US official meets Afghans stranded in UAE, apologises for delays

The US is still struggling with handling the tens of thousands who were evacuated amid the fall of Kabul last year

A senior United States diplomat apologised to thousands of Afghans stranded in the United Arab Emirates and promised to speed repatriation for some to the US, months after the fall of Kabul to the Taliban last year, Qazet.az reports.

While pledging to do all his government could, the diplomat who spoke to journalists on Friday after speaking to the Afghans, acknowledged still not being able to answer what would happen to some — and that the journalists, prosecutors and others who made up civil society in Afghanistan might never get US visas.

“I told them that I was really sorry it was taking so long and I was as frustrated as they were, frankly,” the senior US official said. “But I also asked for their understanding of how hard we’ve been working to get the systems going.”

The visit comes as the United States is still struggling with how to handle the tens of thousands who piled into planes in the hectic final days of the US’s withdrawal from Afghanistan in August last year.