Pentagon to House Afghan Interpreters at Military Bases in U.S., Qatar

The Pentagon will use military bases in the U.S. and Qatar to house thousands of Afghan interpreters and translators, along with their families, part of a scramble to evacuate those who worked with the U.S. during the war and face retribution from the Taliban, according to officials.

Initially, about 2,500 Afghans—700 interpreters and family members—will be flown from Afghanistan to Fort Lee, Va., for short-term housing while awaiting final processing for Special Immigrant Visas allowing them to remain in the U.S., according to Ned Price, spokesman for the State Department.

“These are brave Afghans and their families, as we have said, who have served the United States and who have completed thorough SIV security vetting processes,” Mr. Price said. “They will be provided temporary housing and services as they complete the final steps in the special immigrant process.”

In addition to the Afghans headed to Virginia, Qatari officials have agreed to allow thousands of Afghans who worked for the U.S. and their families to live temporarily at the al-Udeid air base in Qatar, a U.S. official said.

The air base can accommodate 2,000 Afghans, although additional infrastructure potentially could be built to house thousands more, the official said. Qatari officials didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. Qatar has invested billions in the base, which is used by the U.S. military to support operations across the Middle East.

The plans come as the military pursues a U.S. withdrawal by the end of August as ordered by President Biden, triggering concern for the fate of thousands of Afghans who aided the U.S.

Estimates of the number interpreters and others who assisted the U.S. range as high as 40,000 to 50,000 people. Advocates of the Afghans who aided the U.S. have estimated that at least 300 have been killed since 2009 while seeking a U.S. visa, a process that can take years. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Congress in June that the State Department has a backlog of about 18,000 pending applications.

For months, the administration has been urged by both Democrats and Republicans as well as top military leaders to take action to rescue those interpreters and move them to safe locations. As political pressure has grown for Mr. Biden to address the plight of the Afghan interpreters and others, he pushed for administration officials to move faster, according to a U.S. official familiar with the discussions.

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby, addressing the plans for Fort Lee, said Monday that the Defense Department would provide food and housing, as well as medical care and religious facilities, as needed, for the applicants and their family members at Fort Lee. Mr. Kirby said the visa applicants and their families weren’t likely to stay at the military base, about 25 miles south of Richmond, for more than about three days before they are settled elsewhere permanently in the U.S.

Applicants and their families will reside in existing housing facilities on the base, Mr. Kirby said. Other military sites are under consideration for additional interpreters and their families if the State Department requires more locations, he said.

“It goes back to our sincere responsibility that we feel to take care of these people who have taken care of us,” Mr. Kirby said.

Mr. Biden said last week that the first group of evacuees would be flown out of Afghanistan by the end of the month, but administration officials have withheld details of the program as they scrambled to find locations to take the interpreters and to closely guard plans for security reasons.

Estimates of the number of Afghan interpreters and others who assisted the U.S. range as high as 40,000 to 50,000 people. Advocates of the Afghans who aided the U.S. have estimated that at least 300 have been killed since 2009 while seeking a U.S. visa, a process that can take years. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Congress in June that the State Department has a backlog of about 18,000 pending applications.

For months, the administration has been urged by both Democrats and Republicans as well as top military leaders to take action to rescue those interpreters and move them to safe locations. As political pressure has grown for Mr. Biden to address the plight of the Afghan interpreters and others, he pushed for administration officials to move faster, according to a U.S. official familiar with the discussions.

The Special Immigrant Visa program, established in 2008, is aimed at providing U.S. visas for translators and interpreters or other individuals who performed “sensitive and trusted activities” for U.S. military, diplomatic and other personnel.

The U.S. and Russia have tried and failed to make an asset out of Afghanistan, which could leave an opening for China. But as WSJ's Gerald F. Seib explains, the Taliban's ties with Uyghur Muslims could pose challenges. Photo illustration: Todd Johnson

The U.S. is supposed to take action on the special visas within nine months, but some take three to five years to adjudicate. Many Afghans who worked for the U.S. have seen their cases rejected or don’t know how to apply for the program. Some of the individuals have lost contact with the military officials who provided them recommendations to enter the program, and have been in limbo ever since.

Some who apply are having an increasingly difficult time getting their visas approved, according to State Department statistics. The State Department in its last report to Congress showed a significant increase in denials from the program from Afghanistan at the end of 2020, approving 237 and denying more than 1,600 between October and December, according to the data. That compared with 283 approvals and 430 denials between July and September.

As of May 2021, about half of the 18,000 applicants were at an initial stage of the process. Concern among U.S. lawmakers has intensified since the Biden administration in April announced a U.S. troop withdrawal.

On Thursday, the House will vote on a bill increasing the Special Immigrant Visa allotment to cover all of the interpreters with pending applications and streamline the application process to qualify for the visas. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Jason Crow (D., Colo.) also would make relatives of Afghan interpreters eligible for visas, even if the primary applicant died before the visa process was completed.

U.S. officials had for some weeks been conflicted on whether to bring the interpreters directly to the U.S. or to a third country while the government processes their visas, according to people familiar with their thinking.

Allowing interpreters to wait inside the U.S. affords them more rights should their visa applications be rejected. They could apply for asylum, claiming a well-founded fear of persecution should they be returned to Afghanistan. And U.S. immigration law forbids the government from deporting someone if there is strong evidence to believe they would be tortured or killed upon their return.