'We have an obligation to protect our Afghan partners': House passes legislation to speed up visas for Afghan allies

As the U.S. finalizes its departure from Afghanistan, the U.S. House of Representatives recently passed legislation intended to protect Afghans who worked with coalition forces.

U.S. Rep. Lizzie Fletcher (D-Houston), who cosponsored the resolution, said that the action was one of obligation.

"We have an obligation to protect our Afghan partners who have risked their lives to support our American forces in Afghanistan," Fletcher said in a post to her official Twitter account.

House Resolution 3985 would expedite the Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) process for Afghan nationals who worked with and assisted U.S. forces, according to a press release from Fletcher's office. The resolution passed the House 407-16.

“Unfortunately, the SIV application process faces severe backlogs," Fletcher said in the release. "We recently welcomed one translator’s family to our district after a 10-year delay on his SIV application cost him his life."

The Afghan SIV Program has been operating since 2009, and offers a path for obtaining visas to interpreters, contractors and security personnel, the release states. The resolution aims to expedite the process by raising the cap to 8,000 visas and removing some requirements, such as that applicants provide a credible "sworn statement" regarding a threat to their safety.

The only dissenting votes for the legislation came from House Republicans, CNBC reported. The next step for the legislation is consideration by the Senate.

The legislation is one of several pieces before Congress this session that are intended to make the Afghan SIV Program run more smoothly, according to CNBC. A previous House bill permits medical examinations related to the visa process to take place in the U.S., instead of applicants having to wait for the examination at a single Kabul clinic.

At the same time that Congress is considering such legislation, the administration of President Joe Biden has promised to work to evacuate those waiting for visa approval to safer locations outside of Afghanistan, CNBC reported.