The goal? Resettling in the U.S. via an American government program set up to help Afghans at risk under theBut two years after the U.S. left
, Sediqi and tens of thousands of others are still waiting. While there has been some recent progress, processing U.S. visas for Afghans has moved painfully slowly. So far, only a small portion of Afghans have been resettled.are running through savings, living in limbo in exile. They worry that the U.S., which had promised so much, has forgotten them.after its 2001 invasion, the U.S. relied on Afghans helping the U.S. government and military.
Since 2009, the U.S. has had a special immigrant visa program to help Afghans like interpreters who worked directly with the U.S. government and the military. Then, in the waning days of the U.S. presence in the country, the Biden administration created two new programs for refugees, expanding the number of Afghans who could apply to resettle in the U.S.
The visas, known as P-1 and P-2, are for aid workers, journalists or others who didn’t work directly for the U.S. government but who helped promote goals like democracy and an independent media that put them at risk under theThe programs were intended to help people like Enayatullah Omid and his wife - Afghans who helped build the country after the 2001In 2011, Omid started a radio station in Baghlan province with the help of the U.S.