Afghan Promise

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My name is Michael "Mike" Crandall and I am a retired veteran who last served in Afghanistan in 2008.   During this deployment I had the honor of working with an interpreter named Wahid whose family "adopted" me.   For those who are unaware the Afghan interpreters who served with us risked their lives on a daily basis in their support of the U.S. / NATO military.   Our Government promised to protect the interpreters and their families if they served with us.   Veterans see those who served with us as "brothers in arms" and not "refugees".   I started Afghan Promise to help get "MY" Afghan family out of danger.   We were able to secure Wahid evacuation in 2014 to Sweden where he resides today.  He applied for a Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) but the U.S. needed him to return to Kabul to finish his immigration paperwork which was not feasible or safe for him to do so since there was already a price on his head.   His brother, Masih, worked on HKIA (Kabul Airport) for NATO and US forces right up until our withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021.   Through the dedication of those he had diligently worked for over a period of 10 years we were able to obtain NATO passes of evacuation for Masih and the entire family.   Sadly, they were at the gate when the infamous explosion happened and the family was unable to get on the airfield and Masih had to make the gut wrenching decision to escape and then fight to rescue his family.   Masih has a  SIV application in the system listing his wife and two beautiful children.   He currently is residing in the U.S. and is hopeful that we can not only get his immediate family out of harms way but also his Mother, Father and younger brother.  I started a "GoFundMe" with the hopes of raising $35,000 to support the evacuation of Wahid/Masih's family.   I have had the great fortune to meet some wonderful people along this journey and founded Afghan Promise to not only help "My" family but spread the word and hopefully help other families also in need.    With fellow veteran organizations we are finding ways to safely get Afghans at risk out of Afghanistan.   As with most things in life it comes with a cost.   One outstanding organization has found a way to charter a flight and provide initial living support in a safe third party nation for approximately 250 individuals at a cost of $3500 per person.    This is NOT a large amount of money per person, however, we need to have the funds to cover a FULL flight of 250 people.   That is why organizations like Afghan Promise are looking for portions of the expense to save one family at a time.