Roanoke Airport was the site of a special reunion as the Blacksburg, Va. community welcomed an Afghan woman warfighter who was part of a covert unit that hunted and captured Taliban leaders.
“I’m happy, just happy,” said Sima Aliazada after being showered with cheers, hugs and applause after landing at the airport on Dec. 8.
Aliazada was a member of Afghanistan’s Female Tactical Platoon. Each member of the elite unit was paired with an American servicewoman on a Cultural Support Team who mentored them. Aliazada’s mentor, Becca Moss, drove all the way from Atlanta, Georgia to surprise her.
Moss said the Afghan and American women conducted thousands of middle-of-the-night missions and gathered critical intelligence related to the Taliban that was critical to the survival and success of American forces on the ground.
“They were training to go on special missions to fight ISIS, the Taliban whatever the threat might be,” she explained. “If they were there in Afghanistan now, they would be hunted and probably killed for what they did formerly in their life.”
Army veteran Rebekah Edmondson, who now runs PenFed’s Afghan Rescue and Resettlement Program, served as a CST and completed four combat tours.
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“I never thought I’d have the opportunity to see Sima again, certainly not on U.S. soil,” said Edmondson. “The fact that she’s now reunited with her former colleagues and in such an amazing community as Blacksburg, with the Blacksburg Refugee Partnership is a dream come true for me to see her now here and having this opportunity.”
Blacksburg Refugee Partnership is helping Aliazada help with child care, transportation, free housing, and English as a Second Language class at Virginia Tech, said Jennifer Pike of the BRP.
“I love the idea that she’s coming to a place that will support her,” Pike said of Aliazada. “We’re going to find out what she wants to do in her life and we’re going to do what we can to support her to reach the goals for herself, for her son. She can be safe, she can be growing and she can be with friends.”
The all-volunteer organization works with various partners to identify potential families to resettle in the community, she explained.
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“Once we have identified a person, family to be resettled here we find volunteers to be on that family’s team, to best be positioned to know the needs and central issues of that specific family,” said Pike.
To learn more about BRP, visit here. To learn more about PenFed’s Afghan and Refugee Resettlement Program, visit here.
Reach Julia LeDoux at Julia@connectingvets.com.