Agency official who's resettling Afghan refugees angry that US left allies behind: 'Our government has not kept its promise'

Injured Afghans arrive at Dulles International Airport.
Jose Luis Magana / Associated Press

A resettlement agency official aiding Afghan refugees is angered that the US left allies behind in Afghanistan.
"We're frankly pretty angry that our government has not kept its promise to so many of those people," Matthew Soerens of World Relief told Insider.
A State Department official estimated Wednesday that the US left behind "the majority" of special immigrant visa applicants in Afghanistan.
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The US evacuated more than 124,000 civilians from Afghanistan as it completed its military withdrawal from the Taliban-controlled country last week, but left behind thousands of Afghans as well as more than 100 Americans, angering a resettlement agency official aiding the refugees.

"Even as we're sort of shifting focus to welcoming what we expect to be increasing numbers [of evacuees] arriving in communities around the United States, we are not giving up on advocating for the people who have been left behind, and we're frankly pretty angry that our government has not kept its promise to so many of those people," Matthew Soerens, the US director of church mobilization and advocacy at the World Relief resettlement agency, told Insider.

A State Department official estimated Wednesday that the US left behind "the majority" of special immigrant visa (SIV) applicants in Afghanistan - or those who worked with US military forces during the 20-year war.

"We know a lot of Afghans in the United States who are just devastated right now because they all have relatives who are stuck in that circumstance - and not just those who would qualify for a special immigrant visa," Soerens explained.

Soerens noted that there are "many other Afghans who are going to be vulnerable under the Taliban who didn't necessarily serve the US military, but they're an educated woman or they're a religious minority and an ethnic minority."

"Whatever the Taliban's PR [public relations] team is saying, from past experience none of the Afghans that we have interacted with seem to have a lot of confidence that life will be anything other than unbearable as they take control again," he said.

World Relief - a global Christian humanitarian aid charity - is one of nine resettlement organizations contracted with the US State Department to help find refugees housing and jobs in America among other services.

Those agencies are gearing up to receive an influx of Afghan evacuees.

"We don't have perfect information and that could be very challenging to make plans," Soerens said, explaining, "We certainly understand it is a dynamic, complicated situation."

However, said Soerens, "I think we are extremely frustrated - primarily with the evacuation process - and with the abandonment of so many people who are allies of the United States in Afghanistan."

"That's where I think we are sort of pulling our hair out more so than on the logistics of the people who are coming, which we get is going to be bumpy because it is a lot of people in a relatively short amount of time," said Soerens, who added, "But we also have such amazing community support."

World Relief had communicated to the Biden administration "months before this evacuation started that they needed to immediately start an evacuation, but they didn't do so," Soerens said.

Meanwhile, many of the Afghan evacuees now face a rigorous security vetting process before they can start their new lives in America.

More than 31,000 evacuees from the Afghanistan capital of Kabul have already entered the US between August 17 and August 31, including 23,876 Afghan refugees who are deemed "at-risk," State Department spokesman Ned Price said Wednesday.

Tens of thousands more still need to be processed and vetted in other countries before arrival in America.

Last month as of Aug. 30, World Relief received 364 Afghans with approved special immigrant visas and 173 of them were resettled in Sacramento, California, according to Soerens.

"We're doing our best to prepare," said Soerens. "I don't know the exact numbers of how many we will receive, but we are gearing up."

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