{"id":60861,"date":"2021-09-03T20:12:16","date_gmt":"2021-09-03T20:12:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/uncategorized\/2021\/09\/03\/state-department-vows-to-improve-visa-process-for-afghans-rescue-those-left-behind\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T10:06:17","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T10:06:17","slug":"state-department-vows-to-improve-visa-process-for-afghans-rescue-those-left-behind","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2021\/09\/03\/state-department-vows-to-improve-visa-process-for-afghans-rescue-those-left-behind\/","title":{"rendered":"State Department vows to improve visa process for Afghans, rescue those left behind"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday acknowledged significant failures<\/a> in his department\u2019s Special Immigrant Visa program designed to bring vulnerable Afghan allies to safety in the United States, but pledged that officials are still working to help the thousands of individuals still trapped in Afghanistan<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe continue to process as many SIV applications as possible,\u201d he said in a news conference just four days after the massive U.S. evacuation operation in Afghanistan ended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve now learned from hard experience that the process was not designed to be done in an evacuation emergency. There are lessons here that we need to learn, and that we will learn, even as our work continues.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

U.S. officials have said at least 8,000 Special Immigrant Visa applicants have arrived in the United States in recent weeks as American military forces evacuated more than 130,000 individuals from Afghanistan amid the fall of the democratic government there.<\/p>\n\n\n\t