Bob Hedlund and his Grand Junction-based nonprofit Joint Development Associates (JDA) International deserve high praise for helping to evacuate 568 people out of Afghanistan last week.

Over the past few months JDA – in conjunction with fellow nonprofit Help The Persecuted, a nonprofit that works to help Christians in North Africa and the Middle East – have been raising money to relocate people out of Afghanistan.

It has been nearly two months since the United States removed troops from the country. It was immediately retaken by the Taliban – an Islamic fundamentalist political movement and military organization.

The Taliban, since fully retaking the country in August, has reportedly attacked minority groups, women and journalists in Afghanistan. Many who wanted to leave as the U.S. withdrew were unable to, which is a tragedy.

Thankfully we have people like Hedlund and his organization fighting to get every Afghan citizen who needs to flee this repressive, brutal regime. It was an impressive operation, costing $1.2 million and requiring complicated logistics.

“The biggest challenge was getting everybody into Mazar-i-Sharif from other parts of the country,” Hedlund said. “That was our staging area. We had to bring in everybody from Kabul, from Herat, from outlying areas to Mazar-i-Sharif and have them on hand because we had no idea when we would be able to get to flights, or if we’d gotten approval from Abu Dhabi for the flights to come in.”

Right now these 568 refugees are in Abu Dhabi temporarily. The next fight is to find them a permanent home, which Hedlund told Daily Sentinel reporter Nathan Deal has been difficult.

“We agreed with the Abu Dhabi government to have them out of there within 90 days,” Hedlund said. “Now, we’re trying to find another country to accept them. The U.S. is not doing very much at all with any of the Afghans that are in Abu Dhabi. We’re working on Brazil right now. Brazil is offering visas for them, so we’re attempting to see what we can do with them in the next 90 days.”

The Biden Administration not getting out every Afghan who would suffer persecution if they remained before leaving was shameful, but not helping the ones who, against all odds, get out themselves is downright cruel. Hopefully our Senators, John Hickenlooper and Michael Bennet, can put some pressure on the administration to grease the wheels and get more Afghans placement in the U.S.

We broke that country. It’s now our responsibility to help those our actions have left vulnerable. Again, Hedlund is right in seeking to find homes for some of these people here in the Grand Valley.

“They’ve helped me out over the 20 years I’ve spent in Afghanistan, going into their homes, living in their homes, and I just want to be part of their lives and help them with their living situation,” Hedlund said. “I think they’ll offer the Grand Valley a great deal.”

He’s right. If we are angry that people are being left behind, we need to step up and invite them into our communities here in the U.S. Let’s start with the Grand Valley.

The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel editorial board