Hundreds of Afghan refugees facing extreme delays in the approval of US visas protested in Pakistan’s capital on Sunday.

The US government’s Priority 1 and Priority 2, known as P1 and P2, refugee programmes were meant to fast track visas for at-risk Afghans including journalists and rights activists after the Taliban takeover in their homeland.

Those eligible must have worked for the US government, a US-based media organisation or non-governmental organisation in Afghanistan.

Applicants have been waiting in Pakistan for more than 18 months for US officials to process their visa applications.

The delay in approving visas and resettlement has left Afghan applicants in a highly vulnerable position as they contend with economic hardship and lack of access to health, education and other services in Pakistan.

Mohammad Baqir Ahmadi, who said he had helped to organise the protest outside of Pakistan’s National Press Club in Islamabad, said many of the Afghans present were facing problems in extending visas to wait out the application process in Pakistan.

Protesters said that applicants had yet to receive the preliminary interview necessary to begin the visa application process.

Hesamuddin, an Afghan who is waiting on the processing of his P2 case, said authorities should evacuate Afghan P1 and P2 applicants to a country where the necessary resettlement support centres (RSC) are open and able to conduct interviews.

“They must evacuate us to another country where RSCs are functioning and can process there,” he said.

Under US rules, applicants must first relocate to a third country for their cases to be processed, where it initially can take up to 14 to 18 months and cases are processed through the resettlement support centres.

The Taliban took power in Afghanistan in August 2021 as US and Nato forces withdrew.

Many Afghans sought to leave in the immediate aftermath of the Taliban takeover.

The Taliban has progressively imposed more restrictions, particularly on women.