Articles Tagged: Afghanistan

More than 100 people gathered Tuesday in Cedar Rapids in support of Afghans who arrived in Iowa after U.S. troops pulled out of the war in Afghanistan, but who now could face deportation.

Boshra Saifi, a seventh grader at McKinley middle school and 14 Under 14 honoree, has become fluent in English quickly. But it’s not her academic skills that have endeared her to students and teachers alike.

More than 1,400 refugees expecting to reunite with family members and resettle in Iowa this year are now waiting indefinitely after refugee travel to the U.S. was canceled Tuesday night under President Trump's executive order halting federal programs.

Tomorrow’s the big day for Big Orange. At noon EST on Jan. 20, Donald Trump will take the oath of …

That would be fine with me.

Zalmay Niazy, the former Afghan interpreter for U.S. troops who grabbed national attention two years ago for his fight to stay in Iowa Falls, learned Tuesday he will be granted political asylum. The decision clears the way for his path to American citizenship.

Two decades after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the nation’s oldest and largest veterans’ service organizations are seeing their ranks diminish, as older members die and younger veterans are hesitant to fill the void.

When America withdrew from Afghanistan, the sudden influx of Afghan refugees was unprecedented. Many resettlement agencies had already been facing budget and staffing cuts, and they were not prepared for so many refugees to arrive all at once.

See where Cedar Rapids’ Afghan residents live, where they work, their biggest hopes and their biggest fears since the dust settled.

Even with significant budget cuts, resettlement agencies processed over 900 Afghans. After agencies across Iowa faced a wave of humanitarian parolees in the midst of substantial challenges, how did they fare?

A Coe College graduate who was the first in his Afghan village to learn how to read and write has spent the past 20 years supporting a school in his native country — one that educates girls as well as boys.

Nearly six months after the first Afghans arrived in Cedar Rapids as they fled the Taliban in Afghanistan, a Catherine McAuley Center case worker said about 250 live in the area.

The center has received about 205 Afghan refugees since October and is expected that to grow to at least 250 this year. That’s in addition to an expected 150 “typical” refugees the Catherine McCuley Center serves.

The Iowa Republican, who a year ago saw opportunities to work with his former Senate colleague on issues such as prescription drug pricing, now believes the president’s compromises to appease progressives are limiting his ability to reach bipartisan agreement on his proposals.

The refugees are settling in cities across the state, including Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, the Quad-Cities, Sioux City and Council Bluffs.