Major U.S. Companies to Offer Afghan Refugees Employment; List Includes Amazon, UPS
Refugees are led through the departure terminal to a bus at Dulles International Airport after being evacuated from Kabul following the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan on August 31, 2021 in Dulles, Virginia. The Department of Defense announced yesterday that the U.S. military had completed its withdrawal from Afghanistan, ending 20 years of war. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

At least 33 major U.S. companies have promised to offer Afghan refugees employment in their companies after the U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Around 60,000 people have arrived in the U.S., with little to no resources after leaving their homeland, prompting several companies to help them find work through partnership with the Tent Coalition for Refugees, according to a Washington Examiner report.

Included in the list of companies offering jobs are Amazon, UPS, Facebook, and Pfizer, among others.

Other companies in the U.S. such as Airbnb and Walmart had earlier lent a hand to Afghanis. Airbnb had said last month that it would provide temporary housing to 20,000 Afghan refugees worldwide.

U.S. Companies Offering Employment

Pfizer said it plans to hire an unspecified number of Afghan refugees, while Amazon said that it would offer jobs in the company's warehouses or transportation hubs in tech and corporate roles.

CEO and founder of Chobani, Hamdi Ulukaya, said that the moment refugee gets a job is a moment they stop being a refugee.

Ulukaya had founded the Tent Coalition for Afghan refugees, according to a Fortune report.

He added that it is the moment they can stand on their own feet, make new friends, and start a new life.

Amazon noted that the company will also pay for training and education programs, according to an Axios report.

Aside from Amazon, technology companies have also vowed to provide job opportunities and training to Afghan refugees, such as Accenture, HP Inc., Jacobs, ServiceNow, and Sitel Group, according to a CRN report.

Beth Galetti, Amazon's senior vice president of people experience and technology, said that hiring immigrants and refugees has always been part of their effort to have a diverse workplace.

Galetti added that they are proud to partner with the coalition to extend their reach.

Assistance to Afghan Refugees

Other companies have earlier provided aid to refugees amid the U.S. withdrawal efforts from the war-torn country, including Verizon, Walmart, and Airbnb.

The company is in direct line with the refugees discussing their needs and length of stay in the temporary housing, according to an Airbnb spokeswoman.

Airbnb has placed 165 refugees through its partners in safe housing upon landing in the U.S., according to an Aljazeera report

Meanwhile, Verizon said that it plans to waive charges for calls from its consumers and business consumers to Afghanistan.

The New Jersey-based company said that it includes calls from landlines.

Around $1 million were allotted to three nonprofits by Walmart to help Afghan refugees in the U.S.

Commercial airlines have also been tapped by the federal government to help transport people after their evacuation from Afghanistan.

Eighteen civilian aircraft from United Airlines, American Airlines, and Delta Airlines, among others, were asked to carry people from temporary locations, according to the Pentagon.

More than 123,000 civilians were evacuated from Afghanistan after the Taliban took control of Kabul on August 14.

However, it has not been accounted how many of those were Afghan nationals.

This article is owned by Latin Post

Written by: Mary Webber

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