Afghans evacuated during the massive Kabul airlift face losing their legal status in the U.S. in six months, so veterans groups are urging Congress to find a way to let those rescued stay.

There are currently more than 36,000 Afghans in the United States without a direct pathway to permanent residency, according to a report by Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, which helps resettle Afghan refugees.

If Afghans don't have a path to become legal permanent residents, they may be forced to return to the danger they fled just months ago.

Those who have said you stand with the troops must also stand with us on this issue, according to Shawn VanDiver, a veteran of the US Navy. He founded the Afghan Evac coalition of veterans assisting with Afghan evacuations and resettlements.

"We will show up. We want to show up in solidarity with you in solidarity with us, but we will also show up in your town halls. We will advise the voters what your position is on the one issue which unites veterans across the nation like no other," said VanDiver.

More than 76,000 Afghans were brought to the United States after the Taliban occupied their country. They're former military interpreters who hold or have applied for Special Immigrant Visas or SIVs.

But many others were admitted to the United States under what is known as humanitarian parole, which allows refugees to enter the country during an emergency temporarily. 

Those on parole don't have the option of applying for legal permanent resident status, with some given one year, others two years of legal protection, which started last summer for Afghan refugees.

There is no route for indefinite residency for both U.S. citizens and holders of SIVs and Afghans who could be suitable for SIVs but haven't been identified or who could have applied for another refugee status if they had applied before coming to the United States.

Veterans' groups want to pass a bill that gives Afghan refugees in the U.S. a path to citizenship.

Similarly, similar legislation was passed in the 1960s for Cubans escaping the Castro regimen, in the 1970s for Vietnamese and other South Asian immigrants after the fall of Saigon, and for Iraqis after Operation Desert Storm and Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Even as lawmakers blast the chaotic U.S. military evacuations from Kabul over the summer and call for the Biden administration to do more to rescue Afghan refugees still stuck there, efforts to do likewise for Afghan refugees have stalled. There's no Afghan Adjustment Act from either party.

There have been "hundreds" of meetings between advocates of an Afghan Adjustment Act and lawmakers in both parties; however, while bipartisan support for the idea exists, Republicans have some outstanding questions, according to Chris Purdy, director of Veterans for American Ideals.

In private meetings, Biden administration officials have also expressed support for the concept, VanDiver said.

Veterans and refugee advocates warn Congress that Afghans' humanitarian parole will end in one or two years.