Rasheed’s Story

“Can anybody help my family?”

Rasheed posted that to Twitter in August, 2021 as the US was withdrawing from Afghanistan and as the Taliban were storming Kabul. You don’t ask for help on Twitter if you have others who can help: family, an employer, a government. This was a final, desperate plea into the abyss of the internet. A true shot in the dark. But when you are likely to be murdered within the week, when your teenager daughters are likely to be married off to the Taliban, and your wife and two babies...

Rasheed worked for many years for the US Government as an environmental engineer, helping US-AID improve irrigation systems throughout Afghanistan. He worked for the US because he believed in a free and democratic Afghanistan for his four young daughters, and because the US promised they’d protected his family in return. When the US withdrew, Rasheed, his wife, and four young daughters were left behind. As a prominent engineer for the US, they had nowhere to hide: the Taliban knew about him and would hunt him down in their revenge mission against all Afghans who collaborated with the US.

EVAC exists because of Rasheed. We responded to his Twitter post. We did not know if we could help—we are just regular citizens, after all—but we could try. We began asking: what’s the next right move for this family? There were still a few days left of US evacuation flights out of Kabul. We needed to get them on one.

We called in every uncomfortable favor from every person we knew (you know who you are, thank you). Within 48 sleepless hours, we were on the phone with the US military at the Kabul airport. After verifying Rasheed’s identity and former employment, his family was manifested: they had 6 seats reserved on one of the last flights out of Kabul. Now we had to get them inside the airport.

You probably saw the pictures on the news: hundreds of thousands of people swarming the Kabul airport, people falling from airplanes. Rasheed and his wife were with four young girls. They couldn’t get through the crowds. So, we got them access to a secret CIA-controlled door at the back of the airport. But on their way to the backside of the airport, ISIS-K exploded suicide bombs in the crowds. Hundreds died, including US service members. The airport locked down, including the CIA-door. Rasheed’s family watched the flight take off without them... 6 empty seats.

*Real texts to Rasheed before ISIS-K bombs explode at Kabul airport.*

“What do we do now?” Rasheed asked. What’s the next right move? Safe shelter. They couldn’t go back home. The Taliban could come looking for them any moment. This is when EVAC established its first safehouse and when our sprint to save Rasheed turned into a marathon that now involves 350 at-risk Afghans.

Evacuation flights out of Kabul ended for the time being. The US was fully out of Afghanistan. However, the Department of State (DoS) was still coordinating intermittent evacuation flights for Afghan Allies. With Kabul overrun by Taliban, we felt it safest to move Rasheed’s family to a smaller city in Northern Afghanistan. There, they’d be further from the Taliban center of operations and closer to a small airport from which DoS was scheduling evacuation flights.

For 6 months, Rasheed’s family lived in a safe house in the North. No going outside, no social media, no doctor appointments, no opening the door, no sitting near the windows. We delivered food and medical supplies covertly. They hid their identifying documentation in sacks of rice. When we’d get intelligence of Taliban house-to-house searches, they’d hide in the closet, sometimes overnight.

*The family hiding on news of nearby Taliban house-to-house searches.*

Finally, a breakthrough... we got them manifested for a DoS evacuation flight out of the North. They would leave the safehouse for the first time in months. On the way to the airport, they’d have to pass through at least two Taliban checkpoints. They’d hide their paperwork in their daughter’s burkas. They’d lie to the Taliban. And we’d pray for safe passage. We dressed them in matching Monster Energy drink hats so that the US operators at the airport could spot them from far away and help them in. We made them write our phone numbers on the inside tags of their clothing and delete everything off their phones; if the Taliban saw US numbers, they’d know. Then, we set them out. And waited.

Failure. DoS spelled their last name wrong. Fury. We’d done everything right! But because of this avoidable DoS administrative error, we sent a family out into danger only to be turned away. They had to return through the Taliban checkpoints again. It exposed the safe house. Heartbreak. For the second time, they watched a flight take off with six empty seats.

What’s the next right move?

We moved Rasheed’s family by land into Pakistan and established our first safehouse there. We moved many more families along this pathway. Rasheed quickly became our most trusted team member in Pakistan. He helped us manage donated money. He coordinated the rental of additional safe houses. He organized food and medical care for other Afghan families we helped. He became our leader for all families we moved to Pakistan. And he served them selflessly.

Months passed. Meanwhile, our team worked furiously to get Rasheed’s family manifested on an evacuation flight out of Islamabad, Pakistan. Our US Congressional partners applied pressure on all the agencies involved in evacuating Afghan Allies. During this time, the depression set in. Rasheed’s teenage girls, who had not been to school in nearly a year, stayed in bed all day. We watched Rasheed’s face become sallow and thin. When we’d try to encourage them to keep hope, the teenage girls would say “stop telling us to have hope, there is none, we have no future.” We held the hope for them.

Then it happened. We were notified that the family was manifested for a DoS evacuation that would leave Islamabad, Pakistan on October, 18th 2022. We sent them to the airport. And it worked. It really, really worked!

428 days after Rasheed’s shot in the dark— “Can anybody help my family?”—they boarded a flight to the US. We met them at the airport in Charlotte and laughed and cried and embraced. They were safe. They are safe.

*Welcoming them at the airport. Everyone cried.*

Originally, Rasheed intended to resettle in Colorado to be near the EVAC team. However, Rasheed’s younger brother lived in Charlotte, North Carolina. And, in a tragic event, the brother’s wife (Rasheed’s sister-in-law) was run over by a drunk driver and killed, leaving the brother with three young children. Rasheed and his wife—always selfless helpers—decided to settle in Charlotte to help take care of the brother and children.

It's been 14 months of fear, struggle, hope, loss, and ultimately victory. Rasheed’s four girls can go to school and get educated. They can live without fear. Though it will not be easy, they will rebuild their lives as American citizens.

When telling Rasheed’s story lately, we’ve often heard “what a miracle.” We’re sorry to say, there was little miraculous about it. It was the strength and endurance of a brave family. It was the tenacity and covenant-like commitment of EVAC’s volunteers to see this mission through. This work is not easy. 14 months of feeding a family, providing medical care, renting safe houses, advancing immigration cases, hiding from a violent, well-armed militia. It’s been an exhausting and arduous mission for our team. But sitting with Rasheed’s family around a dinner table in Charlotte, hearing the teenage girls laugh, watching the two little girls color their names in English letters... all in safety, all in peace. It’s worth it. They were worth all of it.

*The welcome party. Look at all those smiles!*

Starting a new life in a new land is never easy. Especially after enduring 14-months of trauma. Especially when you arrive with nothing. Please consider helping Rasheed’s family get started. The needs are significant. A resettlement agency is providing 3 months of rent in a home with no furniture or washer/dryer. They will need a car so Rasheed can find work (ideally a car that seats 6). Rasheed needs a job in Charlotte, ideally as an environmental engineer (such as for a construction company or manufacturing plant). The girls will start school this fall and need clothes and school supplies. Every bit helps. Thank you for reading the story of this brave, beautiful family. Thank you for responding to this family’s original plea 14 months ago: “Can anybody help?”