ISLAMABAD: Crowded into a small, rented room near the capital, an Afghan family of 12 is waiting, like thousands of others, for progress on their applications to go to the US as refugees.
As time passes, their money is running out and their worries are growing. But many have been disappointed.
In their small kitchen in Islamabad, 18-year old Marwa, whose father used to work as a guard for an American aid organisation, cuts vegetables.
In the chaotic withdrawal of US-led foreign troops as Taliban forces seized Kabul in 2021, Western countries vowed to help, especially those Afghans who had worked for them or on projects they backed.
The family have applied for resettlement under a special programme for Afghans who worked for US organisations, known as P2.
They sold their home in Afghanistan and left last year, having been told by US authorities to travel to a third country to get their application processed.
Marwa’s husband, Khalilzad, estimates the family’s saving would last for at most two more months.
President Joe Biden pledged to help “Afghan allies” and just before the Taliban takeover, the United States announced the P2 programme for admission as refugees for Afghans who met certain criteria, including having worked for US organisations and media.
A US government watchdog, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, said in April that problems in P2 processing had been identified and lawmakers had required reports on processing times and staffing shortages.
“It’s been two years and things have not improved, they should consider our basic need and speed things up, the process is moving very slowly,” Khalilzad said.
The children of the family have not been able to go to school for more than a year. On a recent stifling summer day, Asra, 14, was going through the alphabet with her younger siblings.
“I teach them sometimes but I’m worried that neither they nor I go to school ... every day I’m at home like a prisoner.” Asra was barred from school in Afghanistan where the Taliban closed girls’ high-schools after their return to power in 2021.
“I want to go to America with my family and continue my studies, I want to become a judge,” she said.
For thousands of Afghans applying for refugee status and visas in the West, neighbouring Pakistan was their only option. Between 16,000 and 20,000 applicants for the P2 programme are estimated to be in Pakistan, according to community members and advocates.
A spokesperson for the US State Department said: “Our processing capacity in Pakistan remains limited, but we are actively working to try to expand it.”
Published in Dawn, August 15th, 2023
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