After US withdrawal, few answers for Afghans left behind

US, NATO allies pledge to continue to help vulnerable Afghans relocate, but there is little clarity on what comes next.

The United States withdrawal from Afghanistan has dashed hopes of an immediate evacuation for Afghans who had worked for the US or NATO governments during their 20-year engagement in the country. For Abdul Matin Amiri, like thousands of other Afghans, the end of the chaotic and rushed evacuations by the US and other foreign governments proved the latest setback in a five-year attempt to leave his homeland and find safety abroad. Those attempts began in 2016, when he first applied for a Special Immigrant Visas (SIVs) available for Afghans who worked for the US government. Amiri, who worked for US-led NATO forces and as a journalist for the United Nations-led International Security Assistance Force, is one of an estimated tens of thousands of vulnerable Afghans possibly eligible for relocation by the US or other Western powers, through programmes including the SIVs or the US’s expanded refugee visa category, that remain in the country after the foreign troop withdrawal.