Several mosques and Muslim organizations from across the US have been racing to prepare to welcome refugees coming with US troops withdrawing from Afghanistan.
In Wisconsin, mosques are already preparing to welcome refugees to the community, including the Islamic Center of Madison.
“Everybody is ready to help these people,” Ibrahim Saeed, the president of the Islamic Center, told NBC.
“Each and every organization will say we’ll do this part of the service.”
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The center is one of 15 organizations statewide that make up the United Muslim Resettlement Council, a group formed on Sunday to make sure refugees have access to all the services they need.
So far, 3,000 Afghan refugees have already arrived at Fort McCoy. But with the US troop withdrawal deadline two days away, the number is expected to reach 10,000.
“We don’t know how many people are going to be settled in Wisconsin or what city,” Saeed acknowledged.
However, they are putting all efforts to prepare. “We’ll have translation teams, we’ll have transportation teams,” he said.
Chicago Muslims
Chicago Muslim groups have been also getting ready to welcome hundreds of refugees from Afghanistan.
Muslim Women Resource Center, a local non-profit, is already helping more than 40 Afghans who have fled to Chicago, ABC Chicago reported.
Sima Quraishi, executive director of the social service organization, was an Afghan refugee herself when she was 10.
“Now is the time to stand with our Afghans,” she said. “It is our responsibility to protect, defend and welcome them.”
Several organizations are teaming up to create the Afghan Task Force. They will have their first meeting Wednesday to begin organizing.
For the past two week, the world’s attention has been gripped with the news of Taliban seizing power in Afghanistan.
The fall of Kabul took place on Sunday, August 15, two weeks before the US was set to complete its troop withdrawal after a costly two-decade war.
With the refugees’ arrival, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has been coordinating efforts to collect donations to refugees in Baltimore mosques.
CAIR efforts have not been limited to helping refugees only.
Over the past weeks, the Muslim civil rights group has been using Afghanistan news to stop the spread of falsehoods toward refugees, US Muslims, and Islam.