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US speeds up visas for vulnerable Afghans
As the U.S. military completes its withdrawal from Afghanistan in the coming weeks, the Biden administration says it is adding staff to hurry up the visa process for Afghans who worked for the U.S. government and want to flee to avoid Taliban reprisals, Reuters reported.
Afghans who worked for the United States during America’s longest war fear the insurgency will target them and their families, retribution for helping foreign forces, Reuters reported.
With the final pullout expected as early as mid-July, there appears to be a mismatch between the expectations of refugee advocates and what the Biden administration says is realistic given the legal and practical requirements to process special immigrant visas.
The administration says it has already doubled the number of staff processing cases in Kabul and tripled personnel reviewing petitions at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
It also plans a five-fold increase in the number of staff in the State Department working on the visas in Washington, a senior administration official told Reuters.
“All of these changes have resulted in, over the last couple of months, the largest number of cases processed in the history of the program in any 60-day period,” the official said, speaking about the plans on condition of anonymity.
The plan is to process at least 1,000-1,400 visa applications for Afghans who worked for the United States, not including their families, every month. By contrast, the U.S. government says, it issued only 237 such visas in the last three months of 2020.
But even with the new effort, the administration says there’s a limit to how fast a 14-step, multiple-agency process can move without changes to legislation. If all goes well, a visa could be processed in nine to 12 months, Reuters reported.
The administration supports legislation in Congress that would allow Afghans to do a medical check upon arriving in the United States, instead of in Afghanistan. It is also supports legislation eliminating the requirement for a specific petition at the Department of Homeland Security.
“That would be another two months that we could shave off,” the first official said.
But as the clock ticks down, Afghans who have applied for visas are becoming increasingly concerned.
Senator Patrick Leahy, recalling the chaos in Vietnam after the fall of Saigon in 1975 when he was a junior senator, said the matter was urgent.
“They’re going to have a target on their back,” Leahy said.
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Mullah Baradar discusses creation of railway with Kazakh deputy PM
Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, deputy prime minister for economic affairs has met with Erik Zhumangarin, the Deputy Prime Minister of Kazakhstan, and discussed the establishment of a railway network from Kazakhstan to Pakistan through Turkmenistan and Afghanistan, the deputy PM’s office said in a statement.
During the meeting, Baradar emphasized the need to sign agreements to solve the banking problems of traders from both countries, the creation of Afghan-Kazakh joint companies, and the facilitation of visas for Afghan traders.
According to the statement, the Deputy Prime Minister of Kazakhstan said that the Kazakh government intends to establish a joint chamber of industry and commerce and a joint trade and labor group between the two countries, and is ready to cooperate with Afghanistan in the sectors of e-governance, industry, higher education, education, health, and banking.
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Iran, Pakistan leaders raise concerns over ‘terrorist groups’ in Afghanistan
Following a two-day official visit to Pakistan, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif issued a joint statement emphasizing the need to further expand commercial and economic cooperation and transform the common border of the two countries from a “border of peace” to “border of prosperity”.
The two leaders also strongly condemned aggressions and crimes of Israel in Gaza, and demanded an immediate and unconditional ceasefire, as well as unimpeded humanitarian access to the besieged people of Gaza.
Numerous other issues were also discussed but on the topic of Afghanistan, they jointly declared their commitment to the development of Afghanistan as a peaceful, united, independent country free from the threats of terrorism and drug trafficking.
According to the statement the two countries pointed out that the existence of terrorist organizations in Afghanistan is a serious threat to the security of the region and the world.
The two sides stressed their desire to strengthen cooperation in the field of fighting terrorism and ensuring security and creating a united front against terrorism.
They also discussed the importance of coordinating regional and international efforts to ensure security and stability in the region.
“While respecting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Afghanistan, the two sides recognized that increasing participation of all strata of Afghans in basic decision-making will lead to the strengthening of peace and stability in this country,” the statement read.
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Over 1,000 Afghan refugees forced out of Pakistan in one day
The Ministry of Refugees and Repatriations (MoRR) says over 1,000 Afghan migrants were forcibly returned from Pakistan on Tuesday through Spin Boldak border crossing in Kandahar province, the ministry said in a statement.
The ministry stated that based on information provided by the Spin Boldak Kandahar border command, these returnees comprised 191 families, totalling 998 people.
In addition, three migrants released from Pakistani prisons were also returned, according to the statement.
The statement added that after registering the returnees, the refugees were referred to the offices of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the World Food Program (WFP) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
Each family received 10,000 afghanis – paid to them by the Islamic Emirate.
In another statement, the ministry said that 2,783 migrants living in Iran voluntarily and forcibly returned to the country during this week.
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