WASHINGTON — Advocacy groups are expressing disdain for the Obama administration’s promise to take in 10,000 Syrian refugees during the next fiscal year, saying the number is too low and voicing skepticism the thousands of Syrians currently in the resettlement pipeline will reach the United States anytime soon.

The Obama administration acknowledged Friday it will be difficult to resettle 10,000 refugees in the next year. But officials called the goal “achievable” and defended the U.S. response.

While traditionally a world leader in refugee resettlement, the United States has faced criticism for its response to the Syrian conflict; only about 1,600 Syrians have been resettled since the beginning of the ongoing civil war that’s killed more than 200,000 and displaced millions in what advocates call the worst such crisis since World War II.

“It’s a good signal that we’re responding to the crisis but, functionally, it’s not a meaningful dent given the scope of the crisis,” said Katherine Reisner of the Iraqi Refugee Assistance Project at the New York-based Urban Justice Center. “It’s also not meaningful relative to historical precedent. After Vietnam, we were able to have over 200,000 South Vietnamese come to the United States within a year.”

At the State Department, spokesman John Kirby fought back at criticism the United States response to the crisis was “some sort of paltry decision or it’s not enough.”

“It’s not going to be insignificant for the 10,000 Syrians who’ll get to come to this country,” he said.

Kirby added the United States had met its cap of 70,000 refugee resettlements in fiscal year 2014 and was on track to meet the same number this year. He emphasized the White House plan was for “at least” 10,000 Syrians to be resettled, implying more could be admitted.

That sounds ambitious to refugee advocates such as Reisner, whose experience handling the cases of Iraqis and Afghans, including many who worked alongside U.S. forces during wartime, shows a system that operates at a glacial pace, with applicants waiting well beyond the average of 18 to 24 months estimated by the State Department.

“They’re not outliers — so many cases we see take years, more than two years,” Reisner said. “The average number isn’t the meaningful metric.”

A State Department official, speaking on anonymity as per the department’s protocol, explained the mechanics behind the White House announcement in a media call Friday.

The official said the administration expects to admit 10,000 Syrians within the next fiscal year because they’ll come from the 18,000 that already have been referred to the United States by the U.N. refugee agency.

Since June 2014, the official said, the U.N. has referred some 500 to 1,000 Syrians for resettlement in the United States each month, with a focus on the most vulnerable, such as female-headed households and victims of torture.

With about 10,000 of those referrals already in advanced screening stages, the State Department official said, “we believe it is an achievable goal but it’s going to take quite a bit of work.”