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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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China keen to invest in Afghanistan’s agriculture sector: Ministry

Acting Minister of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock, Attaullah Omari, on Tuesday met with a delegation and representatives from the Chinese private sector in Kabul and they discussed expanding cooperation, investment in agriculture, livestock, and irrigation, as well as sharing China’s experiences with Afghanistan.
In a statement, the agriculture ministry said that the Chinese delegation emphasized the Beijing private sector’s interest in investing in Afghanistan’s agriculture and livestock sectors.
The Chinese delegation also expressed readiness to begin practical projects once certain facilities such as land leasing are arranged, the statement read.
The Chinese delegation also met with Nooruddin Azizi, the acting Minister of Industry and Commerce.
During this meeting, Azizi stated that they would provide all necessary facilities for foreign investors.
Over the past three years, most Chinese companies have shown interest in investing in Afghanistan’s mining sector. However, this marks the first time that Chinese investors are seeking to invest in the country’s agriculture sector.
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Afghanistan to showcase goods at expo as part of KazanForum

Afghanistan will showcase goods, made in the country, at the KhazanForum in Russia next month, the Russian Economic Development Ministry’s department director Pavel Kalmychek said.
“The government of Tatarstan agreed to provide a platform for an exposition of goods from Afghanistan, there will be an exposition. I am confident that it will generate a certain interest, especially in the light of the recent decisions on lifting the ban on the Taliban (Islamic Emirate),” TASS quoted him as saying.
This comes after Russia’s Supreme Court last week scratched the Islamic Emirate from its list of banned organizations.
Zamir Kabulov, Russia’s special envoy for Afghanistan, confirmed recently that a Russian-Afghan business forum will be held on the sidelines of the KazanForum.
He said Russia’s delegation would be led by Deputy Prime Minister Alexey Overchuk, while Afghanistan would be represented at a high government and business level, TASS reported.
The 16th International Economic Forum ‘Russia – Islamic World: KazanForum’ will take place on May 13-18 in Kazan.
The main theme for this year has been defined as ‘Digitalization: New Reality and Additional Opportunities for Expanding Cooperation’.
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Afghan-American appointed to lead US policy on Afghanistan
Bischoping, is her married name, which comes from her German-American husband. She was born and raised in California.

An Afghan-American attorney, Mary Kabir-Seraj Bischoping, has been named deputy assistant secretary of state for Afghanistan and will oversee Washington’s foreign policy on Afghanistan under the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs at the US State Department.
Previously, US engagement on Afghanistan was led by Thomas West, former Special Representative for Afghanistan, and Rina Amiri, who served as Special Envoy for Afghan Women, Girls, and Human Rights.
Bischoping, 33, is a descendant of the Barakzai royal dynasty, which ruled Afghanistan from 1823 to 1978 and is the great-granddaughter of King Amanullah Khan and Queen Soraya Tarzi. Her grandmother was Latifa Kabir Seraj, one of Afghanistan’s first female journalists.
Bischoping, is her married name, which comes from her German-American husband. She was born and raised in California.
According to a biography released by the University of Virginia, Bischoping’s family fled Afghanistan after the Soviet invasion in 1979. Her parents completed their education in Europe before settling in Southern California.
Bischoping earned her undergraduate degree in Political Science from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in 2016 and later received her Juris Doctor (JD) from the University of Virginia School of Law. She is fluent in English, Persian and German.
Following the US withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, Bischoping joined the Office of the Legal Adviser at the State Department. In 2023, she was appointed Senior Counsel to the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee, where she led Republican-led oversight investigations into the Afghanistan withdrawal and advised on regional strategy.
Prior to her Congressional role, Bischoping served as a legal adviser at the State Department, clerked for Judge Kent A. Jordan on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, and worked at major law firms including Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher and Willkie Farr & Gallagher in New York.
Her appointment to this high-level diplomatic post reflects a combination of legal expertise, policy experience, and a personal understanding of Afghanistan’s complex history—positioning her to play a key role in shaping future U.S. engagement with the region.
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