Lawyer for Afghan girls' robotics team tells Oklahoma woman to stop taking credit for rescue

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Media

Lawyer for Afghan girls’ robotics team tells Oklahoma woman to stop taking credit for rescue



Allyson Reneau in her home office in an undated photo. (Allyson Reneau)

By Sarah Ellison and Elahe Izadi
Yesterday at 6:01 p.m. EDT

A lawyer for the famed all-girls Afghan robotics team has sent a cease-and-desist letter to an Oklahoma woman, telling her to stop taking credit for the girls’ escape from Kabul and warning that her numerous media appearances endanger their organization’s remaining members in Afghanistan. ... The woman, Allyson Reneau, spoke last week to Today.com and then to several other media outlets, telling a story of her supposed involvement in the evacuation of several members of the robotics team, known internationally as the “Afghan Dreamers.” These outlets reported that she had “saved” the girls from probable oppression under the Taliban.

But a lawyer for the team’s parent organization, the Digital Citizen Fund, said that Reneau has overstated her role and has, in fact, put the girls and their families at risk because her repeated claims are undermining ongoing rescue efforts in the country.

“Continuingly recycling old pictures with the Afghan Girls Robotics Team, many of whom are minors, as validation that you had anything to do with their immensely stressful and dangerous escape not only impacts the safety of the girls but it also significantly affects the safety of the members of the team who still remain in Afghanistan,” wrote Kim Motley, a lawyer for the group and a Digital Citizen Fund board member, in a letter sent to Reneau just after midnight Wednesday. “It is highly unfortunate that you would use such a tragically horrible situation … for what appears to be your own personal gain.”

A spokesman for the Qatari Foreign Ministry, which helped evacuate many Afghans, including the robotics team members, also accused Reneau of taking credit for a rescue she had little to do with — and lambasted the U.S. media for making her a “White savior.” ... Reneau denied that she has done anything but tell the truth. “‘I’m above board, and if you don’t tell the truth, then you have nothing else to show for it,” she told The Washington Post in a phone interview Wednesday. She said she was perplexed but undeterred by the “blowback” against her efforts.

{snip}

Alice Crites contributed to this report.


By Sarah Ellison
Sarah Ellison is a staff writer based in New York for The Washington Post. Previously, she wrote for Vanity Fair, the Wall Street Journal and Newsweek, where she started as a news assistant in Paris. Twitter https://twitter.com/sarahellison

By Elahe Izadi
Elahe Izadi covers media for The Washington Post. She joined The Post in 2014 as a general assignment reporter, and has covered pop culture, Congress, demographics and breaking news. Twitter https://twitter.com/ElaheIzadi

[honest.abe]

1. I read several articles about this woman and none of them said specifically what she did.

Perhaps she sent a few emails.

[mopinko]

2. good lord.

who are these ppl?
that money better get where it's supposed to go, lady.

[Steelrolled]

3. Soon we will see people fighting for a cut of the endorsement money.

... and the papers want to know whose shirts you wear

[Docreed2003]

4. She's clearly a key adviser to Nasa

And an integral part of the SpaceX missions as well, judging by that picture.

[chowder66]

5. To be fair....

In 2014, she attended the International Space University in Strasbourg, France, which is sponsored by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). From May 2015 to July 2016, she worked for the university as a teaching specialist. (b) (c)
From October 2015 to October 2016, she worked at the NASA’s office of international relations in Washington, D.C., USA. (c)
In May 2016, she earned her master’s degree in international relations and a focus in U.S. space policy from Harvard University. (b)

https://conandaily.com/2021/08/27/allyson-reneau-biography-11-things-about-oklahoma-woman-with-11-kids/

And then there's this....

She was 60 years old when several outlets started reporting that she helped rescue nine Afghan Girls Robotics Team members who arrived in Qatar through the effort of the team’s parent organization Digital Citizen Fund (DCF) days after the Taliban captured Kabul, Afghanistan on August 15, 2021. In an interview with conservative talk-show host Glenn Beck on August 24, 2021 about her alleged heroic act, she said, “We’re Americans and we figure it out, don’t we, Glenn?”

[musette_sf]

6. Harvard Extension School is NOT Harvard University

and her degree is from Harvard Extension School.

[chowder66]

7. Um...did I argue anything about Harvard?

I was curious about the NASA logo behind her and looked into it.

[musette_sf]

9. Just stating that she did NOT attend Harvard University.

She attended the extension program, which anyone can attend.

[dalton99a]

8. She is a Harvard-trained astronaut!