MINNEAPOLIS — Before hearing about the latest bombings outside the Kabul airport, Naweed Ahmadzai had already seen enough.
"I can't take it anymore," said Ahmadzai, who was born and raised in Afghanistan. "I came to Minnesota when I was 16 years old. It was part of a U.S. State Department exchange program. I came here for about a year and then, after that, it wasn't safe for me to return back home, so I applied for Asylum."
Ahmadzai returned to Afghanistan to visit friends and extended family in 2018, and though he knew an eventual US withdrawal could mean a return to an uncertain future, nothing could prepare him for what he saw unfold at the airport last week.
"That's when everything kind of changed," he said. "I was like, if this is not going to change people's ideas of what they need to do in order to save people that are literally hanging on a plane, then no one is taking responsibility. Afghans, they are dying in the middle while other people are trying to play politics at this point."
It's why, today, instead of watching the coverage of the latest attacks, he's trying to connect with those who are still stuck.
"It's okay the U.S. left, it's not the U.S.' problem to figure out everything, but it's just the way they left. It didn't allow Afghans to actually have a fighting chance. Their lives are literally at risk," Ahmadzai said. "These are the people that fought along side with the U.S. troops. They risked their families. They risked their own lives and right now they are put in limbo."
Ahmadzai says he knows people back in Afghanistan who are struggling in that position right now.
"I have friends and extended family that are contacting me on a day-to-day basis trying to figure out ways (to get out). I'm doing whatever I can on this side, but there are so many people doing similar kind of things just because there was such chaos as far as how the U.S. left," he said.
Amid the chaos, Minnesota's Department of Human Services tells KARE11 that 35 Afghan refugees have made it to Minnesota for resettlement so far. They currently expect about 30 more, though their future is anything but certain.
"Most of these people coming into the United States, they're literally with just one backpack leaving their country," Ahmadzai said. "They need all the welcome signs in the airport, they need all the hugs, they need all the food, they need all the protection that they can get after they're flown from terrorists that are controlling the country. Just showing up to show any kind of support, that would mean the world."
There are several ways to support Afghan refugees in Minnesota:
International Institute of Minnesota, a local refugee resettlement agency, is raising funds for newly arrived Afghans.
Ariana Kabob & Gyro Bistro in St. Louis Park is raising funds for displaced Afghans through GoFundMe.
Northwest Islamic Community Center in Plymouth is collecting donations and supplies.