Afghan evacuation flights to resume with streamlined process
By James R. Webb
Thursday, Jan 27
Correction: This story has been updated to correct the name of Shawn Van Diver.
After a nearly two-month pause, evacuation flights from Afghanistan to Qatar are set to resume, Shawn Van Diver, founder of #AfghanEvac, told Military Times. Additionally, Van Diver said that measures to shorten the visa process are being implemented, potentially trimming a years-long process down to months.
“We are glad that it looks like we might be able to be restarting that,” Van Diver said in a phone interview. “And hopefully, we can have a reliable, repeatable process that continues to evacuate folks.”
According to Phil Caruso, Chairman of No One Left Behind, official evacuation flights carrying Afghans who worked with the U.S. to Qatar stopped in early December. Caruso and other members of the organization told Military Times that the cessation was caused by a rift between the Qatari and the new rulers of Afghanistan over Taliban migrant workers seeking entry to Qatar. The Taliban sought space for these workers on flights carrying evacuees to Qatar, a concession the Qatari government resisted.
https://www.militarytimes.com/flashpoints/afghanistan/2022/01/27/afghan-evacuation-flights-to-resume-with-streamlined-process/
