Afghan Evac Coalitions members travel to D.C. – 10News

SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — A coalition of organizations called Afghan Evac is pushing the U.S. State Department to do more to evacuate Afghans still wishing to get out of the country after the U.S. withdrawal.

The U.S. Secretary of State met with members of the coalition earlier this week, tweeting out a picture of the virtual meeting.

Shawn VanDiver, the coalition’s founder, is in Washington D.C. all week, with other members of the coalition. They’re pushing all branches of the government to continue working to get Afghans out of Afghanistan, quickly and safely.

“It’s not enough that the State Department is doing enough, we need the Department of Defense, the Department of Homeland Security, the White House, HHS, we need everybody kind of rowing in the same direction,” says VanDiver.

Thousands of Afghans have left their home country, but thousands more are still left behind and life since the Taliban seized power, is getting worse.

Vandiver says there are some legal roadblocks in getting people out, but says the conversations have been productive.

“Typically what we asked the Secretary of State was that we make some small changes in policy to ensure that as many of the folks that served alongside us are able to make it over here,” says VanDiver of the requests being made in D.C.

The coalition is made up of roughly 100 organizations and the group says they won’t stop until everyone that wants to leave, is out.

“It shouldn’t be hard you shouldn’t throw a million other roadblocks in their way once they meet that obligation, we should be able to keep our promises,” says VanDiver.