Virginia has taken in more than 650 refugees from Afghanistan in the past five months as that nation continues to reel after President Joe Biden’s 2021 withdrawal of American troops.
According to a report on refugee resettlement from October 2023 through February, 655 Afghanis now call Virginia home. That is the most of any country of origin for the 1,295 refugees recently resettled in Virginia.
Afghanistan was plunged back into chaos after a disastrous withdrawal of American troops in August of 2021, which allowed the Taliban to retake control of the country.
The Republican-led House of Representatives blasted Biden on the two-year anniversary of the withdrawal.
“Two years ago, President Biden’s catastrophic withdrawal from Afghanistan led to the deadliest attack on Americans in Afghanistan since 2011, killing 13 of our brave Servicemembers and wounding many others. President Biden left hundreds of Americans and BILLIONS of dollars of U.S. military equipment stranded behind enemy lines,” they said in a release last August.
Hundreds of Americans were also left behind during the operation, creating a logistical nightmare for their extraction.
While Afghanistan is the most represented country of origin, Syria is second, with 150 refugees resettled. Third on the list is the Democratic Republic of Congo, which has sent 128 refugees to Virginia.
Several Central American countries also are represented among those from where refugees have fled.
Virginia has taken in 63 Guatemalan refugees, along with 55 from El Salvador, 46 from Colombia, 27 from Venezuela, 15 from Nicaragua, and 14 from Honduras.
Over the past week, The Star News Network has run a series chronicling the importation of refugees from Congo.
In four states, including Georgia, Ohio, Arizona, and Tennessee, Congolese refugees represent the most taken from any country in the world.
That country is the fourth poorest on earth and is only 20 years removed from the end of a civil war that resulted in the deaths of nearly 5.5 million people. Its first successful peaceful transfer of power only came in 2018.
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Pete D’Abrosca is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Pete on Twitter/X.
