How A Sluggish Visa Process is Stranding Many Afghans Who Helped US

WASHINGTON — A sluggish State Department effect to the Taliban’s accelerated takeover of Kabul, Afghanistan’s capital, has stranded thousands of Afghans who helped the United States and are present clamoring to beryllium evacuated arsenic they hold for their migration visas to beryllium approved, 2 U.S. officials said.

As galore arsenic 6,000 radical — including erstwhile interpreters and taste and governmental advisers — were connected standby to beryllium flown retired of Kabul’s airdrome precocious connected Thursday nighttime oregon aboriginal Friday alone, aft a days-long intermission successful the processing of visas for Afghans who had worked for the American subject oregon embassy during the 20-year war, the State Department said.

Thousands much are expected to beryllium vetted and evacuated connected a regular ground aft a tiny influx of consular officers and different diplomats — including the erstwhile ambassador to Afghanistan, John R. Bass — arrived successful Kabul connected Thursday to velocity the visa processing. Diplomats are besides deploying to Qatar and Kuwait, where U.S. subject bases volition service arsenic mode stations for radical arriving from Afghanistan arsenic they hunt for a last destination.

“This is an cognition that volition proceed astatine arsenic accelerated a clip arsenic we tin perchance manage,” Ned Price, a State Department spokesman, told reporters connected Thursday. He said American officials were continuously alerting Afghans who had been cleared to fly, including much than 800 connected Wednesday night.

“Our anticipation is that time we’ll beryllium capable to process adjacent more,” Mr. Price said. “But ultimately, the metric we attraction astir about is however galore radical we are capable to repatriate present to the United States, oregon bring to 3rd countries. That is our goal.”

The U.S. subject is lone evacuating Afghans who person completed what Mr. Price called “a definite signifier of the security-vetting procedure.” He would not supply details of the process, but different authoritative said information checks were continuing adjacent arsenic Afghans were being flown to safety.

But 2 different U.S. officials described increasing impatience crossed the Biden medication with the State Department’s inability to process visas much quickly, arsenic thousands of Afghans who had already risked their lives to state with the United States waited fearfully extracurricular the gross of the planetary airdrome successful Kabul.

One of the officials described however challenging it was to guarantee that those who helped the United States could scope the airdrome safely with different Afghans besides trying to evacuate and the Taliban operating checkpoints crossed the capital.

Officials besides echoed exile advocates, who accused the State Department of having been caught flat-footed successful processing the peculiar migrant visas for Afghans — adjacent though President Biden announced successful April that the American subject would beryllium leaving by the day of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that led to the U.S. penetration of Afghanistan.

“There are tens of thousands of Americans and Afghans virtually astatine the gate,” said Sunil Varghese, the argumentation manager for the International Refugee Assistance Project. “This could person been wholly avoided if evacuation was portion of the subject withdrawal. This was avoidable, and we’re astatine the 11th hr now.”

“But that being said, I deliberation we tin marque definite this is an evacuation and not thing much tragic,” Mr. Varghese said.

As of Thursday afternoon, the U.S. subject had evacuated 7,000 Americans, Afghans and others since Saturday, officials said. That is inactive good abbreviated of the 5,000 to 9,000 passengers a time that the subject volition beryllium capable to alert retired erstwhile the evacuation process is astatine afloat throttle, Defense Department officials said.

Armed combatant jets made passes implicit Kabul and Hamid Karzai International Airport arsenic portion of the effort connected Thursday to unafraid the tremendous evacuation successful what the Pentagon’s property secretary, John F. Kirby, said was an “overwatch” mission.

There person been reports of non-American evacuation flights leaving with galore bare seats, a motion of the difficulties thousands of radical person faced trying to marque their mode to the airport. The Pentagon has warned the Taliban not to interfere with the evacuation.

Representative Tom Malinowski, Democrat of New Jersey, said adjacent Afghans who had been vetted and told to travel to the airdrome were incapable to get past U.S. troops astatine the airport’s gate. He called it “inexcusable” that the State Department and Pentagon were not coordinating amended to guarantee “that whoever the U.S. authorities invites volition beryllium recognized and allowed successful by radical astatine the gates who cognize what they’re doing.”

Mr. Malinowski, an adjunct caput of authorities for democracy, quality rights and labour nether the Obama administration, said that disconnect dominated the existent administration’s attraction for overmuch of Thursday.

The occupation “is wrong our powerfulness to solve,” Mr. Malinowski said, adding, “It has not gotten better.”

Maj. Gen. William Taylor told reporters connected Thursday that aggregate gates astatine the airdrome were present open.

The process of vetting Afghans who suffice for the peculiar migrant visa was dormant for astir a year, aft the State Department unopen down overmuch of its classified consular operations erstwhile the archetypal question of the coronavirus forced employees to enactment from home.

The visa strategy had a backlog of 17,000 cases erstwhile Mr. Biden took bureau successful January, according to the State Department. The U.S. Embassy successful Kabul resumed interviewing Afghans for the visas successful February, and was processing astatine slightest 100 radical each week earlier the pandemic halted the cognition again successful June.

In mid-July, the Pentagon began an expedited airlift of Afghans who had worked for the U.S. government. Under that effort, called Operation Allies Refuge, much than 2,000 Afghans were evacuated from Kabul earlier the Taliban closed successful connected the superior past week, forcing the Biden medication to temporarily wantonness its visa processing and absorption connected ensuring that Americans could escape.

Understand the Taliban Takeover successful Afghanistan

Mr. Price said the State Department besides had been moving to find countries that would instrumentality successful the evacuated Afghans who had not had clip to use for colony elsewhere successful their unreserved to permission the country. The governments of Albania, Uganda, Canada, Mexico and Chile had offered to instrumentality successful immoderate radical for varying periods of time, helium said.

The U.S. authorities is not charging Afghan refugees for the evacuations. A fig of backstage operations are besides organizing flights retired of Afghanistan, including to countries with little rigorous documentation requirements, though immoderate are asking evacuees to wage for seats.

Seats connected immoderate backstage flights successful the days aft the U.S. withdrawal went for $100,000 each oregon more, according to a idiosyncratic acquainted with the fares.

People progressive successful the backstage flights said they had been moving with the State Department, the Pentagon and the White House to get due clearances to alert into and retired of the airdrome successful Kabul, but that their efforts had been analyzable by disorganization from the U.S. government, arsenic good arsenic difficulties transporting evacuees to the airdrome and securing security for planes.

One effort that has arranged flights from Kabul to a adjacent state was organized by erstwhile Representative Scott Taylor and the Washington fixer Robert Stryk, whose lobbying steadfast was paid $160,000 to correspond Afghanistan’s government for a fewer months successful 2017.

For an archetypal flight, dozens of Afghan passengers paid arsenic overmuch arsenic $12,500 per seat. But since then, the cognition has been capable to little prices to astir what commercialized airlines were charging earlier the American subject withdrawal, said Mr. Taylor, who served arsenic a subordinate of the Navy SEALs earlier representing Virginia arsenic a Republican successful Congress.

The cognition has travel to see members of his erstwhile run staff, arsenic good arsenic governmental donors who person offered to wage immoderate upfront costs and a Virginia-based logistics institution called Regulus Global that works for the U.S. authorities successful planetary blistery spots.

“We person a bid halfway close present that’s 24/7,” said Mr. Taylor. “We are conscionable trying to assistance arsenic galore radical arsenic possible.”

After Mr. Taylor posted a connection connected LinkedIn indicating that helium was arranging flights, his squad began fielding thousands of requests from American citizens, Afghans, corporations and world institutions, helium said.

“People are frightened for their lives. When you work immoderate of these messages, it’s existent sad,” said Mr. Taylor, who suggested immoderate of the chaos could person been mitigated with amended readying by the U.S. government. “This was truly botched, man. I americium a subject guy, and this is brainsick to me.”

At slightest 1 formation of radical evacuated from Afghanistan arrived astatine Dulles International Airport extracurricular Washington connected Thursday, with its passengers receiving further processing and coronavirus investigating upon landing.

Timothy Young, a spokesperson for Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, said less radical were expected to get “with visas successful hand” connected the flights from Kabul — a motion the State Department was loosening its vetting restrictions to velocity the evacuations.

Eileen Sullivan contributed reporting.