Who We Are

Responding to the needs of our allies

The Afghan American Development Group is comprised of Americans and future Afghan Americans supporting approximately six hundred former personnel of the Afghan Air Force (AAF) and Special Mission Wing (SMW) now living in the United States. Loyal allies in the twenty-year war on terror, these men and women fought the Taliban and various terrorist groups alongside the American military in our country’s longest war.

Februrary 29, 2020

On February 29, 2020, the United States entered into a peace agreement with the Taliban, known as the Doha Accord, to end America’s involvement in Afghanistan. This commenced a new phase known as RETROGRADE, in which the United States reduced its military presence in Afghanistan over the next sixteen months. The Taliban advanced faster than the U.S. military could withdraw.

August 15, 2021

The Taliban entered Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, on August 15, 2021, where the remaining forces of the Afghan Air Force (AAF) and Special Mission Wing (SMW) had consolidated. With the collapse of the country imminent in a matter of hours, American military advisors instructed personnel of the Afghan Air Force and Special Mission Wing to fly all available aircraft to the neighboring countries of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan so the Taliban would not capture the aerial weapons. In the dark and under fire, the final remnants of the AAF and SMW flew out of Kabul. Several aircraft were lost during takeoff. This heroic action prevented the airplanes and helicopters from being captured by the Taliban and potentially used on a civilian population. It also meant leaving wives, children, and loved ones behind.

Fall 2021 - Spring 2022

Surrendering to Tajikistan and Uzbekistan authorities, the AAF and SMW personnel were placed in detention camps. Eventually, they were transferred to another camp in the United Arab Emirates, and they were flown to the United States during the fall of 2021 – spring 2022 as part of Operation Allies Welcome. The Taliban seized the homes, cars, and assets of the former AAF and SMW personnel, They persecuted their families, putting them on the run and in hiding in a country where the United Nations estimates 94% of households face food shortages. Upon arrival in the U.S., the personnel of the AAF and SMW were placed in refugee camps on military bases around the country, granted humanitarian parole, and the ability to apply for asylum.

After Spring of 2022

After several months, they left the refugee camps, and various agencies “resettled” them randomly around the United States. Many departed the U.S. refugee camps during the winter, still wearing the clothes from that fateful night in August. One Afghan pilot was sent to Buffalo, New York, in December by bus in a tee shirt, shorts, and sandals.

While most of the personnel had trained in the United States for several years at U.S. taxpayer expense, they found living as civilians to be entirely different. Separated from their families, they were placed in shelters and subsidized housing and, in most cases, given food stamps and ninety days rent. Their professional careers were destroyed; our Afghan allies found their aviation skills did not readily transfer to commercial aviation in the United States. Many now work multiple jobs for menial wages to support themselves and their families who remain trapped in Afghanistan and hunted by the Taliban.

The Afghan American Development Group, a nonprofit organization comprised of American and future Afghan Americans, was formed in the summer of 2022 to respond to the needs of our former allies now living in the United States. Our three pillars are: assistance with resettlement issues, job training, and family reunification.

Afghan Air Force Members

What We Do

.01

Resettlement Efforts

We assist with navigating the myriad of agencies, charities, and various administrative tasks one must do to settle and move forward in America. These range from understanding a lease to obtaining medical insurance, evaluating transportation options, filing for asylum, creating a resume, and many, many things in between.

.02

Family Reunification

In a heroic attempt to prevent aircraft from falling into the hands of the Taliban, Afghan aviation personnel had to leave their families behind in Afghanistan. More than 93% of the former personnel of the Afghan Air Force and Special Mission Wing in the United States have been separated from their wives and children since August 2021. We seek to reunite these families. They deserve maximum effort and resolve.

.03

Education & Training

Improving language skills and transitioning from military careers to civilian ones takes time, money, and classwork. These men and women are highly trained professionals, and we seek to prevent them from getting trapped in menial jobs that waste years and trillions of US taxpayer funded training. Education is the way forward.

.04

Job Placement

The U.S. commercial aviation offers many employment opportunities for former Afghan Air Force and Special Mission Wing members who seek to continue careers in aviation. We seek to partner with prominent employers who recognize the value of former Afghan aviation personnel. Many are graduates of the Afghan Air Force Academy or the National Military Academy of Afghanistan, which was modeled after the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.

.05

Colleagues Left Behind

Not all of our loyal allies made it out of Afghanistan. Former Afghan Air Force and Special Mission Wing personnel remain in hiding. Some have been executed, and others are hunted by the Taliban while they wait out immigration processes to come to the United States. We seek to keep the awareness of these vulnerable aviation colleagues out in front in the media and in the various political arenas. These men, women, and their service to the United States cannot be forgotten. 

The Founders

Russ Pritchard

CEO

Russ Pritchard

A former Chief Marketing Officer, Russ maintains a private practice writing content for small and medium sized businesses. Russ is a triathlete, marathoner, Spartan competitor, and a lover of endurance events. A former U.S. Army Ranger pulled him into the vortex of Afghanistan during the withdrawal of U.S. forces in the summer of 2021. For weeks, Russ and the Army Ranger wrote a story a day about Afghans in peril. Working on a code team and as a flight medic during college served as the foundation when he organized the Afghan Medical Corps in October 2021, an underground movement which has facilitated more than 1,400 infant deliveries, responded to more than 5,500 emergency medical requests, and delivered food to more than 40,000 impoverished Afghans. Living between two cultures, Pritchard is raising an Afghan son who was separated from his family at the gates of Hamid Karzai International Airport in August 2021. He lives by the mantras NEVER QUIT and ALWAYS HERE.

Russ Pritchard AADG
Kristine Dipple

Administration

Kristine Dipple

Kristine met Afghan refugees through Bethany Christian Services as a volunteer teaching English and American Culture in December 2021. This led to a mentoring role with three former PC 12 pilots from the Afghan Special Mission Wing. With a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry and thirteen years’ experience in business development, Dipple has been a co-lead on a First Robotics team project, a 4H leader, a Science Olympiad coach, and Vice President of a large Michigan equine association. She has a keen interest in aviation as her oldest son is an aerospace engineer (CalPoly) and is with Stratolaunch as Talon 1 Program Manager and Flight Engineer.

Kristine Dipple
Darin Chung

Aviation

Darin "Wang" Chung

An airline pilot and retired Marine Corps officer and F/A-18 Hornet pilot as well as an entrepreneur whose connection to Afghan refugees comes first via several military friends - many of whom owe their lives to Afghan (and Iraqi) interpreters and colleagues next to whom they fought beside throughout innumerable ground combat deployments.  Secondly, Darin’s wife, Nikki, was supervisor for a local refugee resettlement agency where he first met Afghan refugees and families (including his first Afghan Air Force pilot) through the course of being a volunteer mentor to single, Afghan refugees starting back late 2022.  As an active airline pilot, Darin has assembled and coordinated both material and employment support across the U.S. airline industry for AAF members.  Working in concert with Russ and Kristine, Darin is responsible for connecting a growing number of Afghan Air Force members (pilots and maintainers) with career training opportunities and jobs as commercial pilots and maintenance technicians.

Darin Chung AADG
Sabira Rezaie

Special Initiatives

Sabira Rezaie

Lt. Rezaie was on track to become the first female helicopter pilot in the Afghan Air Force for the Republic of Afghanistan. She was training in Slovakia in the Raytheon Technologies program funded by the U.S. Air Force when the American military withdrew, and Afghanistan collapsed to the Taliban. The sixth of ten children of Colonel Khaliqdad Rezaie, a career military officer, Lt. Rezaie dreamed of flying at a young age and fought for women’s rights in the Afghan military services becoming one of the few females to graduate from the Afghan Air Force Academy. She appeared on billboards in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, standing next to Mrs. Ghani, wife of President Ghani, along with other female officers of the Afghan Air Force. Lt. Rezaie came to the United States as part of Operation Allies Welcome. Her family, like so many Afghan families persecuted by the Taliban, is scattered on multiple continents. Lt. Rezaie works on the medical side of refugee resettlement and is back in college. It is her dream to reunite her family and return to flying.

Sabira Rezaie AADG

Testimonials

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My time working with Afghan Air Force (AAF) personnel, both in the United States and Afghanistan, included more treasured memories than I can count. AAF personnel were truly professional and skilled in all that they did. They were outstanding partners and maintained a positive, welcoming attitude in some of the toughest scenarios imaginable. It was an honor and a pleasure to work with them.

Colonel Gerald “CAMO” Ferdinand, USAF
Chief of Operations, Joint Operations Center, U.S. Central Command
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Over the years that I worked alongside the Afghan Air Force, I was always impressed by their grit and determination. They were skilled at finding solutions to problems that were unique to operating in an environment where resources were tightly constrained at times. They worked professionally through the inevitable setbacks and frustrations that are inherent in war. I would not hesitate to serve alongside them again.

 Lt. Colonel James Paul “OUTLAW” Atkinson, USAF
Assistant Director of Operations, 706th Aggressor Squadron
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From 1992 to 2021, I served in the Afghan Air Force under Presidents Najibullah, Rabbani, Karzai, and Ghani. The Afghan American Development Group supports the men and women of the Afghan Air Force and Special Mission Wing now residing in the United States. Trained alongside the American military, many on military bases in the U.S., they are the best at what they do. We need your assistance getting these precious veterans the necessary job training to continue careers in commercial aviation.

Colonel Ahmad Wali Bagramwahl
Afghan Air Force, Group Commander, Kabul Air Wing

Your support means the world

Our success depends on the generosity of individuals like you. Whether you choose to donate your time or contribute financially, you are an essential part of our mission to give our allies a safe landing.

Online

aadg3.org/give

Email

info@aadg3.org

Phone

(609) 618-2771