What happens if these people wander off this facility you've got them in?" a senior State Department official said. "There's concerns that you might expect: 'Who are these people? How do you know these people? Can you assure that these people will get visas to the United States? Who's going to care for and feed these people.
The Biden administration was exploring having Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan take in thousands of applicants, but that effort has made little progress. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said countries were hesitant to take in the Afghans because of concerns about the quality of security vetting and health screening for COVID-19 before they were allowed to fly. While there still are no third country agreements, a State Department spokesperson said, "We are evaluating all available options." "It is baffling why the administration has been taking so long in order to secure these agreements," she said. "It is deeply troubling that there is no concrete plan in place to evacuate allies who are clearly in harm's way," said Krish O'Mara Vignarajah, president of the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service resettlement organization. hosts.įearful the Taliban's advances are raising the threat to SIV applicants still awaiting processing, Washington is seeking third countries to host them until their paperwork is done and they can fly to the United States. military base in Virginia to finalize their paperwork and others directly to U.S. So far, about 1,200 Afghans have been evacuated to the United States and that number is set to rise to 3,500 in the coming weeks under "Operation Allies Refuge," with some going to a U.S. government and in other jobs are entitled to apply for the SIV program. With the Taliban tightening their grip on Afghanistan at a shockingly swift pace, the United States on Thursday announced it would send 1,000 personnel to Qatar to accelerate the processing of applications for Special Immigrant Visas (SIV).Īfghans who served as interpreters for the U.S. The previously unreported discussions with such countries as Kosovo and Albania underscore the administration's desire to protect U.S.-affiliated Afghans from Taliban reprisals while safely completing the process of approving their U.S. WASHINGTON, Aug 13 (Reuters) - President Joe Biden's administration has been holding secret talks with more countries than previously known in a desperate attempt to secure deals to temporarily house at-risk Afghans who worked for the U.S.
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