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It is not known how long the flight break will last and the situation remains fluid. As of last week, refugee resettlement agencies had been bracing for a large influx of Afghan arrivals, two of the sources said, and officials in the Biden administration were discussing an increase in SIV flights. On Sunday, a joint statement from the defense and state departments reiterated that the administration would “expedite the evacuation of thousands of Afghans eligible for special US immigrant visas.”
However, the last flight currently scheduled for Afghan Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) applicants and their families to Fort Lee, Va. Has left Afghanistan, four sources said.
A State Department spokesperson pushed back on Sunday, saying in a statement, “As we have said, tomorrow and over the next few days we will be transferring thousands of US citizens who have resided there, along with local staff from the US mission in Kabul and their families and other Afghans out of Afghanistan. particularly vulnerable nationals. “
“In addition, we are committed to relocating as many SIV candidates as possible out of Afghanistan, increasing the pace from the past few weeks when we have already relocated nearly 2,000 SIV candidates,” they said.
The developments come as the Afghan government fell and the Taliban took control of Kabul, leaving the Afghans who worked alongside the United States in their two-decade military campaign fearing for their lives.
A source said limiting the number of flights that can transit to and from Kabul airport – which was a scene of mass panic and chaos on Sunday – hampered efforts to evacuate Afghan applicants from SIV and their families.
The United States can move a maximum of 5,000 people per day out of Hamid Karzai International Airport, but the military has yet to reach that maximum capacity. A defense official said the United States would be able to move that many people in a matter of days, a precarious schedule given how quickly the Taliban took control of Kabul.
The State and Defense Departments said on Sunday they would expand the troop presence at Kabul airport to nearly 6,000 troops over the next 48 hours to take over air traffic control and in the part of a “series of measures to secure Hamid Karzai International Airport to allow the safe departure of US and allied personnel from Afghanistan via civilian and military flights.”
“Tomorrow and over the next few days, we will be transferring out of the country thousands of US citizens who have resided in Afghanistan, as well as local staff of the US mission in Kabul and their families and other particularly vulnerable Afghan nationals,” said the joint communiqué of the two agencies.
“And we will speed up the evacuation of thousands of Afghans eligible for US special immigrant visas, nearly 2,000 of whom have already arrived in the United States in the past two weeks,” the statement said. “For all categories, Afghans who have passed security will continue to be transferred directly to the United States. And we will find additional locations for those who have not yet been screened.”
As of Thursday, 1,200 Afghans and their families were evacuated to America as part of the administration’s “Operation Allies Refuge,” according to State Department spokesman Ned Price. These Afghans had been treated at Fort Lee in Virginia, but efforts are now being made to prepare more US military bases to welcome SIV candidates, including Fort Bliss in Texas, said two sources familiar with the talks.
“If this is the best our country can do to secure our allies, we have failed miserably to live up to our values and our obligations. There is simply no reason why we cannot evacuate Afghans at risk along with American citizens. We have fought side by side for twenty years, surely we can go side by side, “said Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, President and CEO of the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service on Sunday.
“We cannot let those who befriended America be beheaded by the Taliban. No matter how you feel about the war, the undeniable truth is that we had both the means and the time to save those. who were in danger, and yet we neglected to act in a meaningful way, ”she said.
As late as Sunday morning, administration officials said they were stepping up efforts to get Afghan translators, interpreters and others working for the United States out of the country.
SSecretary of State Antony Blinken told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Sunday’s State of the Union: “We are redoubling our efforts to get them out if they want to leave, as well as other Afghans to. risk that might not qualify for those special immigrant visas that people who worked directly for us qualify for, to do everything we can for as long as possible to get them out, if that’s what they want. “
According to sources familiar with the matter, Biden’s national security officials told senators at an Afghanistan briefing on Sunday that there were as many as 60,000 Afghans who could potentially qualify as holders or claimants. SIV, P1 / P2 refugees or others such as human rights defenders and may require evacuation.
CNN’s Oren Liebermann contributed to this report.
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