Thanks to the National Archives and Records Administration, we can trace Afghan involvement in U.S. military operations back to the Civil War.
In pension documents available online, Afghan war veteran Pvt. Mohammad Kahn recalls arriving in the United States in 1861. Though he “could not speak one word of English,” Kahn’s lack of fluency was no hindrance around two and a half months later when he recalled being “persuaded to enlist” in the U.S. Army “under the influence of liquor.” Becoming a member of the 43rd New York Infantry Regiment, Kahn said his “duty was that of a soldier and [he] carried a musket.”
Kahn described participating in the Peninsula Campaign and the Battle of Williamsburg before being detached as company cook during the winter of 1861. After serving in the Battles of White Oak Swamp and Malvern Hill, Kahn received a blow to the face and head with the butt of a musket. While recovering from the injury, he was detailed once more as a cook during the May 1863 Second Battle of Fredericksburg.
Shortly after the July 1863 Battle of Gettysburg, Kahn became separated from his unit and was arrested on suspicion that he was a contraband, a term used to describe escaped slaves. While being forced into labor in a hospital in Philadelphia, Kahn told guards that he was a “regularly enlisted soldier” of the 43rd New York Infantry Regiment. The guard refused to believe the private, insisting that a nonwhite man could not be part of an all-white unit.
After spending months searching for a way to rejoin his company, Kahn hopped aboard a train transporting the 14th New York Infantry Regiment to Washington, D.C., to take part in the Battle of the Wilderness in May 1864. Kahn arrived at the front lines on the final day of the bloody Battle of Spotsylvania Court House. “I went straight to my company and fell into line,” he wrote. Between 10 and 15 minutes later, Kahn was shot through the hand, becoming one of 17,000 casualties of the gruesome Spotsylvania campaign.
Kahn ultimately spent several months recovering in Chestnut Hill Hospital in Pennsylvania, where he received treatment for symptoms of rheumatism that resulted from exposure while wintering in swampland. After recovering, Kahn reports that he served as a sharpshooter until 1865. Following his service, Khan continued to be plagued by rheumatism and was ultimately granted a pension from the U.S. government on account of his physical suffering.
Pensions are not in the cards for Afghan allies who served and sacrificed alongside U.S. forces during our nearly 20-year conflict in Afghanistan. Hundreds of thousands still struggle to avail themselves of the refugee and visa programs designed to grant them safety following the Taliban’s takeover of their homeland.
There are currently about 85,000 unprocessed applicants in the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program, which grants refugee status to vetted judicial personnel, Special Forces personnel, and human rights activists, according to #AfghanEvac president Shawn VanDiver.
The Special Immigrant Visa program, designed to provide legal status to vetted interpreters and others who labored on behalf of the U.S. government, is under strain. As of April, only 10,216 SIVs remain, though more than 125,000 applications are awaiting processing and adjudication.
Among SIV applicants facing difficulties are members of the National Strike Unit. Trained by the CIA, the NSU worked closely with the U.S. intelligence community and elite U.S. military units and were instrumental in operations throughout the war. They also played a vital role in establishing security at Hamid Karzai International Airport in August 2021.
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Geeta Bakshi, a 14-year veteran of the CIA, is supporting members of the NSU through the nonprofit group FAMIL. Bakshi told the Washington Examiner that “thousands of former NSU personnel — among the most vetted in the SIV program and most at risk of Taliban retaliation — were left in limbo after relocating to the U.S. following the August 2021 withdrawal.” She says that with support from Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) and the Trump administration, FAMIL is “making real progress to clear SIV backlogs, secure permanent residency for eligible NSU members, and help reunite them with the spouses and children they were forced to leave behind.”
“These are men and women who risked everything to protect Americans, and it’s our duty to ensure they can safely rebuild their lives here,” Bakshi said.
Beth Bailey (@BWBailey85) is a freelance contributor to Fox News and the host of The Afghanistan Project.
