U.S. Struggles to Learn Who’s Who in Afghan Airlift of 124,000
- Few were on the priority list of those who aided U.S., allies
- Most eligible for Special Immigrant Visas were left behind
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Days after the Biden administration finished evacuating about 124,000 people from Afghanistan, it’s coming to grips with the reality that it doesn’t know who many of those people are.
What’s emerging, according to government officials and advocates, is that a small percentage of the Afghan citizens who got out are the ones the U.S. pledged to place at the top of its priority list: the thousands who had worked for the U.S. and its allies as well as employees of nongovernmental groups and media organizations.