Betrayed by US Again, Afghan Evacuees Stranded After Refugee Program Suspension

Truthout, 1/23/25: “….The Biden administration evacuated 124,000 Afghans during the withdrawal in 2021, but still needed time to vet and process them. Afghans ended up stranded for months at “lily pad” sites in Kosovo, Qatar, Pakistan, and other countries across the world, sometimes in what appeared to be prison-like conditions, according to internal documents released under the Freedom of Information Act to legal advocates earlier this month.

‘Under the Biden administration, Afghans have been stranded at U.S.-facilitated sites for over three years, awaiting individualized case processing and family reunification,’ said Sadaf Doost, the human rights program manager at the Abolitionist Law Center, in an email. ‘And now, because of the Biden administration’s lack of progress and prolonged holding of Afghan civilians, Afghans are subjected to further uncertainty.’

[ . . .] However, Doost said attorneys continue to request transparency about the sites and movement of Afghans that the Biden administration failed to provide.

‘It is our understanding that Afghans still remain at these sites — information the government has a duty to provide to the public under the Freedom of Information Act as it relates to federal government activity,’ Doost said.”

Read the full article here.