WASHINGTON (AP) – Since the Taliban seized the Afghan capital on August 14, more than 82,000 people have been evacuated from Afghanistan on one of the largest U.S. airlift bridges in history. Although the pace has increased in recent days, it is still a chaotic commotion when people seek to flee. Afghans trying to get to Kabul airport face a danger of danger, and there are many more who want to leave than those who will not be able to do so. Those who do will face the many challenges of resettlement, whether in the United States or elsewhere. And time is running out. President Joe Biden set August 31 as a deadline to complete the U.S.-led evacuation.
Here’s a look at the current situation:
HOW DID WE GET HERE?
President Donald Trump signed a peace deal with the Taliban in February 2020 as part of an effort to end what he called the “endless wars” in the Middle East. He agreed to the May 1 deadline to have all troops out of the country. Biden, who says he no longer wants to risk American life in a civil war between Afghans, maintained the withdrawal plan but extended the deadline until September. The Taliban quickly took control of most of the country as the US withdrew air support to the Afghan army. The Afghans, fearful of retribution and the harsh Taliban government, rushed to the airport in hopes of leaving the country.
WHO LEAVES THE COUNTRY?
The 70,000 evacuees include more than 4,000 U.S. citizens and relatives, as well as Afghans who have obtained a limited number of special immigrant visas, which are for people who have worked for the United States or NATO as interpreters or in some other function. The United States is also evacuating Afghans, along with their closest families, who have applied for visas but have not yet received them and people who are in particular danger from the Taliban. This includes people working for the government, members of civil society, journalists and human rights activists.
ON VAN?
U.S. citizens and individuals who already have legal residency in the United States, including those who have been approved to obtain a special immigrant visa, may proceed to the United States after a stopover, usually in Qatar or in a another Gulf nation. Afghans who have applied for but have not yet received a special visa or who want to enter the United States as refugees must first go to a “transit center” in Europe or Asia to obtain security inspections by the U.S. intelligence and police authorities, according to the White House.
After being examined, they can be transported to the United States and housed at military bases in Virginia, New Jersey, Texas, and Wisconsin until their applications are completed and resettled. The White House says all people will be tested for COVID-19 when they arrive in the United States. It is unclear how long it will take to prosecute people at military bases.
In addition, at least 13 countries, including Uganda, Rwanda, Costa Rica and Albania, have agreed to temporarily house Afghan refugees until they can resettle.
“The critical issue now is evacuation, and then you can fix resettlement in the United States,” said Bill Frelick, director of Human Rights Watch’s refugee and migrant rights division.
HAS ANYTHING HAPPENED BEFORE?
The scale and speed of this airlift are unprecedented, but the United States has a history of hosting refugees from overseas conflicts. The United States transported about 7,000 people with the fall of Saigon in 1975 at the end of the Vietnam War and eventually took in more than 100,000 refugees from Southeast Asia. In 1996, the U.S. evacuated nearly 5,000 Kurds and other Iraqi minorities from northern Iraq after then-President Saddam Hussein regained control of the region.
In 1999, about 20,000 victims of Yugoslav “ethnic cleansing” against Albanians in Kosovo province were transferred to the United States as refugees and temporarily housed for trial in Fort Dix, New Jersey. The United States has admitted more than 3.1 million refugees since 1980.
HOW DO AFGHANS STABILIZE IN THEIR NEW LIFE IN THE USA?
Nine nonprofit resettlement agencies, including the International Rescue Committee and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, oversee a network of affiliates who work to help refugees. Once located in their new cities, they typically receive food and housing assistance for the first 90 days, but are expected to be self-sufficient. They are greeted at the airport and taken to their new home, usually an apartment.
Non-profit groups, which operate with a combination of government grants and private donations, help them find work and adapt. “People are intimidated and nervous and all these emotions. But I’m also, I think, excited. People are feeling safe again, “said Mark Hagar, director of Texas refugee services in the Dallas area. Refugees are expected to reimburse the government for their flight to the U.S.
HOW CAN PEOPLE HELP?
Groups that help resettle refugees not only need donations, but also volunteers to meet families at the airport, help set up their apartments, and help them navigate the new culture.
The International Rescue Committee, for example, says that in addition to financial contributions, it can use furniture, groceries and donated items for babies.
Hagar said the agency has been encouraged to see an influx of volunteers in response to events in Afghanistan. He said a volunteer training session over the weekend that would normally involve about 50 people had about 300.
SHOULD THIS PROCESS NOT BE STARTED EARLY?
Members of Congress and others have long complained about the long time and bureaucratic hurdles required for former interpreters and others working in the U.S. to obtain visas. The process slowed even further under Trump, whose administration also reduced the number of refugees allowed in the United States and virtually stopped with the outbreak of COVID-19.
This summer, as the withdrawal from the United States approached, the United States held a mass evacuation at the request of the Afghan government, which feared it would trigger a panic that would make it even harder to keep the Taliban, according to Jake Sullivan of Biden. . national security adviser. But he said even starting earlier would not have avoided the chaos at the airport.
“This operation is complex. It’s dangerous. It is full of challenges: operational, logistical and human. And it has produced fiery images of pain and despair, “he told reporters this week.” But no operation like this, no evacuation of a capital that has fallen into a civil war, could take place without these images. “
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Stengle contributed to this Dallas report.