After more than 13 years of advocacy, Jenner & Block successfully secured asylum for pro bono client Asad Mangal and his family, bringing safety and stability to a family that has endured appalling hardship.
In 2008, Asad was kidnapped in Afghanistan by the Taliban while driving American journalist David Rohde to an interview in Afghanistan. He endured eight months of captivity—including beatings and continuous death threats—until he was able to escape. Yet even after he returned to Kabul, Asad and his family lived under constant threat of violence and, in 2016, the Taliban caused grave harm to his family members.
Jenner began representing Asad Mangal in 2012 and secured his family’s arrival in the US in 2017, though asylum remained out of reach for seven additional years. On September 29, 2025, Asad and his family finally received the news they had waited so long to hear: the granting of asylum in the United States of America.
The team included Associate Amit Patel, Department Counsel Edward P. McKenna, and Partner Laura MacDonald, supervised by former Co-Managing Partner Katya Jestin and New York Office Managing Partner Tony Barkow—among many other team members over the years.
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