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State Department Announces New Resettlement Program for Afghans

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Washington, DC – In remarks to the press today, Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced a new resettlement program for Afghans who assisted the United States but who do not qualify for Special Immigrant Visas (SIV) under Operation Allies Refuge. The Priority-2, or P-2, designation, grants access to the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program for many of these Afghans and their family members.

“We take our responsibility to our Afghan partners deeply seriously, and we know the American people do as well. We have a long history in the United States of welcoming refugees into our country. And helping them resettle into new homes and new communities is the work of a huge network of state and local governments, NGOs, faith-based groups, advocacy groups, tens of thousands of volunteers,” said Blinken.

Outlining the process earlier today, a senior state department official said that individuals cannot apply directly, but have to be referred by their employer through WRAPSNET.org. Unlike the SIV process, applicants have to get themselves out of Afghanistan at their own expense before processing of their caseload can even begin, and the processing can take from 12-14 months.

Those eligible for the P-2 program include:

-Afghans who do not meet the minimum time-in-service for a SIV but who work or worked as employees of contractors,[1] locally-employed staff, interpreters/translators for the U.S. Government, United States Forces Afghanistan (USFOR-A), International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), or Resolute Support;

-Afghans who work or worked for a U.S. government-funded program or project in Afghanistan supported through a U.S. government grant or cooperative agreement;

-Afghans who are or were employed in Afghanistan by a U.S.-based media organization or non-governmental organization.

Meanwhile, two groups of special immigrant visa applicants relocated under Operation Allies Refuge – around 400 people – have arrived at Fort Lee, Virginia.

With the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, the situation continues to deteriorate. Clashes between the Afghan government forces and the Pakistan-backed Taliban outside Herat city on Friday, forced residents to flee, and the UN’s main compound in Herat was attacked by rocket-propelled grenades and gunfire. Kandahar airport also came under Taliban rocket attack.

The deteriorating security situation post the US announcement of withdrawal of most of its contingent has forced India, which is the largest regional donor to Afghanistan, to evacuate 50 diplomats and staff members from its consulate in Kandahar. While the US may evacuate some of the Afghans who supported its mission, the situation is expected to be grim for those remaining, especially women and minorities.

Secretary Blinken Shows Support for Religious Freedom, Tibet

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New Delhi – In his first visit to India as Secretary of State, Antony Blinken kicked off a packed schedule of meetings on Wednesday July 28, with a show of support to the Tibetan cause. Secretary Blinken met with Ngodup Dongchung, a representative of the Dalai Lama and member of the Central Tibetan Administration (Tibetan government in exile).

Blinken’s first engagement was a Civil Society Roundtable with the theme “Advancing Equitable, Inclusive, and Sustainable Growth and Development.” In his opening remarks at the Roundtable, Blinken stressed upon the shared values and beliefs of the Indian and American people, including human dignity, equality of opportunity, the rule of law, and freedom of religion and belief. “We believe that all people deserve to have a voice in their government and be treated with respect no matter who they are,” said Blinken.

Blinken commented that both democracies are works in progress. “As friends, we talk about that, because doing the hard work of strengthening democracy and making our ideals real is often challenging. We know that firsthand in the United States, where we aspire to be, in the words of our founders, a more perfect union. That’s an acknowledgement from day one of our country that in a sense we will always fall short of the mark, but that the way to make progress is by constantly trying to achieve those ideals. As I said before, sometimes that process is painful, sometimes it’s ugly, but the strength of democracy is to embrace it,” added Blinken.

Participants in the discussion included Geshe Dorji Damdul, the Delhi-based Director of Tibet House; constitutional lawyer Menaka Guruswamy; Inter-Faith foundation founder Khwaja Iftikhar Ahmed; and representatives of the Baha’i, Sikh and Christian communities among others.

Secretary of State Blinken Travels to India

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Washington, DC – US Secretary of State Antony Blinken embarked on his first visit to India on Monday July 26. He will be meeting with Prime Minister Modi, External Affairs Minister Jaishankar, and National Security Advisor Doval.

In a briefing on Secretary Blinken’s travel to India, Acting Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Dean Thompson said, “we expect the discussions to focus on ways to further deepen our bilateral partnership, which is very broad in scope, as well as increased convergence on regional and global issues.” Issues to be discussed during this visit include cooperation on COVID-19 response efforts, Indo-Pacific engagement, shared regional security interests, shared democratic values, and addressing the climate crisis. This visit also will discuss a potential Quad Summit at the Head of State level toward September/October 2021. Although some media reports have tried to divert the focus only on human rights issues, this visit goes deeper than that and has substantive issues of great importance for both countries and the world.

Afghanistan
On July 16, the US had announced a US-Afghanistan-Uzebekistan-Pakistan’ Quad diplomatic platform “focused on enhancing regional connectivity”. Commenting on “efforts to support a just and durable peace in Afghanistan,” in the briefing, Thompson said, “ All of Afghanistan’s neighbors and countries in the region have an interest in a peaceful, secure, and stable Afghanistan, which can only be accomplished through a negotiated political settlement that brings an end to 40 years of conflict. India, of course, is a critical partner in the region, and we welcome India’s shared commitment to peace and supporting economic development in Afghanistan.”

COVID-19
India has been hit hard with the second wave of the pandemic. Per the World Health Organization (WHO), there have been 31,411,262 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in India with 420,967 deaths, reported to WHO. As of 19 July 2021, a total of 406,481,493 vaccine doses have been administered.

On working with India to overcome the pandemic, Thompson said, “We’re confident that through our combined efforts, including through the Quad vaccine partnership and the G7-plus vaccine commitment, we will be able to share vaccines – safe and effective vaccines – to the Indo-Pacific region and the world. We will continue to seek ways in which we can work together to save lives around the world, and bring an end to the global pandemic.”

Climate Crisis
The bilateral meetings will focus on climate change, however the US has been silent on the International Solar Alliance (ISA) promoted by India to increase the use of solar energy to fight climate change. Speaking on the “complementary strengths” of India and the US in tackling the climate crisis, Thompson mentioned the US-India Climate and Clean Energy Agenda 2030 partnership which was launched in April this year. He added that, “The partnership will reinforce our collective efforts to achieve both the goals of the Paris Agreement and our own ambitious 2030 targets for climate action and clean energy.”

“We look forward to further strengthening our ties with India to ensure a safer and more secure world,” added Thompson. “To that end, the Secretary and Defense Secretary Austin look forward to hosting their Indian counterparts for the annual U.S.-India 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue later this year.”

Secretary Blinken will have a full day of meetings in New Delhi on Wednesday July 28, before he leaves for Kuwait to meet with senior Kuwaiti leadership.

US reiterates Call to Burmese Junta to Restore Democracy

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Washington, DC – The United States reiterated its call to the Burmese military to restore democracy in the country, but refused to name and shame countries who are supporting the junta.

Answering a question from IAT, Principal Deputy Spokesperson Jalina Porter told Journalists during the daily State Department briefing, “Since day one, we have called on the military to reverse its course, cease all of its violence against the people of Burma, release leaders and – leaders and all those who were unjustly detained. And we’ll continue to respect the will of the people of Burma.”

Asked to elaborate on the statement at G7, where US Secretary Blinken urged all countries to reconsider economic ties to the Burmese military, Spokesperson Porter said, “We certainly won’t put any labels on any countries from here, but when it comes to the people of Burma, we will continue to underscore that the people of Burma have made clear that they reject the military rule.”

Hundreds of protestors across Burma have been killed since the February 1 military coup. There are protests taking place across the nation since the military seized control of the South East Asian country and declared a year-long state of emergency. There are also protests happening in Washington, DC, where Burmese diaspora is protesting in front of the Chinese embassy and monuments of national interest.