Top

Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health

Open Access 04-01-2025 | Original Paper

Then, We Lost Everything:’ Afghan Refugee Mental Health Challenges Post-2021 Evacuation

Authors: Alexandria J. Nylen, Giovanna Deluca, Bazif Bala, Jodi Sutherland Charvis, Joshua Ray Tanzer, Omar Bah, Adam C. Levine

Published in: Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health

Excerpt

The 2021 evacuation of Afghan citizens after the Taliban takeover of the country represents the largest non-combat airlift in US history [1]. The evacuation, Operation Allies Refuge (OAR), and the subsequent US resettlement of Afghan evacuees, Operation Allies Welcome (OAW), marked the end of the US’s 20-year military presence in Afghanistan. Official statements report 85,000 Afghan evacuees were brought to the US [2]. The lead-up to the US evacuation of Afghanistan was chaotic and urgent [3]. In 8 days, the Taliban went from controlling one provincial capital to half of the country’s capitals [4]. On 16 August, over 100,000 people swarmed Hamid Karzai International Airport. On 27 August, suicide bombings at the airport killed 150 Afghans and 13 US troops [5]. After the last US plane departed on 30 August, the Taliban took control of the airport and ceased departures [6]. …

SIVs are the category of US visas given to Afghan nationals who worked supporting the US mission in Afghanistan.

Global Trends Forced Displacement in 2022. UNHCR. 2022. https://www.unhcr.org/global-trends-report-2022. Accessed 10 Oct 2023.

Afghanistan Refugee Crisis Explained. UN Refugees. 2023. https://www.unrefugees.org/news/afghanistan-refugee-crisis-explained/. Accessed 10 Oct 2023.

Ackerman E. The Fifth Act: America’s End in Afghanistan. New York: Penguin Press; 2022.

Clark K, Ali O. A Quarter of Afghanistan’s Districts Fall to the Taliban amid Calls for a Second Resistance. Afghanistan Analysts Network. 2021. https://www.afghanistan-analysts.org/en/reports/war-and-peace/a-quarter-of-afghanistans-districts-fall-to-the-taleban-amid-calls-for-a-second-resistance/. Accessed 10 Oct 2023.

Seligman LD, Desiderio A, Ward A. ISIS terrorist threats jeopardize Afghanistan evacuation, Pentagon assessment warns. Politico. 2021. https://www.politico.com/news/2021/08/24/isis-terrorist-threats-afghanistan-kabul-evacuation-506807. Accessed 10 Oct 2023.

Joscelyn TR, Roggio B. Taliban’s Special Forces Outfit Providing ‘Security’ at Kabul Airport. The Long War Journal. 2021. https://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2021/08/talibans-special-forces-outfit-providing-security-at-kabul-airport.php. Accessed 10 Oct 2023.

Scholte WF, Olff M, Ventevogel P, et al. Mental health symptoms following war and repression in eastern Afghanistan. JAMA. 2004. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.292.5.585.CrossRefPubMed

Cardozo BL, Bilukha OO, Crawford CAG, et al. Mental health, social functioning, and disability in postwar Afghanistan. JAMA. 2004. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.292.5.575.CrossRefPubMed

Naghavi A, Afsharzada MS, Brailovskaia J, Teismann T. Mental health and suicidality in Afghan students after the Taliban takeover in 2021. J Affect Disord. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2022.04.001

10.

Ahmadi SJ, Jobson L, Earnest A, et al. Prevalence of poor mental health among adolescents in Kabul, Afghanistan, as of November 2021. JAMA Netw Open. 2022. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.18981.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral

11.

Sundvall M, Titelman D, DeMarinis V, Borisova L, Çetrez Ö. Safe but isolated – an interview study with Iraqi refugees in Sweden about social networks, social support, and mental health. International Journal of Social Psychiatry. https://doi.org/10.1177/0020764020954257

12.

Fazel M, Wheeler J, Danesh J. Prevalence of serious mental disorder in 7000 refugees resettled in western countries: a systematic review. Lancet. 2005. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0140-6736(05)61027-6.CrossRefPubMed

13.

Blackmore R, Boyle JA, Fazel M, et al. The prevalence of mental illness in refugees and asylum seekers: a systematic review and meta-analysis. PLoS Med. 2020. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1003337.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral

14.

Alemi Q, James S, Cruz R, Zepeda V, Racadio M. Psychological distress in afghan refugees: a mixed-method systematic review. J Immigr Minor Health. 2014. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-013-9861-1.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral

15.

Alemi Q, James S, Siddiq H, Montgomery S. Correlates and predictors of psychological distress among afghan refugees in san diego county. Int J Cult Ment Health. 2015. https://doi.org/10.1080/17542863.2015.1006647.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral

16.

Harlow, L. L. The essence of multivariate thinking: Basic themes and methods. 3rd ed. Routledge; 2014

17.

Bishop C. Bayesian PCA. Advances in neural information processing systems.

18.

Van de Schoot, R., & Miocević, M. Small sample size solutions: A guide for applied researchers and practitioners. 1st ed. Taylor & Francis; 2020

19.

Siddiq H, Alemi Q, Lee E. A qualitative inquiry of older afghan refugee women’s individual and sociocultural factors of health and health care experiences in the United States. J Transcult Nurs. 2023. https://doi.org/10.1177/10436596221149692.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral

Title: Then, We Lost Everything:’ Afghan Refugee Mental Health Challenges Post-2021 Evacuation
Authors: Alexandria J. Nylen
Giovanna Deluca
Bazif Bala
Jodi Sutherland Charvis
Joshua Ray Tanzer
Omar Bah
Adam C. Levine
Publication date: 04-01-2025
Publisher: Springer US
Published in: Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health
Print ISSN: 1557-1912
Electronic ISSN: 1557-1920
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-024-01640-3

Keynote webinar | Spotlight on adolescent vaping

Springer Medicine

Then, We Lost Everything:’ Afghan Refugee Mental Health Challenges Post-2021 Evacuation

Excerpt

Keynote webinar | Spotlight on adolescent vaping

Springer Medicine

Excerpt

Please log in to get access to this content