Veterans who helped the US’s Afghan allies find refuge in the US say they are outraged that a fellow veteran and advocate now faces federal conspiracy charges for his role in a protest against the Trump administration’s immigration policies.
Some call the arrest of former US army sergeant Bajun Mavalwalla II “shameful” and “un-American”. Mavalwalla is part of a community of American military veterans who, in the wake of Kabul’s fall to the Taliban in 2021, worked to rescue Afghans who supported the US military operations in their home country.
“He is one of us – and his arrest sends a message that peaceful dissent is being criminalized,” Shawn VanDiver, the founder and president of #AfghanEvac, an umbrella group bringing together military veterans, national security leaders, intelligence workers and refugee rights groups, wrote to his membership after the Guardian revealed Mavalwalla’s arrest on Tuesday.
“We want to say this loud and clear. We will not be intimidated,” VanDiver, a navy veteran, wrote.