The “Why Should Anybody Trust Us” Version of Leaving Afghanistan

As we leave Afghanistan, the question (or at least one of the questions) is what about the people who we are leaving behind.  Maine Senator Angus King (I, but really D), among others, is worried we aren’t going to be getting our Afghan translators and interpreters out with us.¹  These people helped us.  They worked with us.  They took a big risk in doing so, because the Taliban, who are not nice people, will come after them if they can.  They already have in some cases.  When we leave, they’ll do it more.

We promised these people we would get them to the United States, but guess what, it’s not going to happen.  Secretary of State Anthony Blinken told CNN:

“We’re determined to make good on our obligation to those who helped us, who put their lives on the line, put their families’ lives on the line working with our military, working with our diplomats”

While that sounds good, what counts is not what Secretary Blinken says, it’s what the State Department does, and the State Department has a backlog of 18,000 applications.  We’re leaving by September 11 (the date President Biden somehow thought was symbolic).  How many of those applications are going to be processed by then?  I think the answer is in something in an article in yesterday’s The Wall Street Journal: the Special Immigrant Visa program is a fourteen-step process. 

Members of both parties are pushing the Biden administration to get these people out.²  Not surprisingly, Donald Trump didn’t care about them, but the Biden administration isn’t going to get it done, either.  Obviously, they have a lot of other things to do.  But beyond that, Joe Biden doesn’t have much of a track record of caring about these situations.

He was in the Senate when the Democratic-controlled Congress cut off aid to South Vietnam and South Vietnam collapsed into those pictures of the fall of Saigon.  He was Vice President when Barack Obama left Iraq at the end of 2011 (though President Obama did it so poorly, he had to go back in 2014).  There are still of Iraqi interpreters stuck in lines and lists trying to get out.

The bottom line is that most of these people aren’t going to get helped.  Which is no surprise.  The United States makes all kinds of promises to people when we want their help, but, way too often, once we don’t need their help any more or it’s too hard for us to actually follow through on our promises, we just leave.  And it’s too bad for anybody who trusted us. According to Foreign Policy’s “Situation Report” for June 17, 2021:

“{Senator Angus] King fears that future interpreters are ‘going to have to think twice’ about helping the United States ‘if there’s a major bloodbath in Afghanistan after we leave.’”

Personally, given how many Presidents – and Congresses – have pretty much abandoned people recently, anybody who is thinking about trusting us should think twice, if not three times.  If would be nice if President Biden could start to turn this around, but I doubt he will.³
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¹ It’s more than just translators and interpreters, of course.  There are lots of people who worked with us and at risk if the Taliban takes over – or just has a chance to get them.
² Some are suggesting moving them to a third country while their applications are processed.  One, somewhat snarky, idea would be to move them to Mexico and just let them come into the United States with everybody else.
³ I have asked this question: “Why Should Anybody Trust Us”, many times before.   Among others, see: “Why Should Anybody Trust Us? – Again” (October 8, 2019), “Why Should Anybody Trust Us?” (October 1, 2016), and “Vietnam; Iraq; Now Afghanistan: ‘It's in our national character that we turn our back on our allies’” (January 21, 2014).

UPDATE (6/24/21 12:55 pm): For more on this point, see "A Debt of Honor" by George Packer in The Atlantic.

FURTHER UPDATE (6/25/21 10:25 am): The Wall Street Journal reports that the Biden administration “is assembling a plan to rescue Afghan interpreters and others who have helped the U.S. over the past 20 years by helping them to get out of Afghanistan and, ultimately, to the U.S.”  The idea is to move the people to a third country or a U.S. territory, such as Guam⁴, and then process them from there.  Given that American forces are now expected to be gone from Afghanistan as soon as the end of July, a lot has to be done in a short amount of time.  But at least President Biden has said, “Those who helped us are not going to be left behind.”  Let’s hope they can get it done.
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⁴ Back when I watched political conventions (actually, Republican conventions), Guam used to always say, when they cast their votes, “Guam, where America’s day begins.”   It’s an International Date Line thing.