By Alexander Cornwell

ABU DHABI, Reuters – The United States needs more countries to help Afghans fleeing their homeland in the last year. This was a statement by a top U.S. State Department official on Friday. It comes six months since Washington pulled out of its chaotic withdrawal when hard-line Islamist Taliban controlled.

Washington continues to urge its allies to allow Afghans to come to the United States.

The official said that they have weekly calls with colleagues from around 60 countries and remind them how important it is for them to participate in the international effort.

We had an international effort for Afghanistan for twenty years. We now need an international effort to resettle Afghans who are leaving Afghanistan.

Many Afghans are in Europe and the Middle East, waiting for their chance to resettle.

After visiting the United Arab Emirates capital Abu Dhabi’s transit facility for Afghans, the official said these remarks. These protests were rare and criticized the long resettlement process.

According to the official, an apology was made to Afghans at the facility in meeting for the time it took. The pace of getting those who are eligible to enter America would accelerate once everyone was documented. This was likely to occur soon.

About 12,000 Afghans are currently held at UAE sites. Of these, several thousand will be eligible for resettlement in the United States. Officials also stated that Afghans who don’t meet this criteria and have traveled on several privately chartered flights, approved by White House, would still be resettled.

It is not known which countries will take the United States without any path.

According to the official, “We have only had very limited conversations with a handful of international colleagues.”

Later, Afghans told Reuters that they were depressed after receiving no information from the official about their resettlement or how long they would be staying there.

Media were told by a senior official that it was the hope of all Afghans living in the UAE to be resettled before August, but this was not possible.

Since the beginning of August, when the West began withdrawing from Afghanistan after 20 years of war and the fall of its Western-backed government in that country’s capital, the United States had taken in 85,000 Afghans.

Diplomats claim that the extended resettlement added stress to already stressed relations between the UAE, the United States and their close economic and security partners.

A European diplomat, who requested anonymity, said that the Emiratis do not feel they have any responsibility for their actions and wanted them to go.

Official acknowledged Emiratis frustration with the delay, but stated that Afghanistan hosted the Afghans as an initiative by the UAE. Washington had not been involved with the hosting of other nations.

The UAE authorities were not immediately available for comment.