US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Monday the US is looking at every option to help the United States’ Afghan employees - interpreters, drivers, construction workers and other staff - who may become victims of the Taliban once foreign troops have withdrawn.

Testifying before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Blinken pledged to expedite immigration visas for the roughly 18,000 Afghans who worked closely with US forces.

Blinken made the pledge in response to Representative Michael McCaul of Texas, the committee’s top Republican, who said these people will have a bulls-eye or target on their back from the moment we leave the country and that if they are abandoned we are effectively signing their death warrants.

Blinken said a backlog of immigration applications is being cleared, and he asked Congress to raise a cap on special immigrant visas for Afghans by 8,000 slots.