(PatrioticPost.com)- Despite a huge evacuation effort that occurred in late summer, there are still thousands of people in Afghanistan who are waiting to come to the United States, left abandoned apparently by the Biden administration.
The Wall Street Journal reported recently that there are more than 60,000 Afghan interpreters and others who have applied for asylum status in the U.S. after they helped American troops while they were stationed in the country. An official with the State Department confirmed that information to the WSJ, which reported that those people are still waiting in Afghanistan, which is now under Taliban rule.
For the first time since all U.S. troops left Afghanistan, the State Department confirmed a specific number of people who are still left behind. The total is roughly 33,000 Afghans, which include the applicants as well as their families.
That large group of people could be eligible to be evacuated immediately after they cleared some of vetting requirements for asylum status.
Still, there are 62,000 Afghans who were left behind in the country who are waiting for some form of help from the American government to get them out.
In recent weeks, evacuation flights have been conducted by Qatar to get people out of Afghanistan. Priority has been given to Americans, but there have been some spots handed out to Afghans who’ve gone through the entire visa process.
According to the WSJ, the 29,000 people remaining who have applied for a visa are “in the earlier stages of the application process.” That already large number doesn’t even include their family members.
The vetting process is set up to check people for any potential connection to terrorist groups and to also verify their history of employment.
At a recent White House press briefing, Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, was asked directly why there were still Americans stuck in Afghanistan. Her response:
“Well, I think, let me just reiterate something that Tony Blinken said back in August, which is that if Americans who were in Afghanistan wanted to leave, whether it was three weeks from now, a month from now, two months from now, back in August, we would help them get out. And that is something that we’ve delivered on our word on.
“I would note that since that time, we’ve directly assisted 479 American citizens, 450 lawful permanent residents, and SIV holders and SIV applicants to depart Afghanistan. That was, that’s important to convey because it’s important for people to understand who were there that even if they decided not to, even if they decided not to today, we are still going to help them depart, and there’s evidence of that.”
The WSJ report, citing the official from the State Department, said there were less than 12 U.S citizens who were ready to depart from Afghanistan who are still left in the country.
Many volunteers working in the country, though, have disputed those numbers. They say the real total is much higher, since the United States isn’t allowing those people to bring with them any dependent family members.
