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Airlift begins for Afghans who worked for US during its longest war
Some 200 Afghans were set to begin new lives in the United States on Friday as an airlift got underway for translators and others who risk Taliban retaliation because they worked for the United States during its 20-year war in Afghanistan, U.S. officials said.
The operation to evacuate U.S.-affiliated Afghans and family members comes as the U.S. troop pullout nears completion and government forces struggle to repulse Taliban advances.
The first planeload of 200 evacuees arrived at Fort Lee, a military base in Virginia, for final paperwork processing and medical examinations.
The Afghans are being granted Special Immigrant Visas (SIV) entitling them to bring their families. As many as 50,000 or more people ultimately could be evacuated in “Operation Allies Refuge”.
“These arrivals are just the first of many as we work quickly to relocate SIV-eligible Afghans out of harm’s way — to the United States, to U.S. facilities abroad, or to third countries — so that they can wait in safety while they finish their visa applications,” President Joe Biden said in a statement.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a separate statement that the U.S. would continue to use “the full force of our diplomatic, economic, and development toolkit” to support the Afghan people after the United States’ longest war.
The first group of arrivals is among some 2,500 SIV applicants and family members who have almost completed the process, clearing them for evacuation, said Russ Travers, Biden’s deputy homeland security adviser.
The Afghans were expected to remain at Fort Lee for up to seven days before joining relatives or host families across the country.
The evacuees underwent “rigorous background checks” and COVID-19 tests, Travers added. Some were already vaccinated, and the rest will be offered shots at Fort Lee.
Approximately 300 U.S. service members from several installations will provide logistics, temporary lodging, and medical support at Fort Lee, said Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.
Around 75,000 other Afghans have been resettled in the United States in the last decade, he said in a statement, adding there is a “moral obligation” for the country “to help those who have helped us.”
The surging violence in Afghanistan has created serious problems for many SIV applicants whose paperwork is in the pipeline amid reports – denied by the Taliban – that some have been killed by vengeful insurgents.
Some applicants are unable to get to the capital Kabul to complete the required steps at the U.S. embassy or reach their flights.
The SIV program has also been plagued by long processing times and bureaucratic knots that led to a backlog of some 20,000 applications. The State Department has added staff to handle them.
The majority of those would likely miss out on the airlift operation, including the roughly 50% who were in the early stages of the process as the clock counts down towards the U.S. withdrawal by September.
Applicants in that group have held multiple protests in Kabul in recent months and they and advocates say they face the risk of violence while they wait that will be heightened once troops withdraw.
Ross Wilson, Charge D’Affaires of the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, told reporters that after the initial round of flights taking out those who received security clearances, around 4,000 applicants and their families who were in the later stages but still needed interviews would be taken somewhere outside the United States for processing.
That left roughly 15,000 applicants in earlier stages waiting in Afghanistan.
“We’ve felt it appropriate that we focus our energies on those parts of the SIV applicant pool who have demonstrated that they meet the criteria under the law and then work to relocate them,” he said, adding efforts were taking place in Washington to help early-stage applicants access documents.
Adam Bates, policy counsel for the International Refugee Assistance Project, which provides legal aid for refugees, said the United States had had 20 years to anticipate what the withdrawal would look like.
“It’s unconscionable that we are so late,” he said.
Kim Staffieri, co-founder of the Association of Wartime Allies, which helps SIV applicants, said surveys conducted over Facebook show that about half of the applicants cannot reach Kabul, including many approved for evacuation.
Wilson said that they believed the “overwhelming majority” of people the airlift was offered to were able to get to Kabul.
“We’re focusing our efforts on those that we can get out,” he said. “We cannot through this program solve every problem in this country.”
Congress created SIV programs in 2006 for Iraqi and Afghan interpreters who risked retaliation for working for the U.S. government.
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1402: Afghanistan fails to gain international recognition
The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) spent this past solar year – 1402 – trying to gain international recognition and take up its seat in the United Nations.
Due to certain policies, and restrictions against Afghan women and girls, the international community has not only imposed sanctions on the government but has also worked to isolate the IEA.
Western consensus has been that the IEA needs to revise some policies including those relating to human and women’s rights.
But in addition to these problems, the Islamic Emirate made progress in diplomatic relations with some countries in 1402 – China being the first to send an official ambassador to Kabul. In turn, Beijing followed suit by welcoming the IEA’s ambassador.
Some Afghan embassies, however, that are still run by diplomats appointed by the previous government, slowly started forging ties with the IEA – including the Netherlands and Spain.
Over the past year, diplomats aligned with the Islamic Emirate also took control of the Afghan embassy and consulates in India.
In 1402, Turkmenistan removed the name of the Islamic Emirate from the list of sanctions and terrorist groups in that country.
In the meantime, Iran, Afghanistan’s western neighbor, became embroiled in a spat with the IEA over the issue of water rights from the Helmand River.
Relations with Pakistan also soured somewhat, as Islamabad has accused the IEA of letting Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP) hideout in the country.
These tensions came to a head when Islamabad implemented the process of forced deportation of more than one million Afghan immigrants.
But analysts believe that the neighboring countries and the region have not been able to agree on a specific policy for interaction with the Islamic Emirate.
According to them, the realization of this agreement requires the implementation of conditions set by these countries and the international community, including the formation of an inclusive government, and respect for the rights of women and girls; and ethnic and religious minorities by the Islamic Emirate.
This year, the IEA’s cabinet remained a caretaker government, although dozens of former former government officials and politicians continued to return home.
However, the Islamic Emirate considers the year 1402 as full of achievements and emphasizes that in this year, progress has been made in all fields, especially in terms of expanding relations with other countries.
However, the spokesman of the Islamic Emirate considers the lack of global legitimacy to be driven by a few countries – countries which influence the UN.
The Islamic Emirate currently has 38 active diplomatic missions in countries. In addition, Azerbaijan recently said it wants to open an embassy in Kabul.
Experts say however, 1403 will be a telling year, in terms of whether the IEA is recognized as the legitimate government or not.
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Dozens of needy families in west Kabul receive Bayat’s Ramadan aid
Dozens of needy families in the western suburbs of Kabul have been given much needed food aid for Ramadan by Bayat Foundation.
Foundation officials said the campaign is conducted during the holy month of Ramadan in order to help those in need.
The aid packages include essential food items such as flour and oil.
Residents in the west of Kabul, who received the packages, welcomed Bayat Foundation’s initiative but appealed for more assistance from other organizations.
Bayat Foundation is considered to be a key charitable organization in the country and has done valuable work in the past twenty years. The foundation has assisted victims of natural disasters, implemented public benefit projects, and helped the needy in different seasons.
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1402, a difficult year for Afghan women and girls
As this solar year, 1402 draws to a close, the suspension of high school and higher education for girls continues, despite repeated calls to the Afghan government to reconsider this decision.
This year, Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) officials repeatedly said they plan to reopen schools above grade 6, and universities, to girls – once plans were finalized. However, nothing has come of this.
In many meetings, both in Afghanistan and outside the country, repeated requests were made to the IEA to provide education for everyone – and some officials of the Islamic Emirate even expressed their dissatisfaction over the decision.
Representatives of the United Nations and countries of the world have repeatedly emphasized that the right to education should be given to women and girls, but these requests were not accepted by the Islamic Emirate.
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said: “Supporting the rights of women and girls is a central part of our foreign policy. Over the past three years, we have put forward concrete strategies, policies and programs to support women and girls around the world. It’s not just rhetoric, it’s action.”
Spokespersons of the Islamic Emirate said many times in interviews with the media that schools and universities for girls would reopen. However, they did not say when the wait for girls would end.
Now, almost three years after schools, above grade 6, were closed to girls, the hope is that in the new academic year there will be changes in the policy of the Islamic Emirate and the school bell will ring with a good news for girls.
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