KABUL, Afghanistan – As the U.S. approaches the one-year anniversary of its controversial military withdrawal from Afghanistan, Florida-based non-profit Project DYNAMO continues to execute evacuations and rescue operations of American citizens and lawful permanent residents from the Taliban-controlled country, including four rescue operations in the last two months.
In 2022 alone, Project DYNAMO led more than 50 cross-border evacuations from Afghanistan into neighboring countries, successfully rescuing Americans, lawful permanent residents (LPR), and allies.
Project DYNAMO has been conducting rescue operations consistently since the fall of Kabul last year, with their most recent evacuation occurring earlier this month.
Recent evacuations include members of the Afghan Diplomatic Corps, senior officers of the Afghan military and security service, and U.S. citizens and LPRs, all of whom risk incarceration and even death if discovered by the Taliban, Afghanistan’s current government.
Project DYNAMO team members and their evacuees typically depart the country via Kabul, the capital city of Afghanistan, which recently made headlines after the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency killed al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri via a precision drone missile strike at his home in Kabul on Sunday, according to U.S. officials, bringing an end to a more than 20-year manhunt following the attacks on 9/11.
“Just as we predicted, Afghanistan is once again harboring terrorists with American blood on their hands less than a year since the U.S. withdrawal,” said Bryan Stern, co-founder of Project DYNAMO. “As the mastermind of the attacks on 9/11, the idea that Ayman al-Zawahiri could freely walk around Kabul and visit his family with impunity while those who served alongside the U.S. and NATO lost their homes, families, and many cases, their lives confirms that Americans and allies who aided America remain in extreme danger from al-Qaeda, other terrorist groups, and by proxy the new Afghan government itself. Project DYNAMO strongly applauds President Biden, the CIA, DoD, and the entire U.S. Intelligence Community for removing this vile terrorist from the battlespace after an over two-decade manhunt. As a 9/11 first responder, the Zawahiri operation is of particular personal poignancy to me as we approach the 21st anniversary of 9/11.”
One of Project DYNAMO’s operations in April included two American citizens — an elderly couple who visited family in July of 2021, less than a month before the fall of Kabul. The husband, a 78-year-old retired U.S. police officer, who wishes to remain anonymous for his safety, faced serious medical issues when he was left behind in Afghanistan without proper medication or a safe way back to the United States. Left behind for months, he contacted Project DYNAMO.
In May, Project DYNAMO rescued the family members of the former First Secretary of the Permanent Mission of Afghanistan to the United Nations in New York. Project DYNAMO quietly worked to evacuate the family members from an undisclosed location in Afghanistan to Pakistan and then onward to the U.S. According to Stern, this operation required the movement of these individuals from private residences to safehouses; their secure transportation through more than a dozen Taliban checkpoints; and across the Afghanistan-Pakistan border into intermediate safety. Members of Project DYNAMO escorted the diplomatic family from an undisclosed location in Pakistan and flew them to London Heathrow Airport before arriving at JFK International Airport in New York.
In addition to rescues conducted in Afghanistan, Project DYNAMO also evacuated an Afghan Army Colonel and Defense Attaché from London to the U.S. in June. Colonel Haroon Naderi, who is also a U.S. LPR, was called back to Afghanistan once the Taliban took control. According to Naderi, because of his work with Western nations, his fate would have been fatal should he have returned to Afghanistan.
Naderi says he fought side-by-side with U.S. Special Forces during the early days of the war in 2001 with the famed ODA 595 “Horse Soldiers” against al-Qaeda and the Taliban. Naderi’s brother is an American citizen, former U.S. Army soldier, and disabled combat veteran from wounds received in Iraq. Naderi, his wife, and four children were safely and legally evacuated to Arizona by Project DYNAMO, where his eldest son and daughter hope to attend college.
“These Afghan diplomats serving abroad still have families in Kabul,” explained Stern. “They can’t return home because the Taliban’s new government says they are now the enemy. Their homes are destroyed, and their families are targeted and even killed. I could not be happier that we were able to assist my friend Colonel Naderi and his family. He is a true patriot to his people, and his family has shed their blood on America’s behalf in Iraq and Afghanistan.”
Another evacuation in July included two LPRs, Abdul Satar, 75, and his wife, who is 71. The couple requested assistance from the State Department in August, with no response to date. Nearly a year later, with no progress being made and in hiding for more than 10 months due to having relatives who fought with the U.S. military, they reached out to Project DYNAMO in mid-July for rescue before detection by the Taliban.
“We needed to get out as soon as possible not only because of what the Taliban would do if they found us American green card holders but because we needed better cancer treatment than what is available in Afghanistan,” said Satar, who is diagnosed with stage one cancer while his wife is diagnosed with stage four. “We are just so thankful to Project DYNAMO and happy to be back home and pray for those who are still in hiding looking to escape.”
Project DYNAMO evacuated the Satars in between cancer treatments. They are now safely back home in the U.S.
Although many allies of the U.S. have escaped, Stern says that many Americans, LPRs, and allies still remain in hiding with no way out of Afghanistan. According to the Project DYNAMO rescue request database, there are thousands of requests for evacuation.
To date, since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan, Project DYNAMO has conducted over 100 rescue operations from Afghanistan, transporting Americans, LPRs, SIV holders, and vetted Allies safely to the United States and neighboring countries, including SLINGSHOTS – Charter or commercial air evacuations to the United States and NOMADS – Cross border land-based rescue operations to neighboring countries.
Concurrently in Ukraine, Project DYNAMO has conducted more than 250 rescue operations in the most war-torn, contested, violent, and Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine and transported vulnerable populations safely to the United States and neighboring countries, including APOLLO-humanitarian convoys, GEMINI-newborn surrogate babies, AQUARIUS-pregnant surrogate mothers, ARIES-medical evacuations, ATLAS-special needs civilians and VOYAGER-Holocaust survivors, and ORION-American citizen hard-target rescues.
Those interested in donating to or learning more about Project DYNAMO can do so by visiting www.projectdynamo.org.
Stern will be available for in-person and in-studio interviews in New York from Aug. 9-11. Members of the media interested in interviewing members of Project DYNAMO or Satar should contact Justin Clements at 812.621.0631 or justin.clements@judgepr.com.
About Project Dynamo:
Derived from “Operation Dynamo,” the codename issued to the Dunkirk evacuation operation of World War II, Project Dynamo is a privately run, donor-funded evacuation organization being run by extraordinary civilians attempting to do the impossible — rescue Americans and their allies from hostile regions of the world.