The State Department blew off immigrant advocates and believed they had 6 to 12 months to relocate

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Afghan allies before Kabul fell

The US State Department didn't expedite efforts to evacuate Afghan contractors and interpreters to the US because officials believed they had six months to a year to process visas before Kabul fell, Politico reported on Tuesday.

The US-backed Afghan government collapsed not in a matter of months but in a matter of a weekend following the US' withdrawal from its 20-year presence in Afghanistan, allowing the Taliban to regain control over the country for the first time in nearly 20 years.

The swifter-than-expected fall of the government and Taliban takeover caught the Biden administration off guard and acutely endangers tens of thousands of Afghan Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) applicants who are now top targets of the Taliban for working with the US.

Those include Afghan military personnel, contractors, interpreters, and others who fought and worked alongside US forces in Afghanistan. These people and their families find themselves caught in bureaucratic red tape while waiting for visa applications to be approved. Some have already waited for years.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/the-state-department-blew-off-immigrant-advocates-and-believed-they-had-6-to-12-months-to-relocate-afghan-allies-before-kabul-fell-report-says/ar-AANqOJH

[tulipsandroses]

1. Is anybody going to ask the trump admin

Why they sabotaged the SIV program and how their racist immigration policies prevented people from coming? They took 4 yrs to break it but Biden should have fixed it in a few months? I suppose the backlog trump created should not be questioned

[andym]

2. Fits with what we know about the timing

Collapse of the Afghan army occurred rapidly with the fall of Kandahar being a key event. Mazar, a center of anti-Taliban resistance, fell within days afterwards. Morale seemed to be under water as Afghan soldiers must have believed they were fighting for a lost cause.

[LiberalFighter]

3. The reporter Stephen Colbert interviewed Tuesday nite

indicated even the Taliban did not expect it to happen this fast.