The U.S. has evacuated 84,600 Afghans since August 2021, but many of these people remain in a legal limbo.

The U.S. has evacuated 84,600 Afghans since August 2021, but many of these people remain in a legal limbo. Master Sgt. Donald R. Allen/Air Force

Afghan Evacuees Lack a Clear Path for Resettlement in the U.S., 7 Months after Taliban Takeover

The U.S. has promised to take in 100,000 Ukrainian refugees. But there is concern that this could further complicate efforts to welcome and resettle Afghan evacuees.

Russia’s war against Ukraine has resulted in more than 4 million Ukrainian refugees fleeing the country.

The United States said on March 24, 2022, that it would welcome 100,000 Ukrainian refugees.

The Ukrainian refugee situation continues to overshadow another refugee crisis. That crisis stems from the U.S. military’s official withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021.

Since the withdrawal, approximately 84,600 Afghans were evacuated to the U.S.

It is estimated that thousands of Afghans vulnerable to the Taliban have been left behind.

“There are still Afghans being killed by the Taliban because we haven’t gotten them out of the country,” U.S. Congressman Seth Moulton said on March 28.

As a scholar of refugees and post-conflict reconstruction, I believe that the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan will continue to result in rising numbers of refugees in the years to come.

Children and adults are seen from a distance in front of beige, white and blue tents, all fenced in
Young Afghan evacuees at a U.S. military base in Germany in October 2021. Lukas Schulze/Getty Images

A hasty retreat

Prior to the U.S. military withdrawal, Afghanistan produced the second-largest number of refugees in the world, topping 2.6 million. The largest refugee crisis comes from 11 years of war in Syria.

Following the Soviet Union invasion in 1979, the majority of Afghan refugees have fled to Iran and Pakistan. Since then, ongoing civil war and violence as well as the U.S. invasion in 2001 prompted more people to seek refuge in these countries.

As humanitarian needs in Afghanistan now grow, Afghans continue to cross into these countries.

The U.S. evacuation of Afghan refugees in 2021 was the largest evacuation effort in U.S. history since the 1975 Operation New Life, when 110,000 Vietnamese refugees were evacuated to Guam after the fall of Saigon.

President Biden called the Afghan evacuations an “extraordinary success.”

But there was bipartisan condemnation in Congress of the hasty nature of the withdrawal and evacuations, which resulted in many Afghans and some American citizens being left behind.

Refugee system cuts

In September 2021, the White House requested Congress to authorize $6.4 billion and received $6.3 billion for Afghan resettlement.

But the nine U.S. refugee resettlement agencies designated to welcome and support refugee arrivals have still struggled to assist the large number of Afghans because of limited staff and continued funding shortages.

This is partially because during the Trump administration, there were severe cuts to the number of refugees allowed in to the U.S. President Donald Trump also cut budgets for refugee spending.

Afghan evacuees in the U.S. also continue to face legal and logistical challenges in their long-term resettlement process.

Difficult to stay in US

Typically, the U.S. admits foreigners like Afghans who might fear to return to their home countries as either refugees or, less often, asylum recipients. Both of these options allow non-citizens to legally work and live in the U.S., and to eventually gain citizenship.

For Afghan evacuees, the legal pathways to stay permanently in the U.S. are complicated.

Some of the recent Afghan evacuees are recipients of special immigrant visas. These visas have gone to those who worked closely with the U.S. military in Afghanistan, and give benefits like work permits and a clear pathway to becoming citizens.

The majority of the evacuees, however, received humanitarian parole - a temporary status given for emergency humanitarian situations. This is valid for up to two years.

On March 16, 2022, the Biden administration also announced that Afghans already living in the U.S. would receive Temporary Protected Status. This gives Afghans legal work permits, but only lasts for 18 months.

The Department of Homeland Security estimates 74,500 Afghan nationals could be eligible for this status.

Some Afghan resettlement advocates are pushing for Congress to pass legislation that would allow certain Afghan evacuees to apply for permanent legal status in the U.S.

A U.S. soldier stands in front of a sign that says
Evacuees from Afghanistan wait to board a passenger plane bound for the U.S. at the U.S. military’s Ramstein air base in October 2021. Lukas Schulze/Getty Images

Desperate Afghans outside the U.S.

Back in Afghanistan, the Taliban’s takeover has prompted a severe humanitarian and economic crisis.

About 95% of Afghans are not getting enough to eat, according to the United Nations.

Taliban reprisals against Afghans who worked for the previous government, for the U.S. military, for U.S.-based nonprofit organizations and for democracy and human rights have intensified over the last several months.

There are at least 78,000 special immigrant visa applicants who remain stranded in Afghanistan, waiting for their visas to be processed.

Since July 2021, there have also been 43,000 Afghans outside of the U.S. who have submitted humanitarian parole applications - which cost $575 each - to enter the U.S.

To date, the U.S. has approved parole for only 170 applicants.

The exact number of Afghans who worked in democracy, human rights, journalism, law and education, including former students of the U.S.-government funded American University of Kabul, who are desperate to flee Taliban rule remains unknown.

For many of these Afghans - some of whom were separated from family during the evacuation process - hopes of resettlement in the U.S. are fading.

In a recent conversation about the challenges facing Afghan evacuees in the U.S., Arash Azizzada, an advocate with the diaspora coalition Afghans for a Better Tomorrow, explained to me that “There is a sense that the U.S. has abandoned Afghanistan.”

“Afghan-Americans and military veterans have sprung into action to respond to Afghans in crisis. But we can’t do this alone. We need more support to welcome Afghans with dignity,” Azizzada continued.

The Conversation

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.