US stops processing visas for Afghan allies: Tens of thousands likely to be affected

FRANCE 24 English

Visit our website: http://www.france24.com  Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FRANCE24.English  Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/France24_en

Transcript

00:00host of the Afghanistan Project podcast and also a freelance reporter for Fox News Digital.

00:05Beth, thank you very much for joining us bright and early today.

00:09Now, your podcast focuses on conditions that led to the Afghan government's collapse in the wake

00:14of the U.S. withdrawal. For Afghans who did work with the U.S. military or its allies and who were

00:20unable to flee the country since that U.S. withdrawal, what has life looked like for them

00:25in Afghanistan? Have they been targeted by the Taliban government?

00:30Absolutely, they have. And Erin, I just want to thank you for having me. This is such an

00:33important conversation right now. There are still Lighthouse Reports just issued a report talking

00:39about reprisals that are ongoing against particularly special forces personnel who worked alongside the

00:45U.S. during our time in the country. And a lot of Afghans who were formerly part of the Afghan

00:53government are unable to work, having a lot of struggles getting food. Many Afghans have made

00:59their way to Pakistan if they were afraid of being targeted by the Taliban. And now Pakistan has

01:05begun deporting them back to the country. And I've heard of numerous cases of arrests and just

01:12people living in fear for their lives once more. It's very distressing.

01:17So clearly a segment of the population that faces persecution then in Afghanistan. Now,

01:23meanwhile, I mean, do you have an idea of how much of the Afghan refugee population or Afghan

01:27asylum seeker population in the U.S. did indeed work with the U.S. military? And as a follow-up to

01:33that, I mean, how will they be impacted then by this latest move from the White House?

01:39So there were 72,000 Afghans who were brought here during Operation Allies Welcome. Those were the

01:46individuals who came in on planes that we all saw departing from Kabul in August of 2021.

01:52And it's hard to say what proportion of them worked directly with the U.S. military. I can tell you

01:58that there were many who did, in fact, work with the U.S. military or who worked with the U.S. in other

02:07capacities that put them at direct risk. There are a total of 190,000 Afghans who've come here through

02:14both Operation Allies Welcome and Enduring Welcome. And the proportion that were not part of the 72,000

02:23from Operation Allies Welcome are vetted individuals who came in through the U.S. Refugee Admissions

02:29Program and the SIV Program, and whom we know absolutely worked with us in some capacity and were

02:35at risk because of that service. And they will, not the Enduring Welcome folks, those folks should be

02:45rather safe. Actually, that's not true. The refugees now, there's a leaked memo from USCIS

02:52last week that stated that the Trump administration intended to re-vet all of the refugees who came in

03:00to the U.S. between January of 2021 and February of 2025. So any Afghans who came in through that population

03:08are now subject to re-vetting. And this was leaked two days prior to that horrifying attack. And so it was already

03:15an intention of the administration. The people who I think will be most impacted are the 125,000 Afghans who are

03:25still attempting to get an SIV, a special immigrant visa, or the 85,000 individuals who are in the U.S. Refugee

03:34Admissions Program and are overseas waiting for help because there are no more SIVs being issued. And the U.S.

03:43Refugee Admissions Program has been suspended since February and includes no additional Afghan placements for the

03:51next fiscal year, at least. Now, Beth, there's been quite a bit of focus on the background of the killer

03:57in last week's shooting, notably because he indeed worked with a notorious CIA-backed unit in Afghanistan.

04:03I mean, you said, of course, that Afghans worked in many different capacities with the U.S. military.

04:10But this one is quite particular. I mean, can you tell us more about these units and some of the

04:14difficulties that Afghans who worked with them face specifically being in Afghanistan or upon their

04:20arrival in the U.S. for those who were able to request asylum in the U.S.?

04:23Absolutely. So this was part of the zero units. The National Strike Unit is their formal name. And

04:31the National Strike Unit was actually called to Kabul in those final days to help the U.S. fortify

04:38Hamid Karzai International Airport. And I think that without their assistance, we would have

04:44faced a lot more difficulties during the chaos of the withdrawal. The NSU worked alongside the U.S.,

04:53our top special forces personnel alongside the CIA. They conducted targeted strikes to take out

05:00high-value targets. And they were invaluable. As my good friend says, they kept many stars off of the

05:08CIA memorial wall by preserving the lives of Americans. And so when they came here, some of

05:15them were facing physical difficulties, prostheses that they had that they needed to get assistance

05:21for. There's been a lot of difficulty getting special immigrant visas for this population because

05:28they were deemed safe because they were here in the U.S. And we wanted to prioritize people who didn't

05:33make it here and get them SIV under the Biden administration. And so there's been a lot of

05:39uncertainty, a lot of feeling like they are not part of this country. And in this particular

05:48situation, the individual who committed this heinous atrocity, he had applied for an SIV in August of

05:562022, according to Afghan evac. And he only received chief of mission approval in April of 2025. It's

06:03only supposed to take nine months to adjudicate an SIV because of the danger present to individuals

06:10who are applying for it. And so that's a lot of uncertainty to go through. And of course, it doesn't

06:16excuse anything that happened, the horrors that happened this week. But there's just a lot of

06:25strain and stress on this particular population and on a lot of people who came here and are still

06:32waiting on any kind of certainty because the human the humanitarian parole that they received

06:37only lasted two years, was renewed. And it's already there is no more humanitarian parole for

06:45Afghans who arrived here. It has not been renewed. And they're in a very difficult status right now.

06:51Beth Bailey, host of the Afghanistan Project podcast. I'm so sorry. That's unfortunately all we have

06:57time for, although there's so much more to say on this topic. Thank you so very much again for

07:01getting up early to join us here on France 24.

Category

Transcript

Be the first to comment

Recommended