India’s ruling party suspends official over comments about Islam

WASHINGTON: For some Afghans who had been evacuated as their nation fell to the Taliban final summer time, the journey to america has stalled, and maybe ended, at a sun-baked cluster of tents and momentary housing on an American base within the Balkans.
Whereas greater than 78,000 Afghans have arrived within the US for resettlement since August, the longer term for many who have been flagged for extra safety vetting and diverted to Camp Bondsteel, within the small nation of Kosovo, stays up within the air. The US gained’t drive the handfuls there to return to Afghanistan, the place they may face reprisals.
Their frustration is rising. Some Afghans on the base, which has been shrouded in secrecy, took the bizarre step this week of staging a protest, holding up indicators with messages resembling “we would like justice,” based on pictures despatched to The Related Press.
“They only preserve repeating the identical issues, that it takes time and we should be affected person,” one of many Afghans, Muhammad Arif Sarwari, stated in a textual content message from the bottom.
Their complaints open a window into a side of the evacuation and resettlement of Afghans that has gotten little consideration as a result of US authorities, and the federal government of Kosovo, have been reluctant to say a lot in regards to the folks despatched to Bondsteel.
The bottom homes a mixture of adults and kids, as a result of among the individuals who have thus far didn’t get a visa to the US are touring with household. Sarwari, a former senior intelligence official with the Afghan authorities, stated there are about 45 folks there, representing about 20 or so particular person visa instances, after a flight to the US left with 27 of the refugees on Wednesday.
The Biden administration gained’t present particulars, however acknowledges that among the evacuees didn’t make it by means of what it calls a “a multi-layered, rigorous screening and vetting course of” and gained’t be permitted to enter the US
“Whereas the overwhelming majority of Afghan evacuees have been cleared by means of this course of, the small variety of people who’ve been denied are examples of the system working precisely because it ought to,” the Nationwide Safety Council stated in a written assertion.
In all, about 600 Afghans have handed by means of Bondsteel, based on the federal government of Kosovo, which initially approved use of the bottom for evacuees for a yr however lately agreed to increase that till August 2023.
Kosovo, which gained independence from Serbia in 2008 with US help, has additionally offered little details about the Afghans at Bondsteel, citing the privateness of the refugees. Prime Minister Albin Kurti stated in a press release that the federal government is pleased with its position offering momentary shelter to them.
Afghans are housed in a bit of Bondsteel referred to as Camp Liya, named for an Afghan little one handed to the US Marines over a fence on the Hamid Karzai Worldwide Airport throughout the evacuation, based on a US navy publication.
It was the chaotic nature of that evacuation that led to the necessity for an abroad facility within the first place. Because the Afghan authorities collapsed, 1000’s of individuals made it onto navy transport planes with minimal screening earlier than they arrived at considered one of a number of abroad transit factors.
The folks despatched to Bondsteel had been stopped and diverted for a bunch of causes, together with lacking or flawed paperwork or safety issues that emerged throughout abroad vetting by the FBI and the Division of Homeland Safety, officers have stated.
On the identical time, some in Congress have criticized the administration for what they are saying has been insufficient vetting of Afghan refugees.
Sarwari made it to Kuwait from Afghanistan in early September together with his spouse and two of his daughters and says he doesn’t know why he’s been held up. He was a outstanding determine in Afghanistan, serving as the previous director of intelligence after the US invasion in 2001. Earlier than that, he was a high official with the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance.
Each positions would make him a goal of the Taliban if he had been to return.
“The vetting crew retains telling us sorry, Washington is simply deciding some political points,” he stated.
Sarwari has utilized for a particular immigrant visa, which is issued to individuals who labored for the US authorities or its allies throughout the conflict. He has not obtained a response, based on his lawyer, Julie Sirrs.
“In principle, he’s free to go away nevertheless it’s not clear the place he might go,” Sirrs stated. “He clearly can’t return to Afghanistan. He’s clearly in peril if he returns.”
He and others dwell a circumscribed existence on Bondsteel. Though technically not detained, they can not depart the arid, rocky base and have spent months in tents, which had been adorned with handwritten indicators throughout this week’s protest. One stated “unfair determination,” whereas one other stated “kids are struggling.”
The Biden administration says authorities have decided that some — it gained’t say what number of — merely can’t be allowed to enter the US It’s working to seek out different nations that don’t harbor the identical safety issues and are prepared to just accept them for resettlement. Nobody will likely be forcibly returned to Afghanistan, based on the NSC assertion.