Hundreds of Afghan kids in US separated from families

Hundreds of Afghan children have been separated and are alone in the United States while their families remain in Afghanistan and have minimum hope of reuniting with their kids.

NBC News published a report on Friday citing new figures from the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) showing that more than 230 Afghan children were alone in the US while their parents or caregivers were in Afghanistan.

The children are family members of Afghan nationals who had helped the foreign soldiers during the US-led occupation of the country and feared reprisal after the unexpected takeover of Kabul by the Taliban in August 2021.

At that time, many families decided to split apart so as many family members as possible could get out of the country and out of the Taliban's reach.

As a result this decision, more than 1,500 children arrived in the US unaccompanied.

The goal is to reunify Afghan children with their parents or relatives in the US, a spokesperson said, however, adding that as it was getting harder to evacuate anyone from Afghanistan, there was little hope of their reunion any time soon. 

Meanwhile, ORR has placed more than 1,400 of them with family members or other adults. 

As of Aug. 30, ORR has 104 Afghan children left in its care, while 130 more Afghan kids are in the custody of state governments or non-governmental organizations. 

“These children have experienced far more trauma than any child ever should," said Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, President and CEO of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service.

"The urgency of this moment means doing whatever it takes to reunite these vulnerable children with their families. ... These children can’t afford to wait decades for the United States to keep its promise to those left behind."

Meanwhile, the Taliban has agreed to let the Americans evacuate one airplane-full of evacuees from Kabul each week.

ME