Afghan evacuees are all living with uncertainty here, says Sanaullah, a former diplomat and prominent human rights activist
For all the difficulties Sanaullah is facing, he does at least have an Afghan passport — an obstacle that many other Afghans are struggling to overcome. Sanaullah and others say that the only way to get the document in Afghanistan now is by paying bribes to Taliban officials. (NPR was unable to independently confirm reports that bribes can reach up to $2,000. Taliban officials have acknowledged corruption in some passport offices).
“But by the time they wanted to [carry out the plan] one of the guys who was living in the same building with me informed me,” he says. He escaped by climbing through his apartment window, he says. NPR is only using his first name for security reasons.
“I know other people — just business owners — who got evacuated, but … I am still waiting. I can’t understand why, I don’t understand this disconnected process,” he says. “I’m so frustrated and so disappointed. I never thought that something like that could happen.”
Afghan evacuees “are all living with uncertainty here,” Asila Wardak, a former Afghan diplomat and a prominent human rights activist, told me recently. She was able to flee Afghanistan on a diplomatic passport and get a fellowship at Harvard. But she worries about her legal status when her fellowship ends. She worries about the people that she has not left behind. “We don’t know what will be our future,” she told me. “Will we be sent back or stay here? We don’t know.”
Three months ago the SIV application was finished, meaning that all documents were accepted and approved. He will be having his U.S. visa interview at the embassy in Islamabad next month. The U.S. closed its embassy in Kabul last year, leading to visa interviews taking place in Pakistan.
What she wants to do: a case study on the persecution of journalists, journalists and civilians in the Taliban’s jailing (Malaysia, April 22-23)
Activists, journalists, former employees of the previous government and military interpreters are all at risk of being imprisoned, tortured and even murdered because of their political beliefs.
She was studying journalism prior to the Taliban takeover. But, she says, she had to let go of her dream of becoming a journalist in her own country because of the Taliban’s de-facto ban on women studying in most universities. She thinks she will have a better chance of working as an architect in Afghanistan because she shifted her focus to architecture.
She was able to get a family friend to help her with an extension of her passport. Now she’s waiting, hoping for her Malaysian visa to be approved. She was going to delay her studies by two years. She will lose another year if she can’t get her visa sorted out.
Refugees in the First Year of the United States: Resolution of an Afghan Family Concerning Refugee Status in the Light of a New Government Spending Measure
Logistical challenges at times have hampered efforts to process and approve people’s flights out of Afghanistan. Trips through Qatar have restarted after they were paused from November through January due to the World Cup, a State Department spokesperson told CNN. The department also is working to confirm whether the Taliban is preventing women from boarding relocation flights without a male chaperone.
The student who was denied boarding because of her history of activism does not want to be named because she is concerned that her scholarship might be revoked.
When we got to the airport, everything was normal, but the Taliban took our tickets and our passports, saying that they didn’t have a male guardian. “‘Where are you studying?’” she asks.
The system was under pressure because of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.
He also filled out a new federal form – DS-4317 – that lets humanitarian parolees apply for immediate family members to join them in the United States. A complaint echoed by other Afghan families, their lawyers and advocates is that he and his attorney haven’t gotten information about next steps or an estimated processing time.
Another spokesperson for the State Department tells NPR that staff has been added to U.S. embassies in Qatar, Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates. But the visa pipelines for Afghans remain clogged.
The White House has announced the start of Operation Enduring Welcome, which will support the resettlement of Afghans in the U.S. starting this month, with the new fiscal year. According to the DHS, the goal is not to allow for short-term humanitarian parole, but to encourage long-term migration.
Meanwhile, funding for the Afghan Adjustment Act, a bill intended to cut some of the red tape out of the immigration process and ease the way to permanent residency for Afghan evacuees who are already in the U.S., was cut out of the government spending bill that passed on Friday. However, the bill did include $3 billion in aid for Afghan resettlement efforts.
Azizzada’s frustrations with the Afghan Adjustment Act: How Congress can act soon to save their allies from a security threat
“I try to figure out how to deliver the worst news in the world,” says Azizzada. There are about 75,000 principal applicants ahead of you. There’s good luck, though, waiting through years of bureaucratic backlog that the American government is not interested in fixing.
He urged the White House to cut red tape, if the U.S. doesn’t reopen the embassy in Kabul, which he believes would make it easier for people to apply for humanitarian parole.
Lindsey Graham of South Carolina was one of the Republican senators who championed the Afghan Adjustment Act. But others, including Chuck Grassley of Iowa, have refused to support it, citing concerns that the newly arrived Afghans could pose a security threat.
A group of former US military commanders in Afghanistan wrote a letter to congress urging them to act quickly to save their Afghan allies who are currently at risk.
CNN is reporting that retired generals and admirals want the Afghan Adjustment Act to be part of the omnibus spending bill.
The letter argues that the legislation is furthering the national security interests of the United States.
Army Gens were among the commanders who served in Afghanistan. Stan McChrystal, David McKiernan, John “Mick” Nicholson Jr. and David Rodriguez.
“I see my kids on camera, but I cannot touch them,” his mother said recently from a home she may not leave without a male chaperone in a city where daily electricity use is rationed.
Afghans in the Us Immigration Deadlines: Bringing their Families to the U.S. in the Chaotic Final Days of Afghanistan
Rahman and his dad are among thousands of people in the US who are trying to get back together after leaving Afghanistan, in the chaotic final days before the Taliban reclaimed control.
Beyond the heartache of separation and the fear over human rights crackdowns, they face a dearth of reliable information about the American immigration process as key deadlines for staying here approach, said Afghan families, advocacy groups and attorneys.
The US government put in place procedures for the parents of their children to leave the country, said Sanam Ghandehari. “However, after more than one year, none of my minor clients have been reunited with their parents yet and still no hope for their reunification in near future.”
Others who fled and took a chance with the US diversity visa lottery also face complications as families might have grown beyond what an initial application reflected and arrival schedules remain in limbo.
He told CNN that it was taking Roman the better part of a year to understand which resources he should use to bring his family to the United States.
It is a race against time as many Afghans who have served or cooperated with US military, NATO and the Afghan government are hiding in Afghanistan. They move frequently to avoid being identified.
“Unfortunately, we have learned about many family members of our Parolee clients who have been arrested, tortured or even killed because of their employment background while waiting to be reunited with their families,” she said.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/21/us/afghans-us-immigration-deadlines/index.html
Abdul Mukhtar left Afghanistan in the early 2021s after he fled to Afghanistan with a wife and a baby – his first encounter with the Taliban
In late August 2021, Abdul Mukhtar feared the Taliban would come after him and his family. His wife was a teacher at the university. He spoke against radicalism in mosques and taught political science.
That’s why they went that August 26 to the Kabul airport, joining thousands trying to wade through a lake to an airport gate, he recalled to CNN. But it was hot, with no water or food, so Mukhtar paid someone near the airport for space in a home for his wife and child to stay cool.
He had told the homeowner that he would not leave until he came back with news, and then he was grabbed by a soldier who pulled him up from the dirty water.
“The security situation is not it is not under control,” he recalled being told. “We cannot guarantee anything. If you’re trying to find your family, if you’re trying to find your loved one, if you’re trying to join them, this is not a safe place for you to wait.”
He hoped those in charge of the refugee camp would help him quickly. And at each new camp, he searched furiously for his wife and son, thinking they might have gotten on another plane out of Kabul.
Mukhtar had not been able to connect with his wife since he left, but she told him she was pregnant with twins and was still in Afghanistan. Soon, several of Mukhtar’s relatives went into hiding together in northern Afghanistan. When his wife gave birth with no medical aid, one of the twins died.
A glimmer emerged when Mukhtar’s wife won a spot in the US diversity visa lottery. But with a new child, more work had to be done to update the visa application and get the baby a passport. And still, Mukhtar has no timeline for when his wife and sons can join him.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/21/us/afghans-us-immigration-deadlines/index.html
“I lost my faith. I have no choice”: Roman’s wife and son-in-law, Uzair, and the Taliban
I completely lost my faith. He said he was fighting for nothing. I am alive because of them. … I have no choice. I have to fight for my family.”
After a long struggle, they realized Uzair already had boarded a cargo plane – with Roman’s brother-in-law, who had little Rahman in tow. The gates were closed and no one would let Roman’s wife and daughter through.
As Roman waits for the US immigration papers to process, he doesn’t know if his daughter in Kabul can continue her schooling, he said, since the Taliban changes the rules frequently, sometimes between morning and night.
His wife knows her two sons have a much better life in the United States, she said. It is difficult to accept the reality from her side of the video chat.