The Biden administration said last week it would “phas[e] out the use of [humanitarian] parole” starting Oct. 1 and focus resettlement efforts on special immigrant visa applicants, the “most vulnerable” refugee program referrals. It will also focus on Afghans with family members residing in the United States.
This statement is virtually meaningless. Although around 90% of Afghans evacuated in August 2021 were admitted to the U.S. through parole, only 123 of around 66,000 Afghan humanitarian parole applicants were accepted between July 2021 and May 2022. Additionally, there are no details about how this announcement benefits hundreds of thousands of Afghans who are awaiting evacuation from Afghanistan and third countries.
Take Afghan SIV applicant Safiullah, whose name has been changed to protect his identity. He faces numerous threats as a result of working as an interpreter with elite U.S. military forces from 2003 to 2007. He applied for an SIV in 2014, but he told me his case has been stuck in administrative processing since his SIV interview at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul in 2015. Like many Afghans who worked with the U.S. or in the former Afghan government, Safiullah has been jobless and living in hiding since the Taliban takeover of his country. He told me his family is experiencing depression and anxiety, and his three children cannot attend school. The State Department twice informed Safiullah that his case was being transferred to Doha, Qatar, for processing. In May 2022, the department requested Safiullah’s family members’ passports in order to manifest them on a flight. Four months later, Safiullah has yet to be evacuated. He told me he is “desperately exhausted and los[ing]hope” about his SIV.
Three other late-stage SIV applicants speaking on condition of anonymity relayed similar concerns. Nisar held various roles working with U.S. forces since 2008. After the Taliban kidnapped and tortured Nisar for a week in 2013, his life has been threatened by the Taliban and the Haqqani network multiple times. In August 2021, fear of reprisal forced Nisar into hiding with three daughters, his mother, and his wife, a former professor. Nisar told me his children are mentally traumatized by their circumstances, and they’re suffering from malnutrition due to a lack of funds. Though Nisar applied for an SIV in April 2021 and received his KBL number in June 2022, he has yet to be scheduled for his in-person interview. Candidates’ interviews must occur outside Afghanistan, as there is no longer a U.S. Embassy in the country.
Rahim is a former U.S. and NATO employee who worked in recruitment for a program funded by the Department of Defense. He told me he has waited four years for his SIV. Though he has fulfilled all the requirements for evacuation, Rahim has not been scheduled for his SIV interview. He said he was forced to escape his hometown due to elevated security concerns, and he now urgently awaits evacuation.
Atiqullah spent seven years working for a U.S. defense contractor and working alongside the U.S. military as a network technician for the Afghan Ministry of Defense. He applied for an SIV in February 2021. Though Atiqullah has filed his pre-interview paperwork, he has not been scheduled for his in-person SIV interview. His economic situation is so tenuous that Atiqullah considered traveling illegally to Iran to work, a move that would have ruined his chances of receiving an SIV. Instead, Atiqullah remains in Afghanistan, where family members sometimes help him provide for his two children and his wife, an unemployed midwife. Atiqullah told me it is frustrating that the U.S. “evacuated the singers and civilians, and still left [allies] behind in Afghanistan.”
Economic and security concerns only increase as allies remain stuck in Afghanistan. Sources tell me the Taliban have commenced again carrying out door-to-door searches in parts of Afghanistan. They continue killing their enemies with impunity. A lack of international donations and a series of natural disasters portend a dire winter for many economically struggling Afghans, with famine possible for 6 million. If the Biden administration does not rapidly increase the pace of evacuations, its promises will mean little for our imperiled allies.
Beth Bailey (@BWBailey85) is a freelance writer from the Detroit area.
