he stunning collapse in Afghanistan has shown us that there is no time left to fix the Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) process; the clock has run out and America needs to act now. There are tens of thousands of Afghans, former interpreters and contractors (and their families) who helped the US, who are awaiting SIV processing. An estimated 34,000 of them reside in the Kabul area, having fled before the Taliban advance. There are reports of Taliban seeking them out for reprisals, by searching phones for messages in English and combing social media.
Those at risk include people like Kareem, my interpreter who served side by side with us on special operations missions in Afghanistan. Kareem risked his life to support the American vision, he fought with us to reduce the Taliban presence and capture their leaders. While we fought on 9-month deployments, Kareem fought alongside Americans for years, believing in everything we stood for. Together we conducted combat missions in places like in Herat, Farah, and Badghis, all areas now under Taliban control.
I first wrote Kareem a letter of recommendation to immigrate to the United States six years ago. I was stunned to learn that the arduous bureaucratic process took years, making Kareem an unwitting victim of immigration politics in the United States spanning three presidential administrations. About 16 months ago, his application was denied for ‘lack of supporting documentation.’ After a lengthy appeal process the decision has been overturned, but it still restarted the clock on his SIV application, relegating it to the fatal status of ‘awaiting processing.’ This is unacceptable now that the Taliban has taken control and is actively hunting him.
Kareem was one of the lucky ones. He made it to Kabul and is doing everything he can to find a way out with his wife and three kids. He’s now a refugee carrying all of his worldly possessions, praying that he can hide from and escape the Taliban before he is captured. There are thousands more like him, fighting against time, an apathetic administration, and a ruthless regime to save them and their families’ lives.
If the United States abandons Kareem, and the thousands like him, it will be the greatest betrayal of US foreign policy in the last decade. Yet there’s still time. For a tiny fraction of blood and treasure the US has already spent in Afghanistan, we can save our allies by including them with the embassy evacuation and orchestrate the largest humanitarian airlift since the Berlin Wall. There is no legal barrier to relocating these refugees. While it may not redeem 20 years of war, it would restore our honor and make clear the value of being an American ally. If we fail our allies in their moment of need, their blood will stain our flag and the United States will continue to erode our moral standing in the world.
*Kareem’s name has been changed in an effort to protect him and his family from reprisals.
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There is No Time, We Must Save Our Allies Now
Photo by Mohammad Rahman via Unsplash.
August 19, 2021
The U.S. has the means and the moral obligation to save Afghan interpreters and contractors who supported U.S. efforts in Afghanistan, but time is running out, writes Marine Corps Afghan war veteran and interpreter Peter James Kiernan.
T
he stunning collapse in Afghanistan has shown us that there is no time left to fix the Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) process; the clock has run out and America needs to act now. There are tens of thousands of Afghans, former interpreters and contractors (and their families) who helped the US, who are awaiting SIV processing. An estimated 34,000 of them reside in the Kabul area, having fled before the Taliban advance. There are reports of Taliban seeking them out for reprisals, by searching phones for messages in English and combing social media.
Those at risk include people like Kareem, my interpreter who served side by side with us on special operations missions in Afghanistan. Kareem risked his life to support the American vision, he fought with us to reduce the Taliban presence and capture their leaders. While we fought on 9-month deployments, Kareem fought alongside Americans for years, believing in everything we stood for. Together we conducted combat missions in places like in Herat, Farah, and Badghis, all areas now under Taliban control.
I first wrote Kareem a letter of recommendation to immigrate to the United States six years ago. I was stunned to learn that the arduous bureaucratic process took years, making Kareem an unwitting victim of immigration politics in the United States spanning three presidential administrations. About 16 months ago, his application was denied for ‘lack of supporting documentation.’ After a lengthy appeal process the decision has been overturned, but it still restarted the clock on his SIV application, relegating it to the fatal status of ‘awaiting processing.’ This is unacceptable now that the Taliban has taken control and is actively hunting him.
Kareem was one of the lucky ones. He made it to Kabul and is doing everything he can to find a way out with his wife and three kids. He’s now a refugee carrying all of his worldly possessions, praying that he can hide from and escape the Taliban before he is captured. There are thousands more like him, fighting against time, an apathetic administration, and a ruthless regime to save them and their families’ lives.
If the United States abandons Kareem, and the thousands like him, it will be the greatest betrayal of US foreign policy in the last decade. Yet there’s still time. For a tiny fraction of blood and treasure the US has already spent in Afghanistan, we can save our allies by including them with the embassy evacuation and orchestrate the largest humanitarian airlift since the Berlin Wall. There is no legal barrier to relocating these refugees. While it may not redeem 20 years of war, it would restore our honor and make clear the value of being an American ally. If we fail our allies in their moment of need, their blood will stain our flag and the United States will continue to erode our moral standing in the world.
*Kareem’s name has been changed in an effort to protect him and his family from reprisals.
