US tells refugee aid groups to get ready for 50,000 Afghans

WASHINGTON • The Biden administration has asked refugee aid organisations to prepare to receive and resettle as many as 50,000 Afghans evacuated under a stopgap programme as the US accelerates flights out of Kabul ahead of an end-of-August deadline, according to three people familiar with the discussions.

The programme, known as humanitarian parole, would target Afghans likely to be at risk under a Taleban-led government and who have not already requested, or would not qualify for, the Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) programme used to evacuate people who aided American military forces or diplomats.

People who might qualify for humanitarian parole include women leaders, journalists and others from high-risk groups.

Humanitarian parole is a rarely used discretionary authority that gives people in urgent situations one year in the United States to complete their application for more formal programmes like asylum, refugee and SIV status.

A senior administration official said on Tuesday that Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas is using his parole authority to ensure that those arriving in the US have appropriate legal status. A State Department official said the agency does not publicly comment on internal deliberations or communications.

The effort signals the scale of the rushed effort to get at-risk Afghans out of their country before the Taleban further consolidates power.

The US said on Tuesday that 21,600 people were evacuated in the previous 24 hours as military cargo planes departed from Kabul's airport every 45 minutes. Those Afghans are sent to other countries for vetting before travelling to the US or other nations.

Mr Biden has come under pressure from European allies and lawmakers from both parties in Congress to extend his Aug 31 withdrawal deadline in order to ensure all Americans and Afghan allies are given a chance to leave. The deadline and what comes next was the main issue of discussion at a virtual meeting of the Group of Seven nations on Tuesday.

"The President needs to forget about the Aug 31 deadline," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell told Fox News. "Extend the deadline, get outside the perimeter, make sure that every single American who wants to leave is able to get out with our assistance and our Afghan allies."

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement that Mr Biden believes the military is "on pace" to complete the evacuation by his deadline but "completion of the mission by Aug 31 depends on continued coordination with the Taleban, including continued access for evacuees to the airport".

BLOOMBERG