TamilUS expands Afghan refugee programme
3 August 2021, 12:56 pm
FILE - In this Friday, Dec. 11, 2009, file photo, United States Marine Sgt. Isaac Tate, left, and Cpl. Aleksander Aleksandrov, center, interview a local Afghan man with the help of a translator from the 2nd MEB, 4th Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion on a patrol in the volatile Helmand province of southern Afghanistan. More than 200 Afghans were due to land Friday in the United States in the first of several planned evacuation flights for former translators and others as the U.S. ends its nearly 20-year war in Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Kevin Frayer, File)
The Biden administration on Monday expanded its efforts to evacuate at-risk Afghan citizens from Afghanistan as Taliban violence increases ahead there of the US military pullout at the end of the month.
The State Department said it is widening the scope of Afghans eligible for refugee status in the United States to include current and former employees of US-based news organisations, US-based aid and development agencies and other relief groups that receive US funding. Current and former employees of the US government and the NATO military operation who doesn’t meet the criteria for a dedicated program for such workers are also covered.
The State Department said the move will mean that many thousands of Afghans and their immediate families will now have the opportunity to be permanently resettled in the US as refugees. It did not offer a more specific number of those who might be eligible for the programme.
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