California school district says roughly 27 students stuck in Afghanistan after evacuation ends
Asha C. Gilbert | USA TODAY
A school district in Sacramento County, California said they have approximately 27 students stuck in Afghanistan after U.S. evacuation efforts ended on Monday.
The San Juan Unified School District said the students come from 19 families, though the number of students left in Afghanistan continues to fluctuate as more information comes in.
"We believe that some of these families may be in transit out of Afghanistan, as we have not been able to reach many of them in the last few days," Raj Rai, director of communications for the district, told USA TODAY in an email.
The students and their families were in Afghanistan for personal reasons, Rai told USA TODAY, such as visiting family members during the summer break.
Sacramento's metro area has one of the largest populations of Afghan immigrants in the United States, according to the Institute for Immigration Research at George Mason University.
The district has been contacted by multiple congressional offices to coordinate help and is working with state officials to provide information received from the families and students, according to Rai.
At 3:29 p.m. on Monday, the last evacuation flight from the Kabul airport departed the country overtaken by the Taliban.
Last plane out of Kabul: America's 20-year war in Afghanistan is over
The US is out of Afghanistan: What happens next in the nation now led by the Taliban?
More than 122,000 people had been evacuated since Aug. 14, over 6,000 of them Americans .
There are between 100 and 200 Americans left in Afghanistan, and President Joe Biden vowed the ones who want to evacuate would be able to do so.
"San Juan Unified stands with our Afghan community and all those whose loved ones are currently in Afghanistan," Rai said.
"We sincerely hope for their speedy and safe return back to the U.S. and back to our school communities."
Follow reporter Asha Gilbert @Coastalasha. Email: agilbert@usatoday.com.
Via PakapNews