US Secretary of State says Afghan vetting process ‘under review’

The US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Tuesday that the process of relocating eligible Afghans to the United States is being reviewed as previous vetting processes raised concerns.

During a US Senate hearing, Rubio said a review into the process is underway and that “frankly there have been some errors found in the previous vetting process that we’re concerned about.”

“To some extent, their transfer has been paused or slowed down because those previous vetting procedures need to be completed.”

He stated the process is still under review to ensure that only eligible individuals are admitted into the US.

Earlier, US officials said that with the start of Donald Trump’s administration, the travel plans of hundreds of Afghans had been canceled.

Recently, the Trump administration said over 10,000 Afghan refugees who have not yet been granted asylum and are under temporary protection need to leave the US.

Addressing the Senate, Rubio said: “There was some concerns early on about freezing or slowing down this program until we could determine whether we were properly vetting people to come towards the United States and that process is ongoing and I think we’ll have more concrete answers for you.

“We’re working to make progress on that,” he said.