{"id":43106,"date":"2021-12-13T10:00:42","date_gmt":"2021-12-13T18:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=43106"},"modified":"2021-12-13T10:00:42","modified_gmt":"2021-12-13T18:00:42","slug":"afghanistan-relocation-and-resettlement-update","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=43106","title":{"rendered":"Afghanistan Relocation and Resettlement Update"},"content":{"rendered":"
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12\/13\/2021 10:03 AM EST<\/div>\n

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Office of the Spokesperson<\/p>\n

Since August 31,\u00a0the State Department has continued its\u00a0around-the-clock\u00a0efforts to relocate\u00a0U.S.\u00a0citizens and\u00a0lawful\u00a0permanent residents currently in Afghanistan who\u00a0want to depart,\u00a0as well as\u00a0Afghan\u00a0allies\u00a0who worked with us over the course of our 20-year military mission in Afghanistan\u00a0and\u00a0their families.\u00a0\u00a0As Secretary\u00a0Blinken\u00a0has said, there is no deadline\u00a0for\u00a0this\u00a0work, which at\u00a0the State Department\u00a0is\u00a0led by the\u00a0Coordinator for Afghan Relocation Efforts, Ambassador\u00a0Beth\u00a0Jones.<\/p>\n

This update provides the latest on the U.S. government\u2019s relocation and resettlement efforts.<\/p>\n

Relocations:\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

Since August 31, the United States has\u00a0directly\u00a0assisted\u00a0479\u00a0Amer<\/wbr>ican Citizens and\u00a0450\u00a0lawful\u00a0permanent residents\u00a0\u00a0to\u00a0depart Afghanistan and relocate to the United States.\u00a0\u00a0The State Department is currently in touch with\u00a0fewer\u00a0than\u00a0a\u00a0dozen\u00a0U.S. citizens who want to leave Afghanistan,\u00a0are prepared to depart,\u00a0and have the necessary travel documents.<\/p>\n

Additionally, through Operation Allies Welcome, the\u00a0State Department\u00a0continues to relocate our\u00a0Afghan\u00a0allies\u00a0who worked with us and\u00a0their families.\u00a0\u00a0These include\u00a0more than 2,200 Afghans, many of whom are special immigrant\u00a0visa holders, as well as SIV applicants\u00a0who have\u00a0Chief of Mission\u00a0(COM)\u00a0approval,\u00a0a step\u00a0required by\u00a0the Afghan Allies Protection Act of 2009.<\/p>\n

Since taking office, the Biden administration has\u00a0surged resources\u00a0and taken significant steps\u00a0to accelerate processing of\u00a0Afghans, including\u00a0SIV applicants.\u00a0\u00a0As a result, the State Department has issued more than 8,200 SIVs since\u00a0January 20, and\u00a0continues to process SIV applications\u00a0daily.<\/p>\n

Resettlement:\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

With the support of Congress, veterans\u2019 organizations, faith leaders,\u00a0and countless civic organizations, the American people are upholding our commitment to our Afghan allies who worked with us over the last two decades in Afghanistan.\u00a0The Administration\u00a0is\u00a0providing\u00a0fu<\/wbr>nding\u00a0to support\u00a0resettlement for\u00a0up to\u00a095,000\u00a0individuals relocated from\u00a0Afghanistan\u00a0and\u00a0entering\u00a0<\/wbr>the United States through Operation Allies Welcome through the current fiscal year.<\/p>\n

Individuals relocated from Afghanistan\u00a0undergo a rigorous and multilayered screening and\u00a0vetting process prior to their arrival in the United States\u00a0and undergo additional screening at their Port of Entry, led by the\u00a0Department of Homeland Security.\u00a0\u00a0They are required to receive critical vaccinations.<\/p>\n

The United States has welcomed more than\u00a074,000\u00a0Afghans\u00a0through Operation Allies Welcome to date, providing them with support and assistance as they begin their new lives in the United States \u2013 and we are prepared to welcome additional qualifying Afghans over the coming weeks and months as capacity allows, including the approximately 3,000 individuals who are\u00a0at overseas transit locations for processing to come to the United States.\u00a0\u00a0More than 38,000 Afghans, American citizens, and lawful permanent residents have been relocated from military bases in the United States (\u201csafe havens\u201d) to\u00a0their new communities across the country.<\/p>\n

More than 40 percent of the Afghans who have come to the United States are eligible for SIVs because they worked for or on behalf of the U.S. government in Afghanistan or our coalition partners, at significant risk to themselves, or they are the immediate family member of someone who did.\u00a0 Some are SIV applicants who were already in the SIV pipeline.\u00a0 Others are eligible but had never applied.\u00a0 Many additional Afghans are family members of U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents, or they worked as journalists, human rights activists,\u00a0humanitarian\u00a0or development\u00a0workers,\u00a0or\u00a0for the former Afghan government.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

12\/13\/2021 10:03 AM EST   Office...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43106","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-u-s-a","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43106","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=43106"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43106\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43107,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43106\/revisions\/43107"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=43106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=43106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=43106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}