Taliban fighters stand guard in front of the Hamid Karzai International Airport, in Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday, Aug. 16, 2021.

Taliban fighters stand guard in front of the Hamid Karzai International Airport, in Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday, Aug. 16, 2021. Rahmat Gul / AP

Biden Administration Seeks Civilian Feds to Deploy in Helping Relocate Afghan Evacuees

Employee volunteers will go to both domestic and international sites as U.S. struggles to respond to chaotic scenes in Afghanistan.

The Biden administration is soliciting assistance from federal civilian employees as it prepares to handle the relocation of an influx of Afghan nationals after the government there collapsed. 

The State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development are seeking Foreign Service Officer and civil service employee volunteers to deploy to domestic and international locations to process arrivals and work on visa applications, according to an internal email sent out on Monday. The employees would serve on temporary assignments of 60-90 days and deploy to Washington, Dulles International Airport, Fort Lee in Virginia or Qatar to start, though more employees may be asked to “surge locations that may be established as the situation evolves.” 

U.S. officials in recent weeks have ramped up efforts to relocate Afghans who provided critical services in support of American military and civilian operations throughout the war and who now may be in danger. Estimates have put the outstanding numbers of individuals qualified for  the Special Immigrant Visa program in the tens of thousands. The Biden administration launched Operation Allies Refuge last month to assist those individuals as the U.S. prepared for its full military withdrawal from Afghanistan, but the timeline and processes for it have been thrown into chaos as the Taliban swiftly took control of the country. The interagency effort involves the State Department, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the Defense Department, the Health and Human Services Department and others. The government has so far relocated 2,000 SIV recipients to the U.S. 

Civil servant volunteers deployed to Qatar will help staff a temporary relocation site while evacuated Afghans await visa processing. Those in domestic locations will help receive the evacuees and process them on to their final locations. Their responsibilities could include a range of activities, such as providing direct support, planning refugee flow options, coordinating with non-governmental organizations and hosting congressional delegations. Employees must clear their potential participation with their supervisors before applying. 

The State Department declined to provide further details on its solicitation ahead of a scheduled briefing Monday afternoon, including how many employee volunteers it is seeking. 

Afghans arriving at Fort Lee will only spend a few days there, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby has said. U.S. personnel will conduct final medical screenings and other administrative requirements before sending them elsewhere for resettlement. USCIS last month established a temporary field office and a “mobile biometrics processing station” at the installation to expedite processing. Afghans seeking Special Immigrant Visas begin their application process by filing a petition with USCIS. Those who arrive in the United States will receive benefits through HHS’ Office of Refugee Resettlement. 

Kirby said on Monday the Pentagon was looking to identify two additional installations to bringing in more Afghan nationals, allowing the department to temporarily house 22,000 people. State Department spokesperson Ned Price said that State was pursuing all possibilities for relocating Afghan nationals. 

Some in Congress are pressuring the White House to do whatever it takes to evacuate the Afghans, many of whom risked their lives to support the United States, regardless of the usual processes. 

“America and our allies must drop the onerous visa requirements where a typo can condemn an ally to torture and death, and the military must continue the evacuation for as long as it takes,” said Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass. 

State and Defense, meanwhile, have raced to evacuate their own civilian employees from Kabul. The departments said over the weekend that all diplomatic staff had been safely brought to the airport there, though videos have shown chaotic scenes as planes sought to take off. The Biden administration previously said it would leave only a “core diplomatic presence” in Afghanistan. President Biden has deployed 6,000 troops to secure the airport in Kabul and “enable the safe departure of U.S. and allied personnel from Afghanistan via civilian and military flights,” State and Defense said in a joint statement on Sunday. 

“Tomorrow and over the coming days, we will be transferring out of the country thousands of American citizens who have been resident in Afghanistan, as well as locally employed staff of the U.S. mission in Kabul and their families and other particularly vulnerable Afghan nationals,” the departments said.

Price on Monday declined to say how many federal employees were currently at the Kabul airport awaiting a departure, noting only that some embassy staff were pulled out starting in April. All flights, both military and civilian, in and out of the airport have been temporarily suspended while U.S. forces seek to restore order. Both Kirby and Price said U.S. citizens aiming to leave Afghanistan should shelter in place until receiving other instructions from State.

This story has been updated with additional information. 

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.