US planning to evacuate Afghan interpreters: Top US General

US, (Courtesy BBC/Defence One), 28 May 2021 - ‘Defence One’ and the BBC reported Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley saying the US was planning to evacuate Afghans whose work with the US had placed them in danger of being killed by the Taliban after U.S. and coalition forces complete their withdrawal.   

Around 18,000 interpreters are waiting for approval for a Special Immigrant Visa, which allows interpreters to bring their families to the United States, according to the veterans group ‘No One Left Behind’.   

Milley spoke to reporters on his plane traveling back to Washington, D.C., after giving the commencement address at the U.S. Air Force Academy, in Colorado Springs, Colo. He did not offer specifics on how the United States would help those interpreters leave the country, such as through airlift, but acknowledged time was quickly running out to help them.   

The ‘New York Times’ reported this week, U.S. forces were set to leave Afghanistan by September, but that timetable may be pushed up as early as July.