WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden has authorised up to $100 million from an emergency fund to meet “unexpected urgent” refugee needs arising from the situation in Afghanistan, including for Afghan special immigration visa applicants, the White House said.
Biden also authorised the release of $200 million in services and articles from the inventories of US government agencies to meet the same needs, the White House said.
The United States is preparing to begin evacuating thousands of Afghan applicants for special immigration visas (SIVs) who risk retaliation from Taliban insurgents because they worked for the US government.
The first batch of evacuees and their families is expected to be flown before the end of the month to Fort Lee, a US military base in Virginia, where they will wait for the final processing of their visa applications. About 2,500 Afghans could be brought to the facility, about 30 miles (48 km) south of Richmond, the Pentagon said on Monday.
The Biden administration is reviewing other facilities in the United States and overseas where SIV applicants and their families could be accommodated. Special immigrant visas are available to Afghans who worked as translators or in other jobs for the US government after the 2001 US-led invasion.
On Thursday, the US House of Representatives passed legislation that would expand the number of SIVs that could granted by 8,000, which would cover all potentially eligible applications in the pipeline.
Biden assures Afghan president of continued support
US President Joe Biden assured President Ashraf Ghani of US diplomatic and humanitarian support on as Taliban advances piled pressure on the US-backed government in Kabul.
In a phone call, Biden and Ghani “agreed that the Taliban’s current offensive is in direct contradiction to the movement’s claim to support a negotiated settlement of the conflict,” a White House statement said.
Biden told Ghani the United States would remain engaged diplomatically “in support of a durable and just political settlement,” the White House said.
Biden has set a formal end to the US military mission in Afghanistan for August 31. Violence has risen sharply since the withdrawal plan was announced in April, with the Taliban launching offensives, taking districts and important border crossings, and encircling or closing in on several provincial capitals.
