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Tens of thousands of Afghans fled the country following the military withdrawal of the US and the West in August last year. A US official apologized to the Afghans that were stranded in UAE for the delays in the processing for repatriation.
A senior US official met with the Afghans who have been stranded in the United Arab Emirates and apologized for the long delays as the US is still grappling with the thousands who boarded US planes, fleeing Afghanistan in fear of the Taliban. Over 74,000 Afghans are now living in the US and were housed in military bases in the midst of immigration issues and logistical issues in finding affordable homes for them to live in.
“I told them that I was really sorry it was taking so long and I was as frustrated as they were, frankly,” said the official. “But I also asked for their understanding of how hard we’ve been working to get the systems going.”
While the official pledged to do whatever they could, they also acknowledged that some who have fled and are currently stranded in the UAE may never receive US visas. This includes some of those who made up civil society in Afghanistan such as journalists, prosecutors, and others.
US officials said that as of January, out of the 40,000 Afghans who applied for a “humanitarian parole” status, 930 of them were denied and 160 were approved. The rest have yet to be processed. 12,000 Afghans are stranded in Abu Dhabi, 10,000 of which are in Emirates City while 2,000 were in Tasameem Workers City, according to Ahmad Shah Mohibi, the founder of an organization called Rise to Peace that is helping Afghans stranded in UAE.
Meanwhile, a report by the United Nations reveals that nearly 400 civilians have been killed from attacks in Afghanistan since the Taliban returned to power. This marks the first major human rights report since August last year. The report found that from August 2021 to February 2022, 397 civilians were killed by attacks from the Islamic State Khorasan or ISIS-K in the country.
Around the same period, the report noted that up to 50 people with suspected ties to the extremist group were also killed, some of which were tortured and beheaded.
