Thread by @WIRED

As the war in Afghanistan ended, a group of US-based volunteers raced to evacuate Afghan allies.
Armed with group chats, QR codes, & satellite maps they rescued nearly 500 people in 2 weeks. Over 30,000 remained in their database. wired.trib.al/7fGHuzq 🎨: Alicia Tatone 1/12

Worth Parker had just retired from the Marines when he got a message. Jason Essazay, a native of Mazar-i-Sharif and former interpreter for the US, needed his help. The Taliban had taken over Kabul and his family was trapped. 2/12

Parker was in his bed in North Carolina. He was unsure what he could do to assist, but promised to try. He discovered that the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit was flying 160 of its troops from Kuwait to Kabul to assist with the evacuation. Suddenly he had a plan. 3/12

He asked Essazay for data on his family and fed it to his marine contact. Then he waited. A day later a message came in: Get your people’s family to the airport now. But first they would need to get through a Taliban checkpoint. 4/12

Miraculously the plan worked. Parker received dozens of voicemails from other Afghan interpreters and fixers, desperate for help. So, he rounded up other high-ranking military officials and established Task Force Dunkirk. 5/12

At the same time another ad hoc group was also evolving. Joe Saboe, a former Army soldier living in Denver, posted to Facebook, asking if anyone could help evacuate his brother's friend and his family. Soon several veterans across the country responded. 6/12

They were all in their 30s, each trying to get a single contact to safety. Saboe decided to create a WhatsApp group where they could share information and expertise. Eventually he got his contacts to safety, but word got out about his growing group: Team America. 7/12

It didn’t take long for Parker to discover the younger, more tech savvy group. Team America had Slack channels like #resettlement. They had WhatsApp groups for each family, a coded Google sheet to organize data, and unique QR codes for evacuees. 8/12

Parker quickly pledged his team's services to aid in their shared mission. The partnership gave Saboe access to some of the best-connected people in the US military and intelligence worlds. 9/12

Even after the evacuation of Kabul came to a close, the volunteers continued to press forward. To date, Team America and Task Force Dunkirk have gotten more than 1,500 Afghans safely out of Kabul. 10/12

Read more about the ad hoc team that rushed to save imperiled Afghan allies: wired.trib.al/7fGHuzq 11/12

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