U.S. Rushes to Evacuate Afghan Translators But Leaves Many in Limbo

Politics|U.S. scrambles to determination translators from Afghanistan portion leaving galore successful limbo.

• July 21, 2021, 7:31 p.m. ET

An further 4,000 Afghans who worked with American forces, galore of them interpreters, had been approved to relocate to the United States with their families successful airy of the withdrawal of U.S. troops, State Department officials said connected Wednesday.

But officials added that evacuations were lone taking spot retired of Kabul, the capitol, and immoderate eligible Afghans successful distant areas were connected their ain successful figuring retired however to marque the difficult, and apt dangerous, travel if they wanted to instrumentality vantage of the offer.

“In bid to travel connected an evacuation flight, they would person to get themselves to Kabul,” a elder official, who requested anonymity successful bid to sermon the program successful detail, said connected a telephone with reporters. “Obviously, we don’t person extended U.S. subject presence. We don’t person the quality to supply proscription for them.”

“If they’re staying successful the northbound of the state and they don’t consciousness harmless staying successful Afghanistan, they could spell to a neighboring country” and decorativeness their exertion process there, the authoritative added.

The United States besides volition not supply information to applicants extracurricular Kabul, galore of whom are nether nonstop menace from the Taliban for cooperating with conjugation forces during the war.

With the American subject successful the last phases of withdrawing from Afghanistan, the White House has travel nether unit to support Afghan allies and velocity up the process of providing them with peculiar migrant visas, and President Biden has vowed to bash so. There person been astir 20,000 applicants for the peculiar visa program.

This month, 2,500 Afghans volition beryllium sent successful stages to an Army basal successful Fort Lee, Va., southbound of Richmond, wherever they volition hold astir 10 days for last processing. The adjacent 4,000 applicants, who request further approvals, volition spell with their families to different countries to implicit the visa process earlier coming to the United States, the elder authoritative said.

The authoritative did not bespeak which countries those applicants would beryllium sent to implicit the visa process.

The House is expected to walk authorities this week increasing the fig of State Department peculiar migrant visas and streamlining the exertion process.