US diplomat apologizes to thousands of Afghans stuck in UAE

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

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates -- A senior U.S. diplomat apologized Friday to thousands of Afghans stranded in the United Arab Emirates months after the fall of Kabul to the Taliban, promising to speed repatriation for some to America while acknowledging that authorities still do not know who some of them are.

The visit comes as America still struggles with how to handle the tens of thousands who piled into planes in the hectic final days of Afghanistan's U.S.-backed government, capping the end of a 20-year experiment in replacing hard-line Taliban rule with a nascent democracy.

While vowing to do all they could, the diplomats who spoke to journalists afterward 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. Meanwhile, Emirati officials still must deal with thousands of angry Afghans who already have held protests over the uncertainty.

“I told them that I was really sorry it was taking so long and I was as frustrated as they were, frankly,” the senior U.S. official said. “But I also asked for their understanding of how hard we've been working to get the systems going.”