Families were split up during Afghanistan evacuations — and are still not reunited
Last spring, H.M., an Afghan refugee living in the U.S., visited Kabul to get married.
He spent a few blissful months with his new partner before returning to the U.S., where he is a legal resident. He immediately applied for a spousal visa for his pregnant wife. But in August 2021, the Taliban took over Afghanistan and the U.S. embassy shut down — and there was no one to process her visa.
(H.M. asked to be identified by his initials to protect his family, who are at high risk of persecution by the Taliban.)
His wife then applied for a special immigrant visa with the U.S. government. Because she worked for a USAID program in Kabul, she qualified for the visa, granted to those who'd worked with Americans on U.S.-sponsored projects. But she never received a case number due to bureaucratic delays.
The couple is still living apart. In
