From his dwelling in Kansas Metropolis — greater than 7,000 miles away from Afghanistan — U.S. Military veteran Jason Kander joined with a bunch of personal residents to plot a faux wedding ceremony to disguise the escape of a whole bunch of Afghans weak to the Taliban.
Many Afghan allies had been left behind when American troops withdrew from Afghanistan in 2021 after 20 years of struggle. Kander, a one-time politician who ended his burgeoning political profession to cope with untreated PTSD, collaborated with civilians and different veterans to assist evacuate almost 400 Afghans, together with Rahim Rauffi and his household.
“Finally I simply made the choice that it did not matter. I might cope with it [PTSD] afterwards,” Kander mentioned. “And I made the choice, which I knew on the time was most likely poor judgment, to say to Rahim, ‘Irrespective of how lengthy it takes, we’ll get this executed.’ I knew that I used to be biting off greater than I might chew.”
What occurred when the U.S. withdrew from Afghanistan
The Taliban retook Afghanistan because the U.S. withdrew. Many Afghans, afraid of what may occur beneath the fundamentalist Islamic group, overwhelmed the Kabul airport and clung to departing U.S. navy planes in a final grasp at freedom.
“It felt like leaving a buddy behind whenever you had promised them you would not,” Kander mentioned.
At dwelling in Kansas Metropolis, Kander watched in shock as Afghanistan fell. He reached out to Salam Raoufi, who had labored as Kander’s main translator when he served in Afghanistan as an Military intelligence officer. The translator was secure and out of Afghanistan, however his nephew — Rahim Rauffi — was not.
Rahim Rauffi
60 Minutes
Rauffi was squarely in Taliban crosshairs due to his work in payroll at Afghanistan Worldwide Financial institution. In his job, he’d had entry to an inventory of tens of 1000’s of Afghans who had labored with all people from the United Nations to the U.S., Kander mentioned.
“As soon as the Taliban took over, considered one of their first priorities was to search out these individuals and make an instance of them by imprisoning them or killing them,” Kander mentioned.
Rauffi’s refusal to cooperate enraged the Taliban. Beneath the shroud of darkness, the Taliban left notes, generally known as evening letters, on the Rauffi dwelling sentencing Rahim and his total household to demise.
Getting Afghans to security
Hope for a passage to security rested within the fingers of Kander — a Little League dad nine-and-a -half time zones away. He and Rauffi exchanged encrypted textual content messages.
“My considering was how on this planet can I’m going on with the remainder of my life considering, ‘Perhaps there was one thing else I might’ve executed for Rahim,'” Kander mentioned.
Kander’s spouse, Diana, grew to become involved her husband’s need to rescue the Rauffi household of 12 may lead him to go to Afghanistan himself.
“He known as me from the opposite room. He is like, ‘Hey — the place’s my passport, simply by the by?’ And I used to be like, ‘Yeah, zero likelihood you are even having access to your passport,'” she mentioned.
Jason and Diana Kander
60 Minutes
Kander and his co-conspirators had been getting determined to give you a workable plan.
“We had been additionally working out of concepts by that time,” Kander mentioned.
As soon as the final American navy aircraft departed Afghanistan on Aug. 30, 2021, the Taliban managed the Kabul airport, choking off the obvious escape route. Kander and his group directed the imperiled Afghans to go to the northern metropolis of Mazar-e-Sharif.
The Taliban wasn’t but as entrenched within the north of the nation, however for the Rauffi household the town of Mazar-e-Sharif was a treacherous 11-hour drive dotted with Taliban checkpoints. They began their journey early on Sept. 1, 2021, and had been stopped virtually immediately by armed members of the Taliban.
“Solely due to my children’ crying and shouting… they only launched us,” Rauffi mentioned.
They lastly rolled into Mazar-e-Sharif, Afghanistan’s fourth largest metropolis.
“The Rauffis are in Mazar-e-Sharif, and myself and the individuals I used to be now working with are engaged in fixing just a few issues, or attempting to. One, how can we elevate the cash to get an airplane chartered to fly in there to select up near 400 individuals?” Kander mentioned. “And likewise how can we make it in order that the Taliban would not know that we’re doing this?”
Welcome to the marriage
The day after the Rauffis arrived in Mazar-e-Sharif, the Taliban paraded within the middle of city. The Rauffis went underground for weeks, discovering their very own secure homes. Because the household dodged the Taliban, Kander and his group had been finalizing a Hail Mary plan.
On Sept. 21, it was go time. Kander advised the household to take one bag per individual and head to a marriage palace. He gave Rauffii a code phrase: Bella, the identify of Kander’s personal daughter. What Kander uncared for to say was to whom Rauffi ought to give the code phrase.
On the wedding ceremony palace, Rauffi noticed a person with a beard, a turban, a laptop computer and a glance of authority. Rauffi went as much as the person and gave him the code phrase and his final identify.
“My coronary heart was beating very quick,” Rauffi mentioned. “Then he mentioned, ’12 individuals?’ I mentioned, ‘Sure.’ Then he mentioned, ‘Convey them in.'”
As soon as inside, they headed to a big corridor full of almost 400 individuals. Rauffi did not know any of them.
“I name Jason. I say, ‘Brother, I’m in, however there are extra individuals,'” Rauffi mentioned. “Then he advised me, ‘Welcome to the marriage occasion.'”
There was no bride or groom; it was all a ruse to slide 383 Afghans previous the unsuspecting Taliban.
From Afghanistan to Albania
The faux wedding ceremony threw the Taliban off the scent, however 383 Afghans had been marooned within the wedding ceremony corridor for 3 days as Kander continued creating the evacuation plan. By crowdfunding and personal donations, Kander and others frantically raised cash to constitution a business aircraft that will whisk away your entire “wedding ceremony occasion” to Albania, the place they’d await clearance to come back to the U.S.
Inside the marriage corridor, the Rauffis had no thought this was happening. Ultimately, Rahim Rauffi received a boarding cross by e mail. It was on authorized letterhead and did not look notably official. The passes had been the handiwork of the rescue staff within the U.S.
Rahim Rauffi holding his household boarding cross
60 Minutes
“The boarding passes, which had been fairly unofficial, solely matter if there’s a flight manifest doc from the nation of Albania, in any other case they’re only a piece of paper you are going to current after which go to jail,” Kander mentioned. “So what was going to occur was the Albanian authorities was going to ship, to the Taliban, a visa-cleared flight manifest, an inventory of folks that mentioned, ‘These are the individuals who we predict to have land in our nation.’ Now, what these individuals wanted to do was current one thing that had their photos on it, had their names, their date of beginning, every little thing that will match as much as what was on that doc.”
In different phrases, every little thing rested on the Taliban —a bunch extra identified for executions than following worldwide protocol.
The 383 Afghans arrived on the Mazar-e-Sharif airport on buses. The Taliban was within the terminal and on the tarmac. Rauffi mentioned he was shaking and sweating. The household might see their aircraft to freedom.
“It is a playing that you just even did not see your playing cards,” Rauffi mentioned. “What you’ve? What you bought? What is going to occur? However you simply gamble your total life.”
The guess paid off. The Taliban honored the home made boarding passes and the Albanian manifest.
The marriage occasion boarded the constitution aircraft, whereas Kander —dwelling in Kansas Metropolis— adopted the drama on a flight monitoring app.
“There’s zero planes over Afghanistan,” he mentioned. “After which lastly, they’re on the aircraft and the transponder activates. And also you see one little airplane activate on the runway in Mazar-e-Sharif.”
After the flight landed in Tirana, Albania, the marriage occasion was bused to a seaside resort.
The journey wasn’t over but although.
From Albania to the U.S.
Kander nonetheless had to determine methods to get the Rauffis and the opposite Afghans into the U.S. He mentioned he’d been advised by individuals on the Division of Homeland Safety that it might most likely take just a few weeks. However months later, Kander mentioned the State Division introduced that any Afghans who had gotten in a foreign country after Aug. 31 by non-public means wouldn’t be a part of Operation Allies Welcome.
“Principally it was all code for, ‘You are by yourself. In case you received out this fashion, that is a non-public effort, we received nothing to do with it,'” Kander mentioned. “And that was a giant shock and an enormous drawback.”
A yr handed. The marriage occasion was nonetheless caught on the resort in Albania and the cash overlaying the tab was working low.
“There have been some very beneficiant donors who helped us over time. And the individuals who had helped me elevate the cash within the first place did a variety of work,” Kander mentioned. “And it is taken a toll on all of us. However I believe now in case you speak to any of us, we might say it is, you realize, an important factor we have ever executed.”
Lastly, almost two years into the marriage occasion’s saga, emails arrived from the Division of Homeland Safety–the Afghans had been authorized formally to resettle within the U.S.
“I used to be, like, crying inside,” Rauffi mentioned. “Now you’ve a future.”
Jason Kander and Rahim Rauffi
60 Minutes
He knew precisely the place he wished to name dwelling—wherever Kander lived. In June of 2023, the Kanders welcomed the Rauffis to Kansas Metropolis.
At present, Rauffi is again to working in accounts at a financial institution–this one in downtown Kansas Metropolis. His brothers work there as safety guards. The Rauffis and the Kanders, who now reside 10 minutes aside, often get collectively for meals.
Rauffi says he generally wakes up throughout the evening questioning if that is actual.
“I’ll my children’ room and see them and examine them,” he mentioned. “They’re sleeping very comfy. And the following day, they will faculty.”
Extra from CBS Information
Jon Wertheim
