Rebecca Blumenstein, a former editor at The New York Times, stated that the Biden administration provided no assistance in securing visas or evacuating 124 Afghan employees and their families during the August 2021 US withdrawal from Kabul.
According to Blumenstein, the newspaper had to rely entirely on partnerships with Qatar, Mexico, and various international organizations to facilitate the evacuation of its staff and ensure their eventual passage to the United States.
Speaking at an event on Thursday, Blumenstein recalled the harrowing conditions faced by the newsroom’s Afghan staff, noting that some waited outside Kabul’s airport for two consecutive days and nights in hopes of boarding an evacuation flight.
She noted that the rapid Taliban advance and the sudden collapse of Kabul caught the personnel off guard, leaving them virtually no time to pack personal belongings or bid farewell to their families.
A family member of one of the evacuated employees recounted having only 30 minutes to collect essentials and head to the airport, mirroring the sudden displacement experienced by tens of thousands of Afghans at that time.
Blumenstein and co-author Diana Kapp explained that the employees were first routed through Qatar and Mexico before ultimately resettling in Houston, Texas, under the humanitarian parole program.
According to the Harvard University student publication covering the event, the speakers pointed out that bureaucratic and immigration hurdles continue to weigh heavily on Afghan evacuees residing across the United States.
Kapp emphasized that in the absence of robust federal backing, private American citizens and community groups stepped in to provide critical aid and housing support to the arriving refugees.
Source: Harvard University student publication
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