WASHINGTON – Biden’s administration is preparing to move thousands of Afghan interpreters, drivers, and others who have worked with American forces to other countries to protect them while they apply for entry into the United States, high-ranking officials said Administrative officers.
With the American military in the final phase of withdrawal from Afghanistan after 20 years of war, the White House has come under heavy pressure from lawmakers and the military to protect Afghan allies from Taliban revenge attacks and the lengthy and complex process that makes them special Provide immigrant visas.
On Wednesday, administrative officials began notifying lawmakers that they will soon begin a potentially massive move of tens of thousands of Afghans. Officials said Afghans would be deported from Afghanistan to third countries to await processing of their visa applications to enter the United States.
Officials did not want to say where the Afghans would be waiting and it is not clear if third countries have agreed to accept them. The opportunity to move is given to people who have already started the application process.
More than 18,000 Afghans who worked as interpreters, drivers, engineers, security, repairs, and embassy workers for the United States during the war are trapped in bureaucratic limbo after applying for special immigrant visas that are available to people because of their Labor are threatened for the US government.
These applicants have 53,000 family members, officials said.
A senior administrative official said the plan would also move family members of applicants from Afghanistan to a third country to await visa processing. Transportation from Afghanistan will not come with an assurance that a US visa will be issued. It was unclear whether people who somehow failed to qualify would be sent back to Afghanistan or left in a third country.
The officers spoke for anonymity as they were not allowed to speak publicly about the decision.
The decision is made as President Biden prepares to meet with President Ashraf Ghani of Afghanistan on Friday amid deteriorating security in the country.
Aides said Mr Biden would urge Mr Ghani on the need for unity among the country’s leaders and call on them to stop fighting among themselves if the country is in crisis and government forces are at risk of seizing control of the nation to lose the Taliban.
They said he would pledge Mr. Ghani continued financial assistance from the United States to the Afghan government and people, including a humanitarian aid package of $ 266 million and $ 3.3 billion in security and substantial assistance Combating the coronavirus pandemic with vaccines, test kits and personal protective equipment.
Updated
June 23, 2021, 7:57 p.m. ET
Officials said the government has been working to streamline the visa process for Afghans who have worked with U.S. forces and has added people to process the applications.
Both in the House of Representatives and in the Senate, the pressure on the government has grown steadily in recent weeks to act quickly for the Afghans. Lawmakers urged Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III and General Mark A. Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, at a Pentagon budget hearing on Wednesday.
“These brave Afghan partners, these Afghan and American heroes, people we asked to risk their lives not just for Afghanistan but for America because we have their backs, their future is in your hands,” he said Rep. Seth Moulton, a Massachusetts Democrat and a former naval officer.
“That much is certain,” said Mr. Moulton during the House Armed Services Committee hearing. “The Taliban will kill them if they can. And they will rape and murder their wives and children first if they can. “
Mr. Austin seemed to be hinting at the plans. “I am confident that sometime soon we will start evacuating some of these people,” he said.
General Milley said the military is ready to relocate Afghans who have applied for special visas. “I feel it is a moral imperative to care for those who have served by our side,” he said. “We are ready to do whatever we are asked to do.”
Chronic delays and traffic jams plagued the special immigrant visa program for more than a decade. Democrats have accused former President Donald J. Trump of exacerbating the problem by starving the program of resources and personnel.
The coronavirus pandemic didn’t help; A surge in cases at the embassy in Kabul has suspended face-to-face interviews and reviews.
In a January report by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, “limited staffing” and “local security conditions directly related to the Covid-19 pandemic” were referred to as “severe” on the visa application process.
In recent weeks, Democrats and Republicans have tabled bills in Congress to expedite the process and waive certain requirements, such as requiring applicants to undergo costly medical exams. And in December, under a huge fallback bill, Congress raised the overall visa program cap by 4,000 to 26,500.
The Biden government has also come under pressure from several nonprofit groups and refugee advocates to do more.
About 70 organizations recently wrote a letter to Mr. Biden urging his government to “immediately implement plans to evacuate vulnerable US-affiliated Afghans” – a move the White House is now taking.
