Akmal Dawi VOA News June 22, 2022 The U.S. government has eased some of the stringent requirements Afghans have to navigate as they apply to resettle in the United States. Until now, Afghans who held civilian positions under the Taliban regime or paid it for public services such as getting a passport, have been ineligible
Al Jazeera: The Trump-backed waiver allows sanctioned Taliban leaders to travel abroad for negotiations. Writing on The Hill website in May, Annie Pforzheimer, a former acting US deputy assistant secretary of state for Afghanistan, said the continued exemption “represents the creeping normalisation of international relations with a regime that overthrew a constitutional republic and an
CBS News: Since July 2021, USCIS has received over 46,000 applications from Afghans hoping to come to the U.S. through the parole process. But most parole applications from Afghans remain unresolved — and over 90% of fewer than 5,000 fully adjudicated requests have been denied, USCIS statistics shared with CBS News show. Click here to
Reuters: U.S. Central Command commander Gen. Michael Kurilla visited Tajikistan over the weekend. “The United States is working with the Tajik government to determine the best way to effectively use and maintain the aircraft,” Kurilla said. He said the aircraft would definitely not be returned to Afghanistan “because they do not belong to the Taliban”.
Ayaz Gul VOA News June 18, 2022 ISLAMABAD — Afghanistan’s Taliban have alleged the United States is blocking their way to securing international recognition for the Islamist group’s new government in Kabul. The insurgent-turned-ruling group seized power last August and installed an all-male interim administration following the end of almost 20 years of U.S.-led foreign military
David Robinson via The Hill: In fact, Afghanistan has little strategic significance for the United States and offers scant leverage for U.S. regional priorities. Geography alone is not sufficient reason to exaggerate its importance and there is nothing to be gained by trying to expiate national guilt for abandoning, once again, friends and partners who
Akmal Dawi VOA News June 12, 2022 ISLAMABAD — When Ahmad, his wife and three children traveled to Pakistan in November last year, they were hoping to stay there for a short period before migrating to the U.S. through the Special Immigration Visa (SIV) program for Afghans. The chaos that followed the Taliban’s return to power
Mustafa Sarwar Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty June 10, 2022 The head of a U.S. government watchdog says he is concerned that money sent by the United Nations to Afghanistan for humanitarian and economic aid will end up in the hands of the Taliban government. In a wide-ranging interview with RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi, John Sopko, the U.S. Special
The Hill: America still has a few tools to support its interests in Afghanistan but using them requires a focus beyond humanitarian relief and politically wishing the issue would disappear. Our interests are easily described: preventing attacks on the U.S. and its allies; supplying food and medical care to Afghans; supporting human rights, especially for
Jeff Seldin VOA News June 6, 2022 WASHINGTON — Tales of Afghanistan’s former president and his senior advisers fleeing the country in helicopters laden with millions of U.S. dollars, as Taliban fighters closed in on Kabul, appear to be overblown, according to an interim report by American investigators. Russia’s embassy in Kabul first floated the allegations