Reuters first reported earlier on Monday the plans to set up the “Priority Two” refugee programme, covering Afghans who worked for US-funded projects and for US-based non-government bodies and media outlets.

The programme, which the State Department said could help “many thousands” of Afghans, comes as fighting surges in Afghanistan ahead of the formal completion of the US troop withdrawal at the end of this month, with the Taliban pushing to capture key provincial capitals.

President Joe Biden has faced pressure from lawmakers and advocacy groups to help Afghans at risk of Taliban retaliation because of their association with the United States during the 20-year war.

The programme applies to Afghans who do not qualify for the Special Immigration Visa (SIV) programme that covers interpreters and others who worked for the US government, and their families.

About 400 SIV applicants whose visas are in the final stages of processing and family members have arrived in recent days at the start of an evacuation effort dubbed “Operation Allies Refuge” that could include as many as 50,000 people or more.

Those who worked on US-funded projects and Afghans employed by a US-based media organisation or non-governmental organisation (NGO) are among those eligible for the program, the State Department said.

They must be referred by a US agency or the senior-most US citizen employee of an NGO or media organisation headquartered in the United States.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the United States had an obligation “to make sure that we are making good on our commitments to those who in particular put themselves on the line, their families on the line, to help us.”

POTENTIAL REFUGEE OUTFLOWS

Once they have applied, Afghans will be contacted by email to let them know they are in a US government system and will then have to make their own way out of Afghanistan to a third country, where they will wait 12 to 14 months for their application to be processed, officials said.