Afghans must run a Taliban gauntlet to reach Kabul for U.S. evacuation

WASHINGTON – Thousands of Afghans eligible for US evacuation now face one last life and death hurdle – getting into Kabul without being captured or killed by the Taliban.

The Biden administration emailed hundreds of Afghans who worked for the US government this week telling them to prepare for evacuation to the US in the coming days and has promised to that others will soon be flown to a third country. But the Afghans have to make their own way to the capital Kabul to be evacuated.

As the Taliban advance in withdrawal of US troops against Afghan security forces in every corner of the country, several Afghans eligible for US visas told NBC News that they fear they are stranded and struggling in distant cities Finding the money means getting yourself and your families to Kabul.

“Our city is surrounded,” said Mohammad, a 33-year-old IT technician in Kandahar who worked for the US military. “It can fall to Taliban fighters at any time.”

Afghans contacted by the US government and offered flights to a military base in Virginia “have asked for help because they don’t have the resources to fly to Kabul,” said Chris Purdy, project manager for Veterans for American Ideals at human rights first.

“These Afghans know they cannot travel by land because the Taliban have taken the streets, and they know that the Taliban will find them and kill them in their homes if they stay where they are.

For the first US evacuation, expected next week, Afghans were asked for a final medical examination in Kabul as early as Monday, according to an email to NBC News and reports from refugee organizations.

But for Afghans outside of Kabul, getting to the capital requires getting to an airport safely for a local flight and having enough money to pay the airfare. Dozens of Afghans have written to the non-profit Association of War Allies that they don’t have the money to buy a plane ticket or that they cannot safely get to a regional airport, said Kim Staffieri, co-founder and managing director of the group.

“By not allowing these people to fly to Kabul to board, the US government is essentially leaving them to their fate,” said Purdy of Human Rights First.

But senior State Department officials told reporters Wednesday that the US could not transport the Afghans to Kabul because the US military no longer has a nationwide presence and withdrew most of its troops within a 9/11 withdrawal period.

“To come on an evacuation flight, you would have to go to Kabul,” said one of the senior officials. “Of course we don’t have a national US military presence. We have no way of transporting them. “

State Department spokesman Ned Price said the government was doing something “never originally envisaged” as part of the visa program for Afghans who work as interpreters, drivers or other roles.

“And so we are doing all we can, consistent with local conditions, consistent with the fact that the safety of the American people and our military, our diplomats, and other US government officials is our priority,” said Price told reporters on Thursday.

‘Pray for us’

Mohammad, the IT technician in Kandahar, asked not to be identified in order to avoid retaliation by the Taliban. During his five years with the US government, he said he had received three letters from the Taliban threatening to kill him if he did not quit his job with the “infidel Americans.”

Refugee attorneys vouched for his case, and he said he received an email this week from U.S. immigration authorities advising him that he has been approved for a special immigrant visa and must be ready with one within days Flight to depart from Kabul to the USA.

Women with burqas go to a market in Kabul on July 21, 2021.Sajjad Hussein / AFP – Getty Images

But he said the Taliban had steadily gained ground in the surrounding counties, with the sound of gunfire and grenades keeping his family awake at night.

“We have no electricity here,” he said. “We have no (running) water.”

Mohammad said driving to Kabul was out of the question as the Taliban controlled parts of the route and could possibly stop his car and find documents revealing his connection to the Americans.

After selling his property, Mohammad said he bought an airplane ticket for $ 85 on Saturday to fly the 300 miles from Kandahar to Kabul. He said he doesn’t have enough money to pay for the flight for his wife and six children as well, so they will travel by bus but with no documents linking them to the United States. At the moment the road to the airport is still open. and he has asked a trusted friend to drive him to his flight. He said it was too risky to take a taxi.

In the meantime, Mohammad had to say goodbye to his mother, who was not granted a visa, and his brother, who had also worked with the Americans but whose US visa application was still pending, he said.

“I can’t explain my pain. I can’t tell you in words, ”he said. “Pray for us.”

Another potential evacue, who refused to be named because he feared being targeted by the Taliban, said his special immigrant visa program documents had been approved and he was awaiting a visa interview – one of the last steps before his Admission approved for a US visa.

The 22-year-old from Jalalabad said he worked as an interpreter for a U.S. artillery unit in Laghman Province between 2018 and 2020. He said he translated for US troops advising the Afghan National Army.

At first he tried to keep his job a secret, he said, telling friends and relatives that he worked as a pharmacist, but slowly the knowledge of his true profession in his hometown spread from cousin to cousin, friend to friend.

“They’d be spreading the news just like the coronavirus,” he said, adding that everyone there now knows they’ve worked as an interpreter for departing US forces.

The young Afghan fears that if he stays in the country he will be captured and beheaded by the Taliban for working for the Americans, but he also fears that the same fate might happen to him on the way to Kabul.

Jalalabad is only 160 kilometers from Kabul on a main road – but the road runs through areas contested by the Taliban.

Nevertheless, said the interpreter, he would risk the dangerous journey if the US embassy gave him an appointment for the visa interview, because he had a future outside of Afghanistan. “I have no other choice,” he said.

His plan to reach the capital safely is, as he says, with “Afghan tricks”.

He said he would wear torn old clothes, take a public bus to Kabul with civilians and hope for the best. He added that he would send his documents and perhaps a small amount of luggage separately with a relative.

In the meantime, he fears for his life every day on the interview.

“The situation in Afghanistan is getting worse every day, every day you can hear the news that this district has fallen into the hands of the Taliban,” he said.

He is currently not leaving his home in Jalalabad and is afraid to visit his family home 40 minutes’ drive outside the city. Being single with no children, he has to go alone, but said he wished he could take his parents and siblings with him too.

He said he didn’t care where the US plane was taking him.

“I would like to get out of Afghanistan as soon as possible,” he said. “That would save my life.”

A former interpreter who says he worked with US special forces for seven years said his “only way” to get to Kabul is to dress up as a woman. He said he was posing as the wife of a man who drove him from Kandahar to the capital, according to a video from the Association of Wartime Allies.

From Kabul to Virginia

The first evacuation, expected next week, will involve around 2,500 Afghans, including 750 applicants and their families, according to Foreign Ministry officials. The group will be flown to the US and taken to Fort Lee, a US Army base in central Virginia, where the final steps for their visas will be completed along with a medical examination.

US officials said an additional 4,000 Afghans along with their families will be evacuated to a third country or a US military base overseas. The government has not yet announced the third countries that will host the refugees, but according to a source familiar with the discussions, Qatar has agreed to host 2,000 Afghans and their families. The US has also spoken to Kuwait about accepting the refugees, NBC News previously reported.

Foreign Minister Antony Blinken held talks with his Qatari counterpart on Thursday and is scheduled to travel to Kuwait in the coming days.

The Biden government has come under pressure from lawmakers, veterans groups and refugee rights organizations over the past few months over the fate of Afghans, whose lives are threatened by the Taliban because of their ties with the United States. After the government initially indicated that it had no plans to evacuate the Afghans, the government appointed an interagency team to oversee the evacuations, and President Joe Biden told reporters last month that “those who have helped us not to be left behind ”.

Legislature has proposed law to try to expand the pool of Afghans who can enter the United States under the special immigrant visa program established more than a decade ago for Afghans who have worked with US troops and diplomats to have.

A bipartisan majority in the House of Representatives voted Thursday for a bill tabled by Colorado Democratic MP Jason Crow that would increase the number of visas for Afghans working for the U.S. government, streamline the application process, and clarify criteria for Afghans would have worked for NGOs with US funding.

About 20,000 Afghans have applied for the special immigrant visa program, and the administration has said that about half of them cannot be evacuated because their applications are still in the early stages.

Lawmakers and activists have criticized the government for its approach, arguing that the program has been plagued by bureaucratic delays and that the United States should act quickly to evacuate as many Afghans as possible under the program.