US-Qatar deal to shelter thousands of Afghans

The administration of Biden is working on finalizing an agreement with Qatar to temporarily house thousands of Afghans. This is focusing on the Afghans who have worked with the US who are fleeing with their families from the country. The security situation is deteriorating at the place, according to sources. The sources also said this deal could be on over 8000 Afghans, but it has not yet been finalized.

A State Department spokesperson said, “We are evaluating all available options. We have no announcements to make on third-country relocation sites for Afghan SIV applicants.”

The source also said that the agreement could deal with an initial group of up to 1000-2000 Afghans. The Biden administration is considering the use of third countries to process the Afghan Special Immigrant Visa applicants. The Pentagon announced on Thursday that it would send 1000 troops to Qatar to ease this processing. Secretary of State Antony Blinken also spoke along with his counterpart from Qatar. The State Department said that he thanked Qatar for supporting the efforts of the USA to offer safety and security to the nationals of Afghans.

Qatar’s Defense Minister will; go to Washington next week to carry forward the talks. According to Illinois Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger, it is great that Qatar is responding to the efforts.

The administration needs to continue to lean forward as much as it can. He also previously said that he opposed the decision to withdraw US troops from Afghanistan. Also, he raised concern that the Afghan government would collapse if the US troops leave.

He showed his concern about those Afghans who would die if the US toppled the country. Many have already died due to a lack of planning. Security issues are continuously growing in that country. This is why the US needs to serve its helping hand so that the nationals of that country can feel safe.

“There are a lot of Afghans that fought with us that are going to die and have died already because of lack of planning, and it’s sad,” he said.”Let’s save as many as we can because it makes a difference, but I don’t think it’s going to lessen the strain on us right now.”

Credits: CNN