Welcome to Episode 87 of The Afghanistan Project, where we cover all topics related to two decades of war in Afghanistan, and the fallout of our Afghanistan withdrawal.

Today, my guest is Shahir, a student at Texas Tech University. Shahir’s family currently hold Special Immigrant Visa and Priority-2 U.S. Refugee Admissions Program cases and have been greatly impacted by the executive orders suspending the USRAP and freezing foreign aid.

We discuss Shahir’s family’s choice to send him outside of Afghanistan for his studies to protect him from violence inside the country, and the transitions he made to become accustomed to living in a country where there was peace.

Shahir talks about his father’s work for the U.S. Embassy, USAID, and Afghan Aid, and how this led him to qualify for both an SIV and a P-2 referral to the USRAP, though he was urged not to pursue the latter. We talk about Shahir’s family’s prospects, particularly those of his four sisters, who prompted his father to find a path to safety.

About the host:

Beth Bailey worked in support of Afghanistan operations as a civilian intelligence analyst for the Department of the Army between 2010 and 2013. She is a freelance contributor to Fox News Digital and the Washington Examiner.

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