US diplomat apologizes to thousands of Afghans stuck in UAE

By JON GAMBRELL
Associated Press

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A senior U.S. diplomat has apologized to thousands of Afghans stranded in the United Arab Emirates months after the fall of Kabul to the Taliban. The official promised to speed repatriation for some to America while acknowledging authorities still do not know who some of them are. The diplomats who spoke to journalists afterward vowed to do all they could, but also acknowledged still not being able to answer what would happen to some — and that the journalists, prosecutors and others who made up civil society in Afghanistan might never get U.S. visas. All the officials spoke on condition of anonymity, citing the “ongoing natures of the issues discussed.”