State Department tells Congress it will close Afghan refugee resettlement office

The State Department has informed Congress that it will close its Afghan refugee resettlement office as the agency is reorganized.

The agency told Congress in a letter that the functions of the Office of the Coordinator for Afghan Relocation Efforts will be “realigned” to the Afghanistan Affairs Office and the special representative role for Afghan reconstruction will be eliminated, Bloomberg reported Thursday.

The office, which was created by the Biden administration following the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, helped resettle Afghan refugees who assisted the U.S. in the Afghanistan war.

The reorganization of the agency is part of a broader plan to cut the federal workforce under the Department of Government Efficiency and will take effect by July 1, according to the letter. These changes affect more than 300 offices, which will be reorganized “to refocus on core US foreign policy objectives and the needs of contemporary diplomacy.”

“The planned changes are also reflective of the administration’s and secretary’s broader efforts to streamline government functions, eliminate redundancy, and enhance accountability,” the letter reads.