On Friday, the White House said that the U.S. President Joe Biden authorized $100 million from the emergency fund to meet the unexpected urgent refugee needs from Afghanistan, which will also include funds for special immigration visa applicants.
The White House also informed that Biden had also authorized the release of $200 million in services and articles from the inventories of U.S. government agencies to meet the same needs.
The U.S. has been long preparing for the evacuation of thousands of Afghan applicants for Special Immigration Visas (SIVs). These are the applicants who worked for the U.S government and are at risk from the Taliban.
It is expected that by the end of this month, the first batch of the evacuees and their families will be flown to Fort Lee, a U.S. military base in Virginia. The immigrants will wait there until their Visa applications are processed.
The Pentagon had said earlier this week on Monday that about 2,500 Afghans could be brought to this facility which is about 48 km south of Richmond.
Reports have emerged that the Biden administration has also been reviewing various other U.S. facilities in the U.S. and overseas to accommodate the SIV applicants and their families.
These SIVs will be granted to those Afghans who worked as translators or in other jobs for the U.S. government after the 2001 U.S. led invasion. Around 20,000 Afghans are said to have applied for this visa.