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A Coalition of Service Members, Veterans, Military Families, and Organizations Dedicated to Serving these Communities

On Monday, August 23, 2021, we sent a letter to President Biden urgently requesting that he meet with our Coalition to discuss fulfilling our commitment to our Afghan allies. We'd like for you to join us in co-signing this letter, so that we can show the White House that there's increasing momentum and political will behind Americans' desire to see us keep our promises. Click the appropriate link below to add your name as an individual U.S. military veteran, as a non-veteran individual, or as an authorized representative of an organization which wishes to join the Coalition. The list of organizations below will be updated. Individuals' names will not be shared publicly. All will be sent to the White House.

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UPDATE: August 27, 2021

Coalition to Evacuate Our Allies Responds to White House Meeting

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Coalition to Evacuate Our Allies thanks the senior White House personnel who met with us today. The meeting begins the next step of our work to evacuate and resettle our Afghan allies. It also is a step toward preventing and treating moral injury in the military and veteran communities.

After today’s meeting we believe in America’s ability to meet those objectives, as the White House has committed to engaging our Coalition so that our community can effectively support the safe and appropriate evacuation and settlement of our Afghan allies. The White House made clear that they understand that the support networks our organizations have created are a critical component of this mission.

We remain committed to supporting the evacuation and protecting Afghans from persecution based on race, religion, gender, or sexual orientation, aiding Afghan refugees’ resettlement in the U.S., and defending the Afghan allies who settle in the U.S. against bigoted and xenophobic attacks.

The Coalition to Evacuate our Allies has grown to include more than 70 organizations, listed as signatories in the August 23, 2020 letter below:

August 23, 2021

President Joseph R. Biden

The White House

1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

Washington, DC 20500

Dear President Biden:

On behalf of millions of America’s service members, veterans, survivors, military families, and organizations dedicated to serving these communities, we urgently request a meeting with you ahead of the full evacuation of American personnel in Afghanistan to discuss fulfilling our commitment to our Afghan allies. We are thankful for your recent announcement that evacuation operations will continue beyond the original August 31 deadline if necessary, but remain concerned about the fates of our wartime partners.

Failing to meet our obligations to these Afghans would not only be a national security risk — harming America’s reputation abroad and eroding the trust in our armed forces that is critical for future operations — it would also condemn veterans and survivors of the conflict in Afghanistan to a lifetime of moral injury.

We hope your efforts will not only underline that the U.S. meets its commitments, but also help veterans of this conflict avoid the pain and regret of personally making promises on behalf of our country only to have our political leadership fail to meet those commitments. The Department of Veterans Affairs’ recent commendable outreach to veterans who may be undergoing acute stress as events unfold in Afghanistan is proof of your administration’s understanding of its impact on our community. As a member of a military family with a deep commitment to our community through Joining Forces, you certainly understand our concern about such preventable moral injury.

At our meeting, we will discuss your administration’s efforts to meet commitments we are duty-bound to fulfill:

• Ensuring the safe evacuation of our citizens, allies, and partners.

• Working to end the escalating humanitarian crisis across Afghanistan.

• Securing Kabul airport and routes to it, allowing for the safe and efficient passage of all U.S. citizens, allies, and partners for evacuation.

• Granting humanitarian parole status to as many at-risk Afghans without a visa who must be evacuated as possible.

• Ensuring that all Afghans arriving in the U.S. have access to the same resettlement benefits as refugees and SIV holders.

• Adequately funding refugee resettlement agencies that are struggling to rebuild after four years of downsizing.

• If Afghan evacuees must be processed in third countries, ensuring that this is accomplished as quickly as possible in countries that honor the Refugee Convention and have records of respecting human rights.

To help ensure that your administration will accomplish these critical tasks, we commit to:

• Calling upon our membership to ensure that their Congressional representatives fully support these initiatives.

• Empowering our membership to educate Americans on the importance of maintaining our commitments to allies, and that America’s diversity is our greatest strength.

• Confronting those who politicize the issue of refugee resettlement and condemn those who slander our Afghan allies to undermine support for their resettlement.

Due to the time-sensitive nature of this situation, and COVID-related risks associated with gatherings and travel, we kindly suggest that this meeting occur virtually.

We appreciate your lifelong service to our community, and your family’s military service and sacrifices. We look forward to working with your Administration and stand ready to assist in your work to protect America’s heroes — all of them.

Sincerely,

Aliro

Allied Airlift 21

American Counterterrorism Targeting and Resilience Institute

American Veterans Committee

AMVETS

Association of Wartime Allies

Atlas.vet

Battle Tested Veterans

Black Veterans Empowerment Council

BioMojo LLC

Black Veterans Project

Center on Conscience and War

Common Defense

Council on American-Islamic Relations

Countrymen Veteran Motorcycle Club

Elizabeth Dole Foundation

Evocati

Frontline Arts

G.H.O.S.T (NPS-International)

Greater Boston Veterans Collaborative

Grunt Style Foundation

Headstrong Project

High Ground Veterans Advocacy

Honor Our Military Veterans

Human Rights First

Humanity Forward

Lobo Institute

Military Connected Capital

Military Order of the Purple Heart

Military Spouse Behavioral Health Clinicians

Military Veterans in Journalism

Minority Veterans of America

Modern Military Association of America

NayceQuest

New Politics

Nightstar Aviation

No One Left Behind

NYC Veterans Alliance

Objective Zero Foundation

Project Sanctuary

PROMOTE Leadership

PsychArmor

Public Media

Service to School

Shared Humanity USA

Sierra Club

Sikh American Veterans Alliance

Soldiers’ Angels

Spartan Capital Intelligence, LLC

Spartan Operations Group, LLC

Taking the Hill

Team America

The Lamia Afghan Foundation

The Lincoln Project

Union Veterans Council, ALF-CIO

United Soldiers and Sailors of America

Veteran Advocacy Project

Veteran Esquire Legal Solutions, PLLC

Veteran Warriors

Veterans for American Ideals

Veterans for Common Sense

Veterans for New Americans

Veterans for Responsible Leadership

Veterans for Smart Power

Veterans in Global Leadership

Veterans’ Voice of America

Vets4Afghans

Vietnam Veterans of America

VoteVets

With Honor Action

Women Veteran Social Justice Network

cc: The Honorables Dr. Jill Biden, Antony J. Blinken, Denis McDonough, Lloyd Austin, Rory Brosius, Jake Sullivan, Carlyn Reichel, Terri Tanielian, and Saki Ververis.