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, my guest is Julie Pacheco-Toye, the foster mother of “Kara,” a young Afghan teen who came to the U.S. unaccompanied following the withdrawal, and went through a great deal of uncertainty before finding herself in Julie and her husband’s home. Now, Kara experiences even greater uncertainty as President Trump’s executive order suspending the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program and possible impending Afghanistan travel ban may put an even longer than anticipated pause on her reunion with her family.
Julie and I talk about Kara’s tumultuous journey to the U.S., the struggle to demonstrate that she was a child after being processed into the country, and the multiple housing situations she endured before Julie and her husband became her foster parents.
We talk about the journey to bring Kara’s sister here through humanitarian parole, and the continued uncertainty about the remainder of Kara’s family, who are waiting on the USRAP and do not know when they might be reunited with their children.
If you would like to support Kara and her family, you can do so through their GoFundMe, here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/reunite-a-young-afghan-refugee-with-her-family
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.
Follow Beth:
on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bwbailey85/
on Twitter: https://x.com/BWBailey85
on Substack: https://substack.com/@bwbailey85
on the web: https://bethwbailey.com/
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