Help Rafi go to Georgetown! Afghan scholarship winner denied a visa!

Rafi Khetab is an Afghan citizen who has done much to help the United States government, and his fellow Afghans.  Now, after being awarded an all-expenses paid scholarship to Georgetown University, he is being denied a student visa by the U.S. government, which has provided no explanation for this injustice.  The help he has given our government has put both himself and his family in danger.  Rafi assisted our efforts in Afghanistan because he believed our cause there was just, and a means to improve the lot of his fellow Afghans.  He grew up under first, the Soviet occupation, then civil war, and finally under the Taliban.  The Taliban were cruel and Rafi witnessed his fellow Afghans suffer.  Trained as a linguist, he used education as a weapon against the Talibans strict regime.  To this end, Rafi taught both boys and girls English (among other subjects) in secret during the Taliban reign.  Many Americans are aware that under the Taliban, merely to teach girls -ANYTHING- was itself a crime.

Rafi speaks many languages: Dari (his mother tongue), English, Farsi/Tajik, Pashto, Urdo/Indian, some French, and some Arabic.  From the U.S. perspective, these include all the strategically important languages in the Afghan theatre.  Rafi has worked as a translator for the US Department of Justice, USAID, NATO, various branches of the US Military..news media -including the BBC, CBS and other international news media.  His resume goes on and on.  Most of these jobs make him eligible for the worst possible treatment by Al Queda / Taliban fighters should they capture him

Many of you may have met Rafi while he was staying here in Chicago last winter on a tourist visa.  While staying here, he interviewed with several top universities.  Prior to the expiration of his tourist visa, he was awarded a full scholarship at Georgetown University (which includes all tuition and living expenses).  The terms of his tourist visa required Rafi to return to Afghanistan, and then to apply for the student visa from there.  Rafi returned to Afghanistan and immediately began applying for his student visa.  He was careful to submit all the necessary paperwork and did so in a timely fashion.

Rafi has now been denied a student visa 3 times.  This is incredibly unjust given all that Rafi has done to support the U.S. effort in Afghanistan.  Compounding this injustice, the application process itself requires he travel to Islamabad Pakistan to submit his application in person at the U.S. embassy there. This is no short distance, and thus far Rafi has amassed $5,000 in travel expenses making the trip by air twice, and once by land.  As unbelievable as it sounds, the U.S. embassy in Kabul is not yet accepting visa applications from Afghans seeking them.    On the last return trip from Pakistan, while traveling by car (to save money), he was nearly detained by Al Queda/ Taliban fighters, and most certainly would have been killed by them had they seen his resume and other papers he was carrying.

Why has Rafi been denied his student visa?  We dont know.  The goal of this petition is to enlist the support of members of congress (both house and senate) to lobby the State Department on Rafis behalf.  There are members of the house serving on the US-Afghan-Caucus whom we will be contacting.We will  also be lobbying the State Department directly.  We may solicit the help of the news media, and any NGOs that come to mind, and we will continue to dialogue with Georgetown University regarding all of their efforts on Rafis behalf (so far they have been ineffectual).  If anyone would like to offer their advice on how to proceed, please do.  Essentially, we are looking for any help we can get.

email us @: friendsofrafi@gmail.com

Rafi Khetab is an Afghan citizen who has done much to help the United States government, and his fellow Afghans.  Now, after being awarded an all-expenses paid scholarship to Georgetown University, he is being denied a student visa by the U.S. government, which has provided no explanation for this injustice.  The help he has given our government has put both himself and his family in danger.  Rafi assisted our efforts in Afghanistan because he believed our cause there was just, and a means to improve the lot of his fellow Afghans.  He grew up under first, the Soviet occupation, then civil war, and finally under the Taliban.  The Taliban were cruel and Rafi witnessed his fellow Afghans suffer.  Trained as a linguist, he used education as a weapon against the Talibans strict regime.  To this end, Rafi taught both boys and girls English (among other subjects) in secret during the Taliban reign.  Many Americans are aware that under the Taliban, merely to teach girls -ANYTHING- was itself a crime.

Rafi speaks many languages: Dari (his mother tongue), English, Farsi/Tajik, Pashto, Urdo/Indian, some French, and some Arabic.  From the U.S. perspective, these include all the strategically important languages in the Afghan theatre.  Rafi has worked as a translator for the US Department of Justice, USAID, NATO, various branches of the US Military..news media -including the BBC, CBS and other international news media.  His resume goes on and on.  Most of these jobs make him eligible for the worst possible treatment by Al Queda / Taliban fighters should they capture him

Many of you may have met Rafi while he was staying here in Chicago last winter on a tourist visa.  While staying here, he interviewed with several top universities.  Prior to the expiration of his tourist visa, he was awarded a full scholarship at Georgetown University (which includes all tuition and living expenses).  The terms of his tourist visa required Rafi to return to Afghanistan, and then to apply for the student visa from there.  Rafi returned to Afghanistan and immediately began applying for his student visa.  He was careful to submit all the necessary paperwork and did so in a timely fashion.

Rafi has now been denied a student visa 3 times.  This is incredibly unjust given all that Rafi has done to support the U.S. effort in Afghanistan.  Compounding this injustice, the application process itself requires he travel to Islamabad Pakistan to submit his application in person at the U.S. embassy there. This is no short distance, and thus far Rafi has amassed $5,000 in travel expenses making the trip by air twice, and once by land.  As unbelievable as it sounds, the U.S. embassy in Kabul is not yet accepting visa applications from Afghans seeking them.    On the last return trip from Pakistan, while traveling by car (to save money), he was nearly detained by Al Queda/ Taliban fighters, and most certainly would have been killed by them had they seen his resume and other papers he was carrying.

Why has Rafi been denied his student visa?  We dont know.  The goal of this petition is to enlist the support of members of congress (both house and senate) to lobby the State Department on Rafis behalf.  There are members of the house serving on the US-Afghan-Caucus whom we will be contacting.We will  also be lobbying the State Department directly.  We may solicit the help of the news media, and any NGOs that come to mind, and we will continue to dialogue with Georgetown University regarding all of their efforts on Rafis behalf (so far they have been ineffectual).  If anyone would like to offer their advice on how to proceed, please do.  Essentially, we are looking for any help we can get.

email us @: friendsofrafi@gmail.com

Rafi Khetab is an Afghan citizen who has done much to help the United States government, and his fellow Afghans.  Now, after being awarded an all-expenses paid scholarship to Georgetown University, he is being denied a student visa by the U.S. government, which has provided no explanation for this injustice.  The help he has given our government has put both himself and his family in danger.  Rafi assisted our efforts in Afghanistan because he believed our cause there was just, and a means to improve the lot of his fellow Afghans.  He grew up under first, the Soviet occupation, then civil war, and finally under the Taliban.  The Taliban were cruel and Rafi witnessed his fellow Afghans suffer.  Trained as a linguist, he used education as a weapon against the Taliban%u2019s strict regime.  To this end, Rafi taught both boys and girls English (among other subjects) in secret during the Taliban reign.  Many Americans are aware that under the Taliban, merely to teach girls -ANYTHING- was itself a crime.

Rafi speaks many languages: Dari (his mother tongue), English, Farsi/Tajik, Pashto, Urdo/Indian, some French, and some Arabic.  From the U.S. perspective, these include all the strategically important languages in the Afghan theatre.  Rafi has worked as a translator for the US Department of Justice, USAID, NATO, various branches of the US Military%u2026..news media -including the BBC, CBS and other international news media.  His resume goes on and on.  Most of these jobs make him eligible for the worst possible treatment by Al Queda / Taliban fighters should they capture him

Many of you may have met Rafi while he was staying here in Chicago last winter on a tourist visa.  While staying here, he interviewed with several top universities.  Prior to the expiration of his tourist visa, he was awarded a full scholarship at Georgetown University (which includes all tuition and living expenses).  The terms of his tourist visa required Rafi to return to Afghanistan, and then to apply for the student visa from there.  Rafi returned to Afghanistan and immediately began applying for his student visa.  He was careful to submit all the necessary paperwork and did so in a timely fashion.

Rafi has now been denied a student visa 3 times.  This is incredibly unjust given all that Rafi has done to support the U.S. effort in Afghanistan.  Compounding this injustice, the application process itself requires he travel to Islamabad Pakistan to submit his application in person at the U.S. embassy there. This is no short distance, and thus far Rafi has amassed $5,000 in travel expenses making the trip by air twice, and once by land.  As unbelievable as it sounds, the U.S. embassy in Kabul is not yet accepting visa applications from Afghans seeking them.    On the last return trip from Pakistan, while traveling by car (to save money), he was nearly detained by Al Queda/ Taliban fighters, and most certainly would have been killed by them had they seen his resume and other papers he was carrying.