Under US military rule, most translators were employed by the US military or humanitarian aid agencies. When the US withdrew in 2021, Afghanistan’s banking system collapsed, foreign investments halted, and large humanitarian entities fired Afghan translators. Simultaneously, translators were amongst the most targeted groups by the Taliban. The US government, refused any responsibility for their well-being — going so far as to reject countless Afghan translators’ asylum claims.

The ICE abduction of two dozen Afghans last week is a continuation of centuries-long imperialist violence against Afghans.

The withdrawal of US troops and the 20 years of military occupation preceding it are directly responsible for the acute endangerment of Afghan migrants — and the Afghan translators whom migrants rely on to survive and communicate.

By making Afghanistan a site of emergency for translators, the US created a systemic translation deficit that deprives Afghan migrants of access to language and translation support wherever they go. In so doing, it has also exacerbated the erasure and absence of Afghanistan from Western and English language media.

Trapped at the intersection of the US’ betrayal and the Taliban’s persecution, countless translators were forced into hiding and exile in 2021, leaving the entire industry of language work at risk of obsolescence, and forcing the people of Afghanistan to navigate racist asylum and immigration systems in neighboring and faraway countries without language assistance.

Proficient Afghan language services are an urgent need. Mistranslations in Afghans’ asylum case files are not only rampant, but are regularly used to justify the rejection of Afghan asylum cases altogether.

Speakers of Dari and Pashto, the official languages of Afghanistan, are frequently forced to undergo court proceedings in Arabic or other languages that are not intelligible to them. Dari was not included as a language in Google Translate and other machine translation tools until 2025, but for years, Dari speakers have been forced to rely on these tools while navigating life-or-death medical and legal systems.

When the Afghan government collapsed in 2021, RCT’s caseload increased exponentially overnight. As a grassroots organization, RCT was inundated with urgent requests for translation and interpretation from Dari and Pashto into dozens of other languages, for Afghan refugees and asylum seekers forced suddenly into exile. Meanwhile, our organization became a lifeline for Afghan linguists otherwise deprived of income after losing their jobs, homes, and bank accounts. To address the revocation of US and international support for Afghan translators, we as a grassroots organization were coordinating the evacuation of several Afghan translators on our team. Through rapid response efforts led by language workers in our collective, we successfully supported several Afghan translators who reached safety in Pakistan, Canada, and the United States.

Afghan translators who were abandoned by US state forces and the international community now serve as Directors of Respond Crisis Translation’s Afghan Languages Team.

Our team has built a community of dozens of interpreters of Afghan languages working to translate for Afghans seeking asylum around the world.

Afghan language workers need your support in order to continue their work: bit.ly/support-afghans

Reach out to Respond Crisis Translation if you, your organization, or your community needs professional, trauma-informed language services amidst the accelerated violence against Afghans and migrants as a whole.

“The vast majority of Afghans affected by these racist policies are seeking safety and a chance to live with dignity. It is critical that responses prioritise human dignity, protection, and compassion.”
-Ahmad* RCT Afghan Languages Team Lead

*pseudonym for safety

Afghan community under attack — Afghan language workers ON THE FRONTLINES NEED YOUR SUPPORT!