One year on, Afghan refugees find shelter but little security in US

Khalis Noori had one thing in common with the U.S. government: He never thought Kabul would fall so quickly.

After years of living in the United Kingdom, he had returned to Afghanistan in April of 2021, prepared to take a job as an international aid adviser with the country’s Ministry of Finance.

It was an important time to come home, he said, with the fledgling democracy in need of its best and brightest as the U.S. was set to end its 20-year partnership by withdrawing military forces that had been on the ground since 2001.

But the rapid fall of the country altered that trajectory, changing his life forever.