Skip to Main Content
Brown University
Brown University

Costs of War

Search Menu

Site Navigation

  • Home
  • About
    • People
    • Contributors
    • Funders
  • Costs
    • Human
    • Economic
    • Social & Political
    • Environmental
  • Papers
  • Findings
  • In the News
    • More from our Contributors
  • Teaching
  • Donate
Search
Costs of War
Published April 5, 2021
Tags Noah Coburn
Read Full Paper

The Costs of Working with the Americans in Afghanistan: The United States’ Broken Special Immigrant Visa Process

Paper

The United States’ Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) Program was designed to help Afghans and Iraqis in danger as a result of their service to the U.S. government, yet fails to properly support those who need it most.

This report tells the stories of Afghans who served as translators or other civilian supporters of the U.S. military, and are now facing imminent danger as they navigate the broken SIV Program, seeking to immigrate to the United States. Afghans who face threats as a result of aligning themselves with the U.S. are often ill-served by the program and forced to flee to neighboring countries through illicit channels. They are threatened by anti-government fighters and criminal groups, who have killed hundreds of these applicants already; the lives of thousands of others are at risk. The SIV Program has issued 18,000 U.S. visas to Afghan workers since its inception, but has an equal number of applications currently backlogged. Further, even those who receive a visa through the program often do not receive the support they need to successfully resettle in the United States. 

About the Author

  • Image

    Noah Coburn

    Political Anthropologist, Bennington College
    ncoburn@bennington.edu
    Website

    Noah Coburn has conducted research in Afghanistan since 2005 with the United States Institute of Peace, the Afghan Research and Evaluation Unit, the Aga Khan Trust for culture and other organizations. He is author of Bazaar Politics: Power and Pottery in an Afghan Bazaar (2011) and Losing Afghanistan (2016), and with Anna Larson, Derailing Democracy in Afghanistan (2014). He has a PhD in cultural anthropology from Boston University. 

Brown University
Providence RI 02912 401-863-1000

Quick Navigation

  • Visit Brown
  • Campus Map
  • A to Z
  • Contact Us

Footer Navigation

  • News
  • Events
  • Campus Safety
  • Accessibility
  • Jobs at Watson
Give To Brown

© Brown University

Brown University
For You
Search Menu

Mobile Site Navigation

    Mobile Site Navigation

    • Home
    • About
      • People
      • Contributors
      • Funders
    • Costs
      • Human
      • Economic
      • Social & Political
      • Environmental
    • Papers
    • Findings
    • In the News
      • More from our Contributors
    • Teaching
    • Donate
All of Brown.edu People
Close Search

The Costs of Working with the Americans in Afghanistan: The United States’ Broken Special Immigrant Visa Process