First evacuees arrive in US as Taliban flock in following military withdrawal

The first group of Afghans who worked for the U.S. government and risked Taliban retaliation for their efforts arrived in the United States early Friday.

The 200 Afghans traveled to Dulles International Airport outside of Washington, DC, and were to be bused to a military base in Virginia for medical examinations, officials said.

They are expected to stay at Fort Lee, about 230 miles south of Washington, for a week.

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In a statement, President Joe Biden said the arrivals were “an important milestone as we continue to deliver on our promise to the thousands of Afghan nationals who have served side-by-side with US troops and diplomats over the past 20 years. years “.

“These arrivals are just the first in a long series,” he said.

“I want to thank these brave Afghans for standing with the United States, and today I am proud to say, ‘Welcome home.’

Newly arrived Afghans, who worked primarily as interpreters, and their families were granted visas under the special immigrant visa program put in place to help those who risked their lives for American troops during two decades of war.

The Taliban have threatened and targeted Afghans who aided US forces, and former interpreters face a growing risk of retaliation with the departure of US troops slated for late August.

The Biden administration said it plans to evacuate about 2,500 Afghans, including the 200 who arrived on Friday, directly to the United States. Officials said Afghans’ visa applications were nearing completion and they had passed security checks.

The evacuees had undergone Covid-19 tests and carried out rigorous background checks, Russ Travers, deputy senior homeland security adviser to the White House National Security Council, said in a briefing.

“The administration plans to continue to relocate more [Afghans] over the next few weeks, ”he said.

Another 4,000 must be evacuated to third countries or to US military bases abroad. The administration has yet to announce more details.

As the Taliban forces gain ground day by day, advocacy groups say the walls are closing on Afghans with ties to US or NATO allies.

Lawmakers on both sides, veterans and refugee advocates have called on the White House to fly for all of the estimated 20,000 Afghans who have applied for special immigrant visas.

Friday’s evacuation marked a change for an administration under bipartisan pressure from Congress and advocacy groups demanding urgent action.

“Their arrival demonstrates the commitment of the US government to the Afghans who put themselves and their families at great risk by working alongside our military and diplomats to build a better future for Afghanistan,” said Secretary of State for Afghanistan. State Antony Blinken in a statement. .

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said: “We have spoken on several occasions of our moral obligation to help those who have helped us, and we are fully committed to working closely with our interagency partners to uphold this obligation “.

Kim Staffieri, co-founder of the Association of Wartime Allies, a nonprofit that lobbied for a large-scale evacuation, said it was a “bittersweet moment” for Afghans arriving in the country, because they had escaped danger but had left behind relatives and “the only home they had ever known”.