Photo: WAKIL KOHSAR / AFP / Getty Images
More of 30 California students are unable to leave Afghanistan having been in that country for weeks before the Taliban take over, indicated several school districts in the state where they are enrolled.
Students traveled to Afghanistan in the spring or early summer to meet with their families and were unable to leave before the US armed forces withdrew .
The students belong to families who came to the United States for years after obtaining special immigrant visas that were granted to Afghans who had worked for the US government or military during the last two decades.
Up to 30 # California Students Stuck in # Afghanistan After US Pullout: Officials
“We have not been able to reach many of them in the last few days , ”
Students are from:
San Juan Unified School District
Cajon Valley Union School District https://t.co/nBNYVVX5gk pic.twitter.com/5TzKsEw4lW– CaliVaxChoice (@CaliVaxChoice) September 1, 2021
Some of the families reported to district officials schoolchildren who tried to board the planes at Kabul airport, but were unable to pass Taliban controls not even for the large number of Afghans that surroundedb at the air terminal for the past two weeks.
As of Monday, the United States ended its evacuation efforts and withdrew its forces from Afghanistan.
The San Juan Unified School District reported that identified 27 students of 19 families who are enrolled in schools in their demarcation , who said they were unable to return home.
In an email to The Associated Press, a spokeswoman for the San Juan district noted that they support the Afghan community and hope their students will be able to return safely and quickly to the United States.
The City of Sacramento noted that an Afghan immigrant family with three children enrolled in Ethel I. Baker Elementary School had contacted them to request and uda that allows them to return to the United States .
Another unified district, Cajon Valley, in a suburb of San Diego where there is a large refugee population, eight families contacted their children’s schools before school started on 17 August, to notify them that they were having trouble leaving Afghanistan.
Republican Rep. Darrell Issa of California worked With the district and with the help of other United States government officials , seven of the families were able to leave Afghanistan and most are now back in the city by El Cajón . There is only one family left to leave that country.
School district officials maintained contact with the family and continued their attempts to help them leave Afghanistan.
It may interest you:
· More of 20, 000 evacuated Afghans have already arrived in the United States, according to the Pentagon
· The Taliban escorted Americans to the gates of Kabul airport in a secret agreement with the US
· The United States reaffirms that it will evacuate all its citizens remaining in Afghanistan