Less than 5,000 of the 77,000 Afghans resettled in the U.S. after the Taliban took power in 2021 have secured permanent legal status, according to DHS figures.
Sultana Amani was among the Afghans who were able to flee Afghanistan as Kabul fell to the Taliban in the summer of 2021.Sultana Amani was among the Afghans who were able to flee Afghanistan as Kabul fell to the Taliban in the summer of 2021. She felt safe as the plane touched down in Virginia, before she was overwhelmed by worry about what the future held.
Amani, now a student at American University, maintains her connection with Afghanistan by continuing to work with the non-profit Blossom Pad, which she founded in Afghanistan. The group gives menstrual sanitary pads to disadvantaged Afghan girls."I like being here because I have access to everything. Nobody tells me what to do," says Amani.
"Their situation is unknown. They don't know what is going to happen," Amani said."I don't know why this process is like this."When Afghan refugees arrived in the U.S. after the chaotic American withdrawal from Afghanistan, they were allowed into the country under humanitarian parole for two years. The Biden administration is allowing those Afghansfor at least another two years. This alleviated the immediate fears of losing their ability to work and live in the U.S.
There is currently a congressional mandate meant to expedite Afghan evacuee asylum cases, but the U.S. has been inundated with asylum requests from all over the world. There are over 700,000 urgent pending applications, according to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Recently USCIS postponed interviews for all affirmative asylum cases to deal with the implementation of a new asylum rule along the southern border.
One Afghan who has been living and working in the U.S. since before the Taliban seized power worries about his brother, who worked for the U.S. Agency for International Development and applied for a special immigration visa at the end of 2020. He has not been able to leave Afghanistan and is still waiting for his visa to be approved. The Afghan and his brother are not being identified by CBS News over concern for their safety.
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