On a recent Saturday afternoon, I took my son to the newly opened Afghanistan and Iraq exhibit at the National Museum of the Marine Corps near Quantico, Va. As we walked among the weapons, equipment and uniforms, one display stood out. It contained an unusual uniform worn by a Raider, a member of U.S. Marine Corps special operations.

I served in the Raiders and as an adviser to Afghan special operations units between 2008 and 2011. But, like the one on display, the uniform I wore wasn’t American — it was Afghan. I explained to my son that we dressed this way for tactical reasons, but also because implicit in wearing Afghan uniforms was a promise: We and our Afghan allies were one.

The Afghan withdrawal four and a half years ago broke that promise. Today, America has an opportunity to redeem at least a part of it.

The last U.S. military aircraft left Kabul in August 2021. But the withdrawal is not over. More than 1,600 of our Afghan allies are stranded overseas and trying to resettle in the United States. The Trump administration has canceled their entry to the United States as part of a broad suspension of the Refugee Admissions Program. This decision, if not reversed, is yet another betrayal of my former colleagues.

The stranded Afghan refugees are not migrants like those who have come across the southern U.S. border illegally, or even like those who overran the airfield at Kabul International in 2021. They are colleagues of our service members, men and women who have been fully vetted and cleared by the State Department for entry into the United States.

A number of these stranded refugees are former members of the Afghan military who fought in the same types of special operations units that I advised. They are also members of Afghan civil society, including activists who stood up for women’s rights at our country’s urging. Many are family members of U.S. citizens, including children and spouses of active-duty U.S. military personnel.