WASHINGTON, 23 July 2021, (TON): The United States House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to authorize 8,000 additional special visas for Afghans who served the US during the occupation of Afghanistan now coming to an end after 20 years.

The bill, which now goes to the US Senate, would expand special visa eligibility to families of Afghans who were killed working for the US and for employees of non-governmental organisations.

The Taliban is threatening to take over Afghanistan after US and NATO forces leave at the end of August and have won battlefield advances across half the country, seizing local districts and key border crossings amid slow peace talks.

In “Operation Allies Refuge”, the US government is planning to evacuate as many as 20,000 Afghan interpreters, contractors and security personnel with their families to the US, beginning with about 2,500 Afghans who are to be flown to Fort Lee, a US Army base in the state of Virginia. Thousands more are being lined up for evacuation to US bases in third countries as their immigration applications are processed.

The House bill was sponsored by Representative Jason Crow, a Democrat and former US Army Ranger who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, and drew broad support from both Democrats and Republicans, passing on a vote of 407 to 16.

A coalition of more than 20 US news organizations sent letters to President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and members of Congress asking for safe passage out of Afghanistan for Afghans who have been working with US media as journalists, interpreters, and support staff.