New York Times Reports on Challenges Facing Evacuated Afghan Zero Unit Members in US

A New York Times report published on Monday detailed the struggles of former members of Afghanistan's Zero Units, US-backed counter-terrorism forces from the previous Afghan government, who were evacuated to the United States after the fall of Kabul in August 2021.

Mohammad Iqbal Zamani, a former member of Zero Unit 3 in Kandahar who joined in 2017 as a translator and later became deputy and head of the section, now works in technical services at a hotel in Elk Grove, California. He told the Times that Rahmanullah Laknwal, an Afghan refugee who fired at US National Guard soldiers in Washington, had also been a member of a Zero Unit during the previous government.

Approximately 10,000 Zero Unit members and more than 20,000 family members were evacuated to the US, where they received temporary humanitarian parole but have not obtained asylum. Many have applied for asylum or special immigrant visas (SIVs). However, following the Washington shooting, processing of these applications has halted, including about 1,000 remaining files for Zero Unit members.

Moosa, another former Zero Unit member, said: "If we don't have permanent legal status, we can't work. Many are unemployed." He added that many fear arrest and deportation, stating: "They can't even sleep."

Iqbal noted: "Everyone knew what was happening with immigration in the new government, and now this problem has arisen too." One former member has hung an old photo of himself in the unit's striped uniform on his wall "so that if immigration officers come, they see that he fought for America."

The Zero Units were a counter-terrorism program run by the US intelligence agency in Afghanistan, equipped, funded and directed by the US. These individuals fought in America's longest war in the country.