The Afghanistan Project Podcast

Welcome to Episode 105 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 Scott Bailey, co-founder and President ofthe Board of Directors of the Blacksburg Refugee Partnership. Scott and I discuss the hopelessness that Afghan refugees and visa applicants are experiencing in Pakistan a...

Welcome to "The case that broke my heart," a special series within The Afghanistan Project Podcast where volunteers, advocates, and veterans speak out about the case or cases that had the greatest impact on them over the course of four years (sometimes more, rarely less) of supporting Afghan allies. Today's episode features Leslie Merriman, founder of Our Culture is Giving. Find Our...

Welcome to Episode 104 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 Andy Sullivan, the Executive Director for nonprofit organization No One Left Behind. Today, we discuss No One Left Behind’s incredible pivot to help more than 2,000 Special Immigrant Visa applicants who were in nee...

Welcome to a special extra episode of the Afghanistan Project Podcast featuring guestElizabeth Lynn, the director of nonprofit Operation Recovery. We discuss my latest piece in the Washington Examiner, about the deportation of 19-year-old single, unaccompanied Afghan female Khultum from Pakistan, where her mother is suffering from extreme burns she received in an electrical accident in December, a...

Welcome to Episode 103 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 Tahmina Nasser, who arrived in the U.S. during Operation Allies Refuge after working with Americans for over a decade. Tahmina discusses qualifying to work with the U.S. in Afghanistan, and many of the jobs she...

Welcome to Episode 102 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 David Collier, who recently returned froma three-week trip to Afghanistan. We talk about David’s travel preparations and whether thegroups he looked to for support made note of Western tourists who had been kidn...

Welcome to Episode 101 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 Dr. Nooralhaq Nasimi, founder anddirector of the Afghanistan and Central Asian Association (ACAA). Dr. Nasimi talks about his childhood in Afghanistan, hisescape to the UK, and how he has supported refugees like...

Welcome to Episode 100 of The Afghanistan Project Podcast, where we cover all topics related to two decades of war in Afghanistan, and the fallout of our Afghanistan withdrawal. Our guest this week is Army veteran John Moses, a veteran fellow at the Hoover Institution and co-founder of the Massachusetts Afghan Alliance, an organization supporting Afghans building new lives in Massachusetts. This w...

Welcome to Episode 99 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 James Seddon, who has joined me to talk about the latest article from Center for Immigration Studies' Phillip Linderman in the New York Post that further attacks our Afghan allies’ deservingness for the progr...

Welcome to Ep. 98 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 Matt Zeller, who discusses the betrayal of our allies and his own interpreter’s experience on arrival in the U.S., which spurred the creation of nonprofit No One Left Behind. We also talk about Matt’s time in Afghani...

Welcome to Ep. 97 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 Jason Howk, a US Army veteran whose service spanned major developments of our Afghan adventure, from supporting the early development of the Afghan National Army in 2002, to overseeing interagency teams of civilians...

Welcome to Episode 96 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 Ben, an elder at Oklahoma Khorasan Church, which primarily serves Afghan Christians in the Oklahoma City area. Ben and his family came to the U.S. in 2020 and 2021 respectively, after the Taliban took over Afghan...

Welcome to Episode 95 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 Chris Robinson, creator of The Last Deployment Project. Chris is a Marine Infantry veteran and Oral Historian. He served from 2016-2020 with the 2nd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion (2nd LAR), 2nd Marine Di...

Welcome to Episode 94 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 guests are Sonia Norton, Director of Advocacy atNo One Left Behind, and Daniel Salazar, a refugee and protection policy advisor at Global Refuge. We discuss the revocation of Temporary Protected Status forAfghans, the rat...

Welcome to Episode 93 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 Kreshma Fakhri of Zan Times. Kreshma hasa master’s degree in political science and a bachelor’s degree in Persian literature from Kabul University. She started her journalism career in 2009 and since then her wor...

Today, #AfghanEvac president and founder Shawn VanDiver provides an update on the compliance order and timeline achieved in IRAP's Pacito v. Trump lawsuit, as well as an update on the figures of Afghan allies who remain in our Special Immigrant Visa and U.S. Refugee Admissions Program pipelines. Follow Shawn VanDiver on Twitter: https://twitter.com/shawnjvandiver Follow #AfghanEvac on Twitter:...

Welcome to Episode 92 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 U.S. Air Force veteran Tanner Yackley. Tanner has over a decade of expertise with the MQ-9 Reaper, including serving in combat capacity as a sensor operator. He is now a PhD candidate, and is focusing on the uniq...

Welcome to Episode 91 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 guests are James Seddon and Jillian Butler, whohave joined me to talk about a series of articles in the American Conservative by Center for Immigration Studies' Board Member Phillip Linderman that attack our Afghan al...

Welcome to Episode 90 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 Lori Butierries. Lori is a full-time caregiver to two children with disabilities. She uses her life experiences and the medical knowledge she gained from serving as a Hospital Corpsman in the United States Navy t...

Welcome to The Afghanistan Project, where we cover all topics related to two decades of war in Afghanistan, and the fallout of our Afghanistan withdrawal. Today, Center for Immigration Studies’ Board Member Phillip Linderman, and #afghanevac coalition president Shawn VanDiver will be discussing a series of articles Phillip has authored in The American Conservative about the vetting of our Afghan a...

Welcome to Ep. 89 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 guests are Sonia Norton, Director of Advocacy atNo One Left Behind, and Daniel Salazar, a refugee and protection policy advisor at Global Refuge. We discuss Temporary Protected Status, and why it was usedfor our Afghan allies...

Welcome to Episode 88 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 Steve Lewis. Steve has been a high school educator and coach for about thirty years. He writes for Havok Journal and is an incredible advocate for veterans. Steve is also involved with advocacy for our Afghan all...

Welcome to The Afghanistan Project, where we cover all topics related to two decades of war in Afghanistan, and the fallout of our Afghanistan withdrawal. My guest today is Alison Tabor, a Supervising Attorney with Resettlement Action DC (REACT DC) and a Principal Attorney with AGT LAW PLLC. Alison discusses cases of Green Card removal from Afghans in the SIV program and a pause in Green Card issu...

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 suspen...

Welcome to Episode 86 of The Afghanistan Project, where we cover all topics related to two decades of war in Afghanistan, and the fallout of our Afghanistan withdrawal. My guest today is Nasir, a former Afghan military member who awaits transfer from the CARE Team for his Priority-1 case in the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program. Nasir talks about his incredible attitude in the face of hardship, his...