Welcome to Episode 47 of The Afghanistan Project Podcast. Today’s guests are familiar to longtime listeners. Andrew Sullivan, Director of Advocacy for No One Left Behind, and Shawn VanDiver, President of the #AfghanEvac coalition, joined me to discuss new moves within the House and Senate that would authorize 12,000 additional special immigrant visas. This development follows a frenzied effort to save the program from running out of the 8,000 currently available visas in September 2024.

Shawn and Andy talk about their and other advocates’ efforts to impress upon Congressional staff the importance of continuing the SIV program, which ultimately led to the inclusion of aforementioned language in upcoming funding bills, though these bills must pass both House and Senate.

Andy and Shawn also talked about all that remains to be done for our Afghan allies, including passing the Afghan Adjustment Act, the Afghan Allies Protection Act, and language from a former National Security bill that would have expanded USRAP protection to Afghan prosecutors. They also mentioned a plethora of ways in which listeners can take it upon themselves to support Afghan allies through programs within No One Left Behind, #AfghanEvac, or the Welcome Corps.

Find No One Left Behind via:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/n1leftbehind

Website: http://nooneleft.org/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/no-one-left-behind/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nooneleftbehindus/

Follow #AfghanEvac via:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/afghanevac

Website: https://afghanevac.org/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/afghanevac

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/afghan_evac/

About the hosts:

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. Follow her on Instagram or X ⁠@BWBailey85⁠.

Mikael Cook was an Army non-commissioned officer and veteran of the war in Afghanistan. He was an active member of the #DigitalDunkirk movement to evacuate our Afghan allies in August of 2021. You can follow him on Instagram or X ⁠@Mikaelcook89⁠.

For Afghan listeners:

If you would like to have your story considered for a future episode, please send us a letter about your experiences to our show e-mail address, [email protected]. Please include as much detail as possible, and let us know if you would like us to give you a pseudonym to protect your identity.