Abigail Hauslohner

2023 Honorable Mention winner

Afghan resettlement: Thousands were evacuated to the U.S. Will America let them stay? - The Washington Post

Thousands of Afghan families remain severed after messy U.S. exit - The Washington Post

The wrong plane out of Afghanistan: Evacuees who fled Afghanistan hoping to resettle in U.S. remain in limbo - Washington Post

After scenes of chaos and desperation during the 2021 U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan captured the world’s attention, Hauslohner launched a year-long investigation and examined how the end of America’s longest war impacted one population in particular: the Afghans and Afghan Americans who had aligned themselves with the U.S. mission. The investigation yielded an original series about Muslims and also a series about an internationally intertwined community: Afghan Americans, Afghans with American ties, and Americans with Afghan ties; for like most American immigrant communities, the story of Afghans in America is not one that starts and stops with U.S. borders.

• Biden welcomes Ukrainian refugees, neglects Afghans, critics say

• The American activists trying to assist their Afghan friend

• A desperate road trip to remind America about its Afghan allies

• Podcast: The Afghans stranded at a luxury resort - The Washington Post.

Impact: “Following my reporting on hundreds of Afghan evacuees stranded in Albania, the State Department reversed its policy toward those evacuees, determining that it would start processing them for U.S. resettlement. Following my coverage of activists’ efforts to pass legislation to protect Afghan evacuees from deportation, additional senators signed on to support the bill. That effort is still pending.”

“Superb, in its reportage, execution, and impact on a key story … resources well-deployed, on a crucial story about American power in Afghanistan: everything, from the photos to the range of sources, is top-notch. — 2023 Goldziher judge