WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 01st September, 2021) The United States left behind a majority of Afghan allies that applied for visas to escape an Afghanistan under Taliban (banned in Russia as a terrorist group) rule, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday citing a senior State Department official.
The State Department did not immediately respond to Sputnik's request for a comment on the matter.
The report said 20,000 Afghans who applied for the Special Immigrant visa (SIV) program remained in Afghanistan when the Taliban seized Kabul. The applicants and their families totaled 100,000, it added.
The Biden administration does not have reliable information on who was evacuated from Kabul, but initial assessments suggest most SIV applicants did not make it through the gates at the airport, the report said.
US Embassy staff in Kabul are haunted by decisions they had to make at the entrance gates of the airport and by the Afghans they were unable to help, the report said.
On Monday, US Central Command chief Kenneth McKenzie said US and Coalition forces evacuated more than 123,000 civilians out of Afghanistan and more than 6,000 of them were US citizens.
The Taliban took over Kabul on August 15 and finalized their hold of the Afghan capital after the last US military personnel flew out from the city on Tuesday.
