As the Taliban overthrew the Afghan government in August 2021, a small Fletcher School team mobilized a network of Tufts alumni and faculty to help evacuate Afghan alumni and their families who faced imminent peril. Dyan Mazurana was an instrumental member of this group. Two Master of Arts in Humanitarian Assistance (MAHA) alumni on the ground in Afghanistan were among those evacuated. They deployed their training in humanitarian assistance to lead a large group attempting to get out of the country, even as gunfire and a suicide bombing exploded dangerously close by.

This short video tells the story of the evacuation from the perspective of those in Afghanistan and the Tufts network in Medford supporting them. This effort helped evacuate 80 members of the Tufts community.

Dyan sums of the effort this way: “This group of people is worth all of my energy. I want the best for them. They have so much to give to us. And I wasn’t leaving them behind.”