Policy
The record, and the road ahead.
AfghanEvac turns operational reality into specific, winnable policy fixes. Here is how we do that, what we have already won, and what has to happen now.
Last updated November 8, 2026
We tested the promise with the public
AfghanEvac and HIAS put the case for our Afghan allies to a bipartisan national survey. Support for admitting the Afghans who stood with the U.S. mission climbs sharply, across party lines, once voters learn who they are, and majorities back the core of this agenda. The full recommendations behind it live in The Unfinished Mission.
How we work
Inform. Analyze. Demand accountability.
AfghanEvac is not a lobbying shop. We provide concrete information, testimony, analysis, and data, and we demand accountability where there is none. We do that through bill analysis, advocacy documents, storytelling, organizing, and support for legislation that keeps America's promise to our wartime allies.
On this one issue, keeping that promise, the work has been ever-changing. It falls into two eras, and this page is organized around them.
The Record
When the executive branch was a partner, our recommendations became policy. This is the accounting of what we called for and what got done.
See the record →The Agenda
With issuance at zero and the leverage moved to Congress and to state and local government, we inform, analyze, and demand. This is what has to happen now.
See the agenda →Era One · The Record · 2021 to 2025
What we called for, and what got done
When the executive branch was a partner, AfghanEvac's recommendations became policy. The wins below are grouped by what they achieved. Each one is tagged with the part of government that delivered it and the date.
Built the mechanisms to bring people to safety
- ✓Established CARE as a permanent State Department office, later written into lawState / Congress · 2022, codified Dec 2024
- ✓Opened third-country processing platforms in Qatar, Albania, and GermanyState · 2022-2023
- ✓Opened DoD installations overseas as temporary processing sitesDoD
- ✓Built an end-to-end, risk-based, multi-year plan, which became Enduring WelcomeNSC
- ✓Directed additional processing sites and set a 5,000-per-month throughput targetNSC
- ✓Approved use of Afghan carriers for relocation flightsState · 2022
- ✓Scaled up pre-travel processing, with education and integration at the platformsState
Opened and unblocked the legal pathways
- ✓Secured 12,000 additional SIV numbers, the largest single increase in the program's historyCongress · Mar 2024
- ✓Streamlined the SIV application by removing the redundant I-360 stepState / DHS · Jul 2022
- ✓Stood up a re-parole program for Afghans whose parole was expiringDHS · May 2023
- ✓Established TRIG exemptions so otherwise-eligible Afghans were not barredDHS · Jun 2022
- ✓Eliminated immigration form and processing fees for Afghan alliesDHS · Nov 2021
- ✓Began USRAP P1/P2 refugee processing for at-risk AfghansState / NSC · Aug 2021
- ✓Introduced adjustment-of-status legislation, the Afghan Adjustment ActCongress · Aug 2022
Reunited families and supported people
- ✓Built a family reunification mechanism for families split during the evacuation (DS-4317)State · Jan 2023
- ✓Built a public website and force-wide policy for servicemember family reunificationDoD
- ✓Issued General Licenses so humanitarian organizations could operate without sanctions violationsTreasury · Sep-Dec 2021
- ✓Funded locally administered mental health access for AfghansHHS · 2022-2023
- ✓Funded locally administered legal services for AfghansHHS · 2022-2023
Made the government more transparent and accountable
- ✓Named a Special Assistant to the President with tasking authority for relocation (Curtis Ried)White House
- ✓Nominated and confirmed an Ambassador to QatarWhite House · Aug 2022
- ✓Ordered an audit of interagency communications and aligned messaging for transparencyNSC / State
- ✓Made the SIV Chief of Mission approval process more transparentState
- ✓Released a relocation process map and pre-relocation information for travelersState · 2024
Sourced from the AfghanEvac 2021-2025 Impact Report and The Unfinished Mission, with the government-action side verified against State Department, USCIS, Treasury, HHS, Congressional, and court records. Full account in The Ledger.
Era Two · The Agenda · 2025 to now
Where the work is now
The executive branch that acted is gone. Since January 2025 refugee admissions have been suspended, relocation flights have stopped, CARE is being dismantled, and as of January 1, 2026, visa issuance to Afghan-passport holders has fallen to zero. On September 25, 2026, the President set the FY2027 refugee ceiling at a historically low 17,500, directed primarily to Afrikaners from South Africa, leaving Afghan allies out of refugee admissions entirely. The leverage has moved to Congress and to state and local government, and so have we.
Now · Deportation flights
In late October, the administration prepared a charter flight to deport more than 150 detained Afghans through Pakistan, on a route that ends with the Taliban. The flight did not take off. Sixty-six members of the House and Senate, in a letter led by Rep. Scott Peters, urged the administration to cancel any deportation flights of Afghans. On November 3, after the government told a federal court in New York that ICE had no planned or confirmed flights to Afghanistan or Pakistan that week, Judge Valerie Caproni entered a temporary restraining order holding it to that statement in Project Rousseau, Inc. v. Venturella. On November 6 the court narrowed the order to Project Rousseau’s clients and extended it. Other detained Afghans have no court protection, the Pakistan plan has not been withdrawn, and people remain detained.
The issues, and what we are asking
Every ask traces back to one promise. These are the issues our Fly-In teams are carrying into offices in both chambers, November 9 to 11, with the asks for each. Full briefs on request from policy@afghanevac.org.
Allies in the United States
Afghanistan TPS Act
H.R. 9899 / S. 5308. The discharge petition opens November 9 and needs 218 signatures. It expires January 3.
- House: sign the discharge petition
- Senate: cosponsor S. 5308
Allies in the United States
Deportation flights
A charter to Pakistan, on a route that ends with the Taliban, was stopped for now by advocacy and a court. The plan stands.
- Get the terms of any Pakistan arrangement in writing
- Join the 66 members urging the flights be cancelled
- Ask DHS and ICE how many facing removal served with U.S. forces
Allies in the United States
Chief of Mission withdrawals
New applications closed December 31, 2025, and State is withdrawing approvals already granted, which can put a green card at risk.
- Reopen and extend eligibility
- Explain every withdrawal, with the evidence
- Do not strip status over someone else’s letter
- Decide appeals before cases reach immigration court
Allies in the United States
USCIS processing harms
Afghan cases were frozen in November 2025, vacated by a court in June 2026, and still have no backlog timeline. Work permits now last 18 months with no automatic extension.
- Publish a timeline to decide every held case
- Restore automatic work permit extensions
- End blanket re-reviews of granted approvals
- Confirm lawful benefits and I-134s for relatives who never arrived are not marks against good moral character
Stranded abroad
SIVs, P-1 and P-2 refugees, and families
24,086 refugee applicants are interview-ready in third countries, about 59,000 more are inside Afghanistan, and three Afghan SIVs have been issued all year.
- Raise or remove the SIV cap, roughly 50,000 more numbers
- Restore the SIV and immediate-relative exemptions to Proclamation 10998
- Reopen refugee processing, starting with interview-ready cases
- Press Pakistan to stop deporting Afghans with pending U.S. cases
Stranded abroad
Camp As Sayliyah
1,034 Afghans, 427 of them children, wait at a U.S. Army installation in Qatar. Extended nine months on September 29, 2026. No bill helps the camp yet.
- Bring every resident not denied to the United States
- Prioritize military families, at least 150 at the camp
- Admit eligible residents through the national interest exception
- Never return anyone to the Taliban
Across every group
Families of U.S. service members
About 3,000 spouses, children, and parents of Americans who serve or served are stranded abroad. 83% of voters say no one in uniform should have to leave family behind.
- Put them at the front of every pathway
- Exempt them from Proclamation 10998
- Resolve their cases at Camp As Sayliyah
- Name a senior Defense and State point of contact and report the numbers
Across every group
Afghan women and girls
Judges, prosecutors, police, soldiers, and staff of U.S.-funded programs were largely left out of the SIV. Women and children are 72% of Camp As Sayliyah.
- Cover the women the SIV left out through a reopened P-2 and the Mission Partners Protection Program
- Put at-risk women first when refugee processing resumes
- Require SIV and refugee reporting by sex
- Pass the Afghanistan TPS Act and finish the camp’s cases
The next war’s allies
Mission Partners Protection Program
A permanent, conflict-agnostic program so the next ally never lives what Afghan allies are living now. 72% of voters support it.
- Become a bipartisan lead sponsor
- Move it in the NDAA or a State authorization
- Hold a hearing on identifying and protecting partners from day one
The next war’s allies
Enduring Welcome Act
H.R. 4995 gives Afghan relocation a permanent home at State. 44 lawmakers from both parties, including 12 Republicans. No Senate companion.
- House: cosponsor H.R. 4995
- Senate: introduce a companion
The next war’s allies
ARCH Act
S. 5375 preserves the service records and biometrics that prove an ally served. It is in the FY2027 NDAA as Section 1080.
- Senate: cosponsor S. 5375
- Both chambers: keep Section 1080 in conference
Every office
Oversight
Letters to State, DHS, and Defense, inspector general and GAO requests, hearings, and report language in the NDAA and appropriations bills.
- Count who served among those facing removal
- Require public reporting on SIV, Chief of Mission, and refugee decisions
- Comply with court orders rather than litigate against allies
What Afghan allies are telling us
More than 3,100 Afghans from AfghanEvac’s 2021 to 2022 case records answered our check-in between October 16 and November 8, 2026, about 1,300 of them in Dari or Pashto. Answers are self-reported and not independently verified.
What has been rolled back or made harder
Since January 2025, this administration has undone many of the mechanisms above and stacked on new barriers. Where we have a full explainer, it is linked.
- ×Told naturalization officers to weigh public benefit use, support of dependents, and sponsorship promises, including Form I-134 declarations, as good moral character factors on citizenship applications USCIS memo, Nov 4, 2026 Read the explainer →
- ×Set the FY2027 refugee ceiling at 17,500 and directed it primarily to Afrikaners from South Africa, leaving Afghan allies out of refugee admissions entirely Signed Sep 25, 2026 See Count Them In →
- ×Suspended the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program, halting Afghan refugee arrivals Jan 2025
- ×Paused relocation flights and began dismantling CARE and the Enduring Welcome enterprise Read the explainer →
- ×Cut visa issuance to Afghan-passport holders to zero through the travel proclamation Jan 1, 2026 Read the explainer →
- ×Rescinded the Chamorro Memo, stripping prosecutorial-discretion protections Read the explainer →
- ×Moved to end protections and allow removals to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan
- ×Changed the protections refugees receive on arrival Read the explainer →
- ×Proposed rules restricting work authorization for asylum seekers Read the explainer →
- ×Imposed new asylum fees Read the explainer →
- ×Narrowed immigration appeals through Board of Immigration Appeals rule changes Read the explainer →
- ×Set the SIV program on a wind-down path Read the explainer →
- ×Proposed FY2027 budget cuts to the programs Afghan allies rely on Read the explainer →
What needs to happen right now
The full agenda
- Restore the SIV exemption to Proclamation 10998 and resume issuing visas to Afghan-passport holders
- Issue the 5,978 authorized SIV numbers that remain
- Authorize roughly 50,000 additional principal-applicant numbers, or remove the cap
- Restore CARE and the Enduring Welcome enterprise, including relocation flights and third-country processing
- Reopen the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program to Afghans, including P1 and P2 referrals
- Use the national interest exception preserved in the FY2027 determination to admit Afghan mission partners and service-member families, and restore a fair Afghan allocation in the next determination
- Expedite family reunification and end the multi-year separations
- Reopen and extend Chief of Mission eligibility for those shut out by the December 2025 deadline
- The State Department has also begun revoking and withdrawing Chief of Mission approvals already granted. What COM revocations mean
- Comply fully with the court's orders rather than litigating against wartime allies
- Protect Afghans already here: pass the Afghanistan TPS Act, and get USCIS to adjudicate the benefits they have already filed for
- State plainly in the USCIS Policy Manual that the resettlement benefits Congress provided to refugees, asylees, SIV holders, and Afghan parolees are not adverse to good moral character, and that a Form I-134 declaration for a relative who was never paroled creates no obligation. What the November 4 memo says
- Amend H.R. 9773 to include a wartime ally carve-out, or strip its parole and asylum titles
- Build and pass the Mission Partners Protection Program, a durable, conflict-agnostic wartime allies program
The full case for each ask is laid out in The Unfinished Mission.
The public is with the allies
A bipartisan national survey finds broad support for keeping America's promise to the Afghans who stood with the U.S. mission, and that support jumps sharply, across party lines, once voters learn who they are. Our crosswalk maps each finding to the recommendation and the bill or action that would deliver it. These are the numbers behind the agenda.
Legislation & analysis
We read the bills, and we show what they do
Legislation is the only fix that lasts. A proclamation can be reversed overnight; a law gives Afghan allies stability and a clear picture of what is possible for them long term. So we analyze the bills that affect Afghans, break down their real-world impact, and support the ones that keep the promise.
Take action now
Live campaigns you can act on today
When we have a live campaign, you can act on it right here. Individuals can send a note, organizations can sign on, and everyone can weigh in on the rules that affect Afghan allies. More will appear here as they open.
The Afghanistan TPS Act of 2026 (H.R. 9899 / S. 5308)
Now: the discharge petition opens Monday, November 9. On October 1, Reps. Crow and Liccardo filed H.Res. 1596, the special rule that sets up a discharge petition. Once 218 members sign, the House must vote. Every discharge petition expires when this Congress ends on January 3.
The ask. House: sign the discharge petition. Senate: cosponsor S. 5308.
Afghan Mission Partners Fly-In, November 9 to 11
Veterans, frontline civilians, and Afghan allies are meeting with offices in both chambers, and on Veterans Day we walk from the Lincoln Memorial to the Capitol.
The ARCH Act
Preserve the record of service for at-risk Afghan allies. Introduced in the Senate August 7, 2026, as the standalone companion to Section 1080 of the FY2027 NDAA.
Our bill analysis
Provision by provision, in plain language, we show what a bill actually does for Afghan allies: what helps, what falls short, and what is missing.
H.R. 9773, the Permanent Trump Secure Border Act
A rewrite of the 2023 border bill that would permanently narrow asylum and humanitarian parole. It contains no Afghanistan carve-out. As written, it would end the parole authority that brought Afghan allies to safety, eliminate re-parole for Afghans already here, and bar asylum for people whose only path out of Afghanistan ran through a third country, including the routes the U.S. government itself flew.
Where AfghanEvac stands. We oppose H.R. 9773 as written, and we are asking Congress to add a wartime ally carve-out.
FY2027 NDAA, Afghan provisions
A side-by-side analysis of the Senate and House versions of the FY2027 National Defense Authorization Act, including Camp As Sayliyah non-refoulement protection, records preservation, and the Afghanistan War Commission.
Legislation we support
We take positions on the bills that would keep America's promise. Our top priorities are the Enduring Welcome Act and the bipartisan Afghanistan TPS Act, and the durable fix that would end the cycle for good is the Mission Partners Protection Program.
The Afghanistan TPS Act of 2026
Designates Afghanistan for Temporary Protected Status through July 1, 2029, restoring deportation protection and work authorization for the vetted Afghan allies already living here. It directs DHS to adjudicate applications within 90 days, grants consent for emergency travel abroad, and waives filing fees. TPS is a bridge, not a path to citizenship, for people who are already here, already vetted, and already working in American communities.
What the bill does.
- Protects Afghans already in the United States, through July 1, 2029
- Requires full biometric and national-security vetting for every person covered
- Restores work authorization, waives filing fees, and requires decisions within 90 days
- A bridge, not a path to citizenship
Endorsed by AfghanEvac, No One Left Behind, Global Refuge, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, and Refugees International.
The ARCH Act
Directs the Department of Defense to verify and preserve the service records and biometric data of at-risk Afghan allies, so the proof of who stood with the United States survives before it is lost. It is the standalone companion to Senate Section 1080 of the FY2027 NDAA, the vehicle AfghanEvac is working to enact.
The Enduring Welcome Act
Creates a permanent office within the State Department to coordinate Afghan relocation, fix family reunification, and report regularly to Congress, while maintaining rigorous vetting.
Its core provision, codifying the CARE office, passed the House Foreign Affairs Committee with bipartisan support in September 2025 and was written into the FY2026 NDAA, before Republican leadership stripped it out at the last minute, days before that bill became law.
The Mission Partners Protection Program
The one fix that would end the cycle for good. Every other item on this page can be undone by the next proclamation or the next lapsed deadline. The Unfinished Mission's final recommendation is a permanent, conflict-agnostic framework, built once and applied to every conflict, so the United States never again improvises its obligations to the people who serve alongside it. AfghanEvac calls that framework the Mission Partners Protection Program. It has not yet been introduced, and 72% of voters already support it.
What it would do.
- Cover the allies and mission partners of current and future conflicts, not one country at a time
- Identify, vet, and track eligible allies from the start of their service, so protection does not hinge on documents lost when a government falls
- Guarantee a relocation timeline measured in months, with lawful permanent residence on arrival
- Operate free of numerical caps and per-country limits
- Waive minimum-service requirements for allies killed or injured in the line of duty, and cover their surviving family
- Match resettlement benefits to those refugees receive
- Give today's allies immediate statutory protection against blanket entry bans, refoulement, and retroactive eligibility cutoffs
- Stand up independent, enduring oversight with public reporting
Afghan Adjustment Act
Reintroduced but stalled. The Adjustment Act would have given Afghans who arrived on parole a path to permanent residence. In today's policy environment it no longer meets the moment. The urgent legislative need is statutory protection for people already here and restored pathways for those still abroad.
Advocacy documents
Open letters and sign-on advocacy
Public letters are one of our accountability tools, distinct from legislation. They put a coalition on record at key moments and press decision-makers to act. From 2021 to today, most recent first.
To Cabinet Secretaries on the Afghanistan Policy Review
A second letter to Secretaries Rubio, Hegseth, and Mullin and Director Edlow, pressing the administration to restart processing.
Read the documentRegarding Camp As Sayliyah
An open letter on the safety and resettlement of the Afghans held at Camp As Sayliyah.
Read the documentAdministration Transition Letter
A nonpartisan letter to the incoming administration, urging continued protection for Afghan allies.
Read the documentTo the Government of Pakistan
Urging a humanitarian approach to Afghans awaiting their path to safety. Over 400 signers.
Read the documentTo State and Local Leaders
Calling on communities to stand with Afghans through resolutions, outreach, and civic recognition.
Read the documentTo the Biden Administration
Urging the nation's leadership to honor the promise and ensure safe relocation and resettlement. Over 1,300 signers.
Read the documentThe primary sources
The documents, court filings, and government reports behind this page live on The Ledger, AfghanEvac's public record, including Protection Promised, the Practitioner's Companion, and the live litigation tracker.
Turn the record into the next win
The agenda above moves when constituents ask for it. Take action, find your representatives, and push.
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