Future of nearly 80,000 Afghan evacuees in US seems ‘uncertain’

Kabul: Since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan, nearly 80,000 Afghan evacuees have been stranded and living a life of misery in the US, Khaama Press reported adding that there is no guarantee how long they can live there.

Many of these Afghans have served with American forces or firms and organisations that are linked with the United States over the past 20 years in Afghanistan, putting their lives in serious danger after the former government fell in August 2021 and is replaced by the de facto authority. According to Khaama Press, the Afghan Adjustment Act, a bipartisan law, appears to be the best option for Afghan evacuees who entered and stayed in the United States for one or two years, respectively, through humanitarian parole.

The Afghan Adjustment Act significantly enhances and enhances the permanent resettlement of Afghan evacuees.

At this point, the legal status of Afghans already living in the United States would become more complicated because their humanitarian parole visas are about to expire if a measure is not passed by the end of this year. They will have to deal with the weight of the asylum process as well as their fear of losing their jobs and deportation to a foreign country, Khaama Press reported citing several media reports.

Earlier in September it was announced that the United States will discontinue the use of a humanitarian process known as parole to admit at-risk Afghans and will instead focus on resettling certain Afghan evacuees who qualify for immigration programs that provide permanent legal status, as per reports.

“We are adopting a new model where Afghans will travel directly to the communities where they will be moving with the help of Refugee Resettlement organizations without a safe haven stopover in the United States,” White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre during a press briefing said on Thursday.

Since the United States withdrew from Afghanistan in August 2021, it has resettled about 86,000 Afghans under “Operation Allies Welcome.” Around 90 per cent of them came in through the parole process.