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The first group of Afghan evacuees will be placed in Fort Lee, while other evacuees may go to foreign bases and other countries.
The U.S. State Department announced on Monday that the U.S. will begin to evacuate Afghans assisting U.S. forces in Afghanistan to a military base in Virginia as they are waiting for the completion of special visa procedures.
State Department spokesperson Ned Price said that approximately 2,500 Afghans who have applied to immigrate to the United States will leave Afghanistan on a relocation flight to Fort Lee, a U.S. Army base in Virginia.
“These are brave Afghans and their families… Their service to the United States has been certified by the embassy in Kabul and has completed a thorough security review process,” Price said at a State Department media briefing.
President Joe Biden reached an agreement with the Taliban and has ordered U.S. troops to withdraw from Afghanistan that was invaded and occupied by the U.S. after Al Qaeda attacked the United States in 2001.
The US troop withdrawal is progressing rapidly and will be completed by the end of August. A small force of hundreds of soldiers will continue to protect the U.S. Embassy in Kabul and work with the Turkish army to protect the city’s international airport.
As Taliban militants launched military operations to seize areas and major border crossings across Afghanistan, many Afghans who cooperated with the United States and NATO forces began to feel fear. They now threaten about half of the country’s capital cities.
The Taliban and the Afghan government Negotiator meeting In Doha, Qatar, a ceasefire agreement could not be reached on Saturday and Sunday, but the two sides have pledged to continue negotiations.
15 diplomatic missions and NATO representatives in Kabul urged the Taliban on Monday Stop military offensive All of Afghanistan.
“We are encouraged by what we saw over the weekend,” Price said of the prospect of continuing negotiations “in the coming days and weeks” aimed at reaching a political settlement between the Taliban and the Western-backed Kabul government.
“Any government in Afghanistan must have the support of the international community, which is very important,” he said.
The first group of Afghan evacuees to be placed in Fort Lee were 700 applicants and their families, according to the State Department’s estimate of 2,500. They are part of as many as 20,000 Afghans and may be resettled under what the U.S. military calls “Allied Asylum Operations.”
On July 18, people carried the coffin of Reuters photographer Siddiqui, Denmark, in New Delhi, India. The Pulitzer Prize winner was killed on Friday while documenting the fighting between the Afghan army and the Taliban. [Altaf Qadri/AP Photo]Price said that more Afghans who have not passed the security review process will be transferred to US military bases outside the United States or other safe countries.
According to the Special Immigrant Visa Program of the State Council, translators, drivers, clerks and other workers and their families may be retaliated against for their work.
The U.S. Congress is advancing legislation to ease the barriers to entry for Afghans who apply to enter the United States under the program.Biden has committed to “The people who have helped us will not be left behind.”
The US House of Representatives passed a bill that exempts Afghans from undergoing medical examinations in Afghanistan on June 29, and is currently pending in the Senate.
“These initial relocation flights are the first under the Allied Asylum Operation under the leadership of the State Department. They will put into action the U.S. commitment to those who help us-to provide transportation to a safe location where the process can be completed safely and thoroughly. According to the news service, the US Department of Defense issued a notice to lawmakers.
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