpreters left behind. Spoiler alert — he saved 70% of them, and he won’t give up on the other 30%.
He found a way.
Our impact
Rescuing doctors and their families
A US NGO contacted us to request assistance to evacuate 82 of their staff and families from Afghanistan. Still one of largest operations to date, this occurred during the chaos of August.
We immediately got to work. We organized transport and secured safe passage through the checkpoints around the airport; however, a mix-up in paperwork by the US Department of State meant these people could not enter the airport despite being booked on a charter flight. Amid the deteriorating security situation, attacks within Kabul, and the suicide attack at the airport gate, we had to balance two impossible tasks: keep them safe yet within 15 minutes of the airport at all times.
For 4 days we kept our people supplied, fed, and with great difficulty, safe. Eventually, we negotiated safe passage with the US authorities for them to enter the airport and board their flight.
They left on one of the last 3 planes from Kabul on August 27th. Mission accomplished.
A high-speed operations to save 40 people
Forty. That’s how many men, women, children we saved in a day. Sometimes you have to move fast – real fast. A fleeting opportunity to land a plane, a chance to get 40 members of a religious minority to somewhere where they can enjoy the freedom of religion we all take for granted. That’s what happened two days ago.
Allied Extract and our network quickly and safely moved 40 people across the country, kept them safe, and, when the moment came, got them EXACTLY where they needed to be. Now safe in a third country, we remain true to our promise: we find a way.
Saving those we fought alongside
After close to two and half of months of crippling anxiety, hundreds of calls, and thousands of emails, I am elated to report that my good friend Lucky & Dr. Jalal are coming home through a @mercurylcharity Flight.
Those that have been following since the beginning of #operationpashtunwali know that our small group tried everything under the sun to get our brothers into Hamid Karzai Airport before the August 26th bombing. Their failure to enter the airport led to heartbreaks and some serious anxiety attacks, but that failure opened the door to collaboration with @direwolf0331’s and @hlegg with Allied Extract, an organization of which I am proud to be a part.
With the help of @alliedextract and the individuals that make up our group, as well as other organizations like @sertministries and individuals who have taken interest in our cause, we have been able to extract over 170 at-risk Afghans and safe house hundreds more across Afghanistan. Our hope is to ensure that deserving Afghans like Lucky & Jalal get a fighting chance, and for this purpose alone we will find a way.
While I will certainly celebrate this great victory for me and my team (a small victory in the great scheme of our mission), we remember that many of our good friends are still stuck in Mazar: the Batens, the Mangals, the Farids, and the Hezbullahs. To you guys, I say that we will not let up until you’re on American soil. @alliedextract will find a way.
83 people moved to safety in just 24 hours
As part of a response across multiple groups, Allied Extract stepped up to provide safe and secure in-country movement in early September.
We shifted 83 people and their families to a safer regional city just in time for them to be placed on an evacuation flight.
This extremely high-risk operation crossed 11 Taliban checkpoints in contested space and required driving one-third of the way across the country.
This was the first time this had been done since the fall of Kabul in early August.
We found a way
Protecting the voice of women's rights
A prominent women’s civil rights activist faced immediate danger from the Taliban after many years of activism both in Afghanistan and the West and was classified as “at extreme risk.”
She hid in her safe house with her friend, fearing the Taliban. As she was so high-profile, there was no way for her to safely move across Kabul to the airport where she had been approved for an express entry.
With no traditional assets available to save her, we stepped in.
We ran an extreme-risk operation moving the group safely across Kabul, relaying live data to avoid checkpoints, and utilizing our operational experience to coordinate our teams on the ground. At two points, we nearly lost everything: a disgruntled Taliban commander at a checkpoint we couldn’t avoid and a surprise crowd. In both cases, the quick thinking of our team got us through
Once we got them safely to the airport with US troops (pictured), we all breathed a sign of relief.