U.S. official: 'Majority' of Afghan allies who applied for special visas left behind in Afghanistan

WASHINGTON — A senior State Department official said Wednesday that it appeared a “majority” of Afghans who had worked for the U.S. military and applied for Special Immigrant Visas (SIVs) had not been successfully evacuated and remained in Afghanistan.

“I don't have an estimate for you on the numbers of SIVs and family members who are still there,'' said the senior official, who was in Kabul for the evacuation. ‘But I would say it's the majority of them, just based on anecdotal information about the populations we were able to support.”

State Department spokesperson Ned Price said that of about 31,000 people evacuated from Afghanistan to the U.S. between Aug. 17 and Aug. 31, roughly 23,000 were Afghan allies and family members considered “at risk” from the Taliban.

The senior State Department official described a harrowing atmosphere during the evacuation, with officials forced to make snap decisions affecting the fate of Afghans desperately trying to flee Taliban rule.

“It wasn't pretty. It was very challenging,” the official said. “Everybody who lived it is haunted by the choices we had to make. And by the people we were not able to help depart in this first phase of the operation.”