US Backtracks on Expedited Entrance Program for Afghan Collaborators

Almost a year after withdrawing from Afghanistan following its 20-year occupation, the US announced it’s closing a program which sought to evacuate at-risk Afghans from a country ravaged by nearly half a century of US meddling.

The US is going back on its promise to waive immigration requirements for Afghans who collaborated with the US occupation and are now seeking to flee the country following the fall of the Western puppet government, it has been revealed.

According to US outlet The Hill, the US “will largely cease its use of humanitarian parole to allow at-risk Afghans to enter the country after Oct. 1,” a move which is likely to mean a “sharp reduction” in the number of Afghans allowed in under “the method used to welcome the vast majority of Afghans who entered during the evacuation.”

Humanitarian parole is an emergency mechanism by which foriegn nationals who are otherwise unable to obtain a visa via normal procedures are allowed to enter the country – with the understanding that their presence provides a significant public benefit to their host country.

Astonishingly, the Biden administration is attempting to spin the move as an effort to accommodate Afghans.

“Moving forward, Afghan arrivals will enter the United States with a durable, long-term immigration status that will facilitate their ability to more quickly settle and integrate into their new communities, and they will also travel directly to their new destination community without the need for a stop-over at a safe haven in the US,” an official reportedly told journalists in a recent call.

Around 86,000 Afghan nationals have been ushered into the US over the past year under what’s being called “Operation Allies Welcome.”

Now, officials told journalists, the US is switching over to “Operation Enduring Welcome.” Per CBS News, this means that now “the US will only resettle Afghans who fall into three categories: immediate family members of US citizens, permanent residents and evacuees resettled over the past year; those who qualify for a Special Immigrant Visa because of their assistance to the US war effort; and the ‘most vulnerable’ refugee program applicants.”

USG is announcing Operation Enduring Welcome as the next phase of its response to the crisis in Afghanistan and evac and resettlement.

Why would you give a nod to Operation Enduring Freedom — aka the War on Terror — given how that has turned out… for Afghans?

Honestly.

— Joseph M. Azam (@josephazam) September 1, 2022

If it’s anything like the most recent US evacuation effort – which saw desperate would-be asylum-seekers fall from the wheel wells of US military planes as they departed from the airport in Kabul – Afghans taking part would probably do well to get in line now.