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22 minutes agoAmerica to stop entry to some Afghans in Kosovo
Periskopi(4 years ago)
(4 years ago)The Biden administration is preparing on Monday to announce some Afghans who are waiting at an American Army base in Kosovo that they will be barred from entering the United States, two administration officials for Axios said. Such formal determinations could affect up to 16 refugees at Camp Bondsteel in Kosovo [...]
Such formal determinations could affect up to 16 refugees at Camp Bondsteel in eastern Kosovo. It is the first time that the Biden administration has refused Afghans to be sheltered there for additional verification before being allowed to enter the US.
Determinations stem from security concerns, or the identification of possible links to Taliban or terrorist organisations.
The State Department is considering two options for Afghans to be denied access, according to direct knowledge of the plans.
One, working with the Taliban to facilitate their return to Afghanistan.
Second, the conviction of other countries to accept them.
A spokesman for the National Security Council told Axios all Afghans who fled amid the US chaotic withdrawal from Kabul last August “should first undergo a review process and multi-static, rigorous”.
This process starts abroad and is conducted by intelligence, law enforcement professionals and counter terrorism by the Department of Defence and National Security; Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI); National Antiterrorism Centre (QKTC); and additional partners of the Intelligence Community, the spokesman said.
He added: “while the vast majority of Afghan evacuees have been cleared through this process, the small number of individuals who have been denied are examples of the system that functions exactly properly. ”
Everyone here is waiting for permission,” told Axio by phone from Camp Bondsteel on Sunday, Mohammad Arif Sarwari, who worked with the CIA to evacuate the Taliban and then served as chief of Afghan intelligence.
We thought maybe three months or six months but not nine months”, he said. “The veting team interviewed us, maybe five or six times”, he said. “We are not free; we cannot get out. ”
Some Afghans have complained of poor health and narrow conditions in the camp, the Wall Street Journal reported.
As Kabul fell last year, more than 100,000 Afghans -- including many working for the US government -- and fought the Taliban -- fled their country.
About 76,000 were allowed into the United States. The State Department is working to grant many of them long-term immigration status.
Some suspicious “raits that fled” including Afghans with possible links to terrorist organisations were sent, together with members of their families, to Camp Bondsteel, which currently houses about 100.
The US has made arrangements with the Kosovo government to shelter them for 365 days so that they can be controlled. Under this agreement, some of the Afghans who have been denied US entry will have to leave Kosovo by September.
The State Department plans to inform the Kosovo government of its final determination Monday.
He will also inform Afghans who were denied entry for their new status.
About 16 of Camp Bondsteel's difficult cases were predicted to be denied US entry, a source of direct knowledge of the Axios plans said. A second said the number of completed denials was high.
Not every Afghan refugee at Bondsteel will be informed of their status Monday, giving those who do not take immediate words some hope that they may still be released for US entry.
In February, the US deported the first Afghan to Afghanistan controlled by the Taliban.
The move resulted in a criminal record uncovered after the refugee arrived in the US.
