From Yahoo/AP:
“840,000 Afghans who've applied for key US resettlement
program still in Afghanistan, report says”
More than 840,000 Afghans who applied for a resettlement
program aimed at people who helped the U.S. war effort in Afghanistan are still
there waiting, according to a report that lays out the challenges with a
program intended to help America's allies in the two-decade long conflict. The
report released Thursday by the State Department's inspector general outlines
steps the department took to improve processing of special immigrant visas for
Afghans. But two years after the U.S. pullout from Afghanistan and the return
of the Taliban to power, challenges remain.
The visa program was started in 2009 to help Afghans who
worked side-by-side with Americans and faced significant risks for doing so. A
similar program exists for Iraqis. Both programs have been plagued by criticism
that cases move much too slowly, leaving applicants in dangerous limbo.
And since the U.S. left Afghanistan the number of people
applying for the visas has skyrocketed. According to the report, there were a
little less than 30,000 applicants in October 2021, but by December 2022 that
number had grown to roughly 155,000. Those figures do not include family
members who are allowed to resettle with them if their application is approved.
The State Department estimates that as of April of this year
more than 840,000 applicants for the special visa program and their family
members remain in Afghanistan, the report said. Not everyone who applies is
accepted; the State Department noted that about 50% of applicants do not
qualify when their applications are reviewed at a key stage early in the
process. The department also said since the start of the Biden administration
in January 2021 through Aug. 1 of this year it's issued nearly 34,000 visas for
the applicants and their family members, which it said was a substantial
increase from previous years.
The report said the department has hired more staff to
process applications, coordinated with the Pentagon to verify applicants'
employment, and eliminated some of the steps required of applicants. But, the
report said, there was more it could do. For example, the report noted that a
key position overseeing the special immigrant visa process has seen frequent
turnover and vacancies.
^ 2 years after the Fall of Kabul and the US Withdrew from
Afghanistan and we still haven’t helped the 840,000 Afghans who worked and
helped us for 20 years (20010-2021) and who are being hunted-down, tortured and
murdered by the Taliban because they worked for us.
A Special Visa was created in 2009 where Afghans who worked
for us can come to the United States.
From January 1, 2021 until August 1, 2023 the United States
has only processed 34,000 Visas to those desperate people.
These poor numbers are on Biden and his People (earlier
numbers are on Obama and Trump and their People.)
Just over 2 years since the deadly and chaotic mess in Kabul
and we do little to nothing to help those that we promised to help.
A Country is only as good as the word it keeps.
A Person is only as good as the word they keep.
So far, we aren’t good at keeping out word. ^
https://www.yahoo.com/news/840-000-afghans-whove-applied-212605524.html
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