Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\tPlan to boost visas for Afghan allies isn\u2019t enough, advocates warn<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t The White House hopes to increase the number of Afghan visas to 20,000 in its fiscal 2024 budget plan.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n
It was not safe for him or other U.S. allies to return to Afghanistan due to possible reprisals by the Taliban. Qara came to the United States under humanitarian parole and was sent to Roanoke by immigration officials because he had a contact nearby \u2014 a sister of a fellow pilot who lived near Blacksburg \u2014 and because the city is home to an office of Commonwealth Catholic Charities, one of the largest resettlement agencies in the state. More than 350 Afghans have resettled in the Roanoke and New River valleys since August 2021, with those numbers increasing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Meanwhile, his wife and children are still on the run in Afghanistan, frequently changing locations, so the Taliban won\u2019t find them and take revenge for Qara\u2019s service with the Afghan military. He has yet to meet his infant daughter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Qara desperately wants to get his family to Roanoke.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cLife doesn\u2019t make sense for me with being away from my family,\u201d Qara said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhen I came here, I thought the government would help me bring my family because I used to work with the U.S. government.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He is not alone in having family members left behind in Afghanistan and scared for their lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In November , the U.S. State Department launched an Afghan family reunification page on its website to help separated families reunite.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Approximately 3.2 million Afghans are displaced inside Afghanistan due to conflict, with two-thirds of the population in need of humanitarian and protection assistance, according to the United Nations Refugee Agency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Virginia Department of Social Services reports that 10,782 refugees from Afghanistan have been resettled in Virginia since 2021. Nearly 90,000 Afghans have been welcomed to the United States through Operation Allies Welcome, according to the State Department. Iran and Pakistan host 85% of displaced Afghans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMy wife blames me everyday saying, \u2018This is your fault we are still in Afghanistan,\u2019\u201d Qara said. \u201cI say, \u2018this was a tough situation, I didn\u2019t know,\u2019\u201d Qara said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hope and friends<\/h2>\n\n\n\n Bored and tormented with loss, Qara sat in a small studio room at the Mainstay Suites Airport hotel near Valley View in December 2021 after he arrived in Roanoke. CCC provided the temporary accommodation until it could find a permanent residence. Qara knew no one other than another Afghan pilot who fled with him, and who was also relocated to Roanoke. A couple of months later, the two became roommates when CCC found them an apartment in Roanoke.<\/p>\n\n\n\nTashmorad Qara, left, and Andreas Panagore share a moment after catching up over a traditional Afghan meal, prepared by Qara, on May, 17, 2023, in Roanoke, Va. (Heather Rousseau\/The Roanoke Times via AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nQara reached out on a neighborhood social media group and introduced himself. He asked if anyone would help him practice English and show him around his new Roanoke home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After reading negative responses to his post, with people warning others not to trust him, Qara did not expect anyone to help him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI think they see my name, and not trust me,\u201d Qara said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Somebody replied anyway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Andreas Panagore had been following the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in the news and said his heart felt for the Afghan people. Panagore, 30, who moved to Roanoke from Maine three years ago and owns a landscaping company called Ecoscape, also said he empathized with Qara\u2019s loneliness in an unfamiliar city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been to new places before without friends and it can be hard,\u201d Panagore said. \u201cI was happy to help.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Panagore wrote to Qara through a messaging app.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHello my friend, you want English lessons?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They quickly formed a friendship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHe\u2019s such a personable guy,\u201d Panagore said about Qara. \u201cIt\u2019s really difficult to not be friends.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Qara knew English but wanted to improve his communication skills. He began to inquire about terms and phrases that he did not understand. When watching a movie, he heard a couple say \u201con the rocks.\u201d So, he asked Panagore what the phrase meant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOn the rocks = not doing well,\u201d Panagore wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Panagore started sending Qara daily slang definitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cToday\u2019s slang term is chillin,\u201d Panagore said using the voice feature. \u201cChillin is usually used when somebody\u2019s just hanging out. They\u2019re either with friends or they\u2019re alone. They\u2019re not really doing much of anything. They\u2019re chillin.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Later, in May, the two reminisced while enjoying a traditional Afghani dish of chicken karahi that Qara prepared with tomatoes and hot peppers. The two sat at the table in Qara\u2019s kitchen, holding their phones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Panagore laughed when replaying his voice message defining \u201cchillin.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI used a slang term in the definition,\u201d he said, referring to \u201changing out.\u201d Qara probably didn\u2019t know what either meant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The two discussed a year and a half ago, during a chilly day in January, when Panagore drove Qara and his roommate to see downtown Roanoke. The three of them squeezed in the front of his Ford F-150 pickup. Panagore took his new Afghan friends to Cedars Lebanese Restaurant and to get savings rewards cards from Food Lion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a short time, Qara\u2019s social circle grew because of his friendship with Panagore, who introduced him to Chris and Micki Brumfield.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThey was giving me positive energy to move forward and never give up, even though I lost everything. I\u2019ve made really good friends here,\u201d Qara said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Brumfield\u2019s were motivated to help Qara and his roommate after hearing their stories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe fact that they were our allies, they were helping the U.S. We wanted to help them,\u201d Micki said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After a couple months staying at the hotel, CCC found the former Afghan pilots a place to live and provided them with beds, blankets and basic household items.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Katie Dillon, marketing manager with CCC, explains that a variety of factors make it time-consuming to find long-term housing for refugees, including low availability of affordable housing and need for government identification.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The nonprofit was in the process of obtaining additional furnishings when the Brumfield\u2019s jumped into action, taking Qara and his roommate shopping for clothes and household items.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThey came to my house and they saw we had nothing,\u201d Qara said. \u201cThey brought us TV and couches, a microwave, a new grill. I thought that one day I hope we can help them, too.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Qara and his roommate took the first job they could get when they applied at Voyant Beauty, a cosmetics factory in northeast Roanoke where many refugees find work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
CCC works with the factory on a regular basis and is thankful for their partnership and readiness to promptly hire refugees. \u201cWhile the positions may not always match the refugees\u2019 skills they (the beauty factory) are still a way for them to earn an income and establish residency while they find something more suitable,\u201d Dillon wrote in an email.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Qara was working on the assembly line at the factory, which became monotonous after having flown airplanes. He wanted a challenge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The factory also lacked opportunities to improve his English.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere was no chance to speak English with anyone,\u201d he said. \u201cThe other people there, they do not speak English.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Chris Brumfield, who works for the Western Virginia Water Authority, told Qara about a job fair for the water authority and gave him a good recommendation. Qara landed the job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI am so thankful to get a job at the water authority,\u201d Qara said. \u201cThere, at least I can learn something.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The past year Qara has worked to expand his skills and knowledge at the water authority. He is learning to look for water breaks and leaks to troubleshoot and read meters. Qara is on his way to getting a promotion to the second step of a water quality technician, according to his supervisor, Joel Bostic, water quality assist management strategist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe love having him, he\u2019s a very hard worker,\u201d Bostic said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Panagore and the Brumfields, also helped him navigate his way through the confusing federal departments to try and get his family out of Afghanistan. Each of them emailed Rep. Ben Cline, R-Botetourt, whose office has started to work with the State Department on the reunification process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI said, \u2018Hey, we need his family over here.\u2019\u201d Panagore said. \u201cHis office came back and said, \u2018OK, we\u2019re gonna try to start working on that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As that process started, another major complication erupted. Russia invaded Ukraine and refugees from Ukraine started flooding the U.S. immigration network.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After four months of sending documents to the U.S. government and answering questions for U.S. officials, Qara received an email in early June from the State Department that began:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDear \u2026\u2026.\u2026\u2026,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Your application for family reunification assistance has been received, and you qualify for U.S. government assistance to provide family reunification assistance to your eligible family members outside the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Charlotte Law, communications director for Cline, confirmed the office is working on Qara\u2019s case but would not discuss ongoing cases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Qara called his wife to tell her the U.S. government approved her and their children to come to the U.S., but he warned he is still not sure how long it will take for action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cShe was so happy,\u201d Qara said. \u201cShe said, \u2018I\u2019m counting the seconds to know some good news.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Qara\u2019s wife had completed two years of her nursing degree when the Taliban took control of Afghanistan, he said, and banned higher education for women. The family remains in hiding, he said, while she and their children wait to come to the U.S., and as she studies English with a tutor three days a week in hopes of completing her degree when they resettle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI tell her to study English,\u201d he said. \u201cIf you don\u2019t know English it will be so difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Afghanistan, Qara liked to fish, hunt and hike. Now settled in the Blue Ridge Mountains, he has visited places such as Apple Orchard Falls in Botetourt County and Mill Mountain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While fishing at Smith Mountain Lake in early June, Qara set aside his rod in the boat and used his cellphone to speak to his family on FaceTime. It was night in Afghanistan, but daytime in the U.S. His youngest son cried, frustrated he was unable to be with his dad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMy son, he was kind of mad and sad because he said, \u2018Why are you not bringing us there? We are stuck here, I need a fish but I can\u2019t find fish,\u2019\u201d Qara said. \u201cIt make me so sad.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He asked his brother, who is in Afghanistan, to buy a fish from a market and take it to his family, but the feeling of helplessness remained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Back in the pit<\/h2>\n\n\n\n Qara said memories flooded his mind as he sat in the cockpit of a Diamond Star single-engine airplane, a type often used for pilot training. There was silence as he stared at the instruments and controls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Orin Osmon, a retired U.S. Air Force pilot who was Qara\u2019s flight instructor in Afghanistan, stood outside the airplane.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHow do you feel?\u201d he asked. Qara smiled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Although Qara cannot fly in the U.S., he enjoyed the experience sitting in the cockpit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOne of my great memories was when I did my first solo flight,\u201d Qara said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He had bad memories too. Qara recalls the time when he lost control of the aircraft and recovered the plane after losing between 4,000 and 5,000 feet of altitude.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI was so lucky I had altitude that night and (was) not close to the mountain,\u201d Qara said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The two pilots toured airplanes at Star Flight Training, a flight school located at Roanoke-Blacksburg Regional Airport. Osmon, who lives in Washington, D.C., visited Qara in December and organized the visit with Star Flight management. He thought Qara would appreciate sitting in an aircraft again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Osmon now does contract work for Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency, flying a Beechcraft King Air plane to help the international agency enforce fishing rules in the South Pacific.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Osmon trained Qara during a flight screening program at Shindand Air Base in Afghanistan for about a year in 2012 and then again a few years later in Kabul. He also flew with Qara when he advanced from co-pilot to a pilot in command.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHe would come to class well prepared,\u201d Osmon said. \u201cHe had a positive attitude. Very excited. He made it clear to the instructors there that he was glad to have them as instructors. And he had a sense of humor.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Osmon explains that even though Qara was approved to fly by the U.S. military, the Federal Aviation Administration does not recognize documents that say he trained adequately. The FAA only accepts military pilot training if it is done in the U.S. And flight school can cost anywhere from $10,000 to $15,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Osmon said he has kept in contact with about 36 of the Afghan pilots he\u2019s trained who resettled in the United States since the fall of Kabul. Some of the pilots have been able to pursue licensing from the FAA, but most try to save money to send home to family members left behind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAs far as I can tell, they\u2019re kind of in blue-collar working type jobs,\u201d Osmon said of the Afghan pilots he trained who are now in the U.S. He added: \u201cAnd even though this (flight) training could very well pay off to a much better job … if you\u2019re trying to send money back home, you feel like it\u2019s a frivolous act, to go pursue flying.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After a full day of flushing fire hydrants for the water authority, Qara got in his 2004 Toyota Corolla, opened the DoorDash app on his cellphone and clicked \u201cconfirm pickup.\u201d Minutes later he delivered McDonald\u2019s carryout to a hungry customer. \u201cEnjoy your food,\u201d he said, giving a thumbs up as he returned quickly to his car to accept another delivery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I kind of need to do this to survive to support my family, I don\u2019t have another option,\u201d Qara said about his second job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He took a sip from a silver tumbler filled with coffee and put his car into drive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI used to drink tea back at my home, but I am getting used to it (coffee) like Americans,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Qara said he hopes to buy a house with at least two bedrooms for his family when they come. \u201cThis is one of my dream, hopefully I can buy a house someday,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Filled with American dreams and caffeine, Qara is ready for new opportunities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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