Calls grow to evacuate Afghans to Guam as US troops leave

In the chaotic, final hours of the Vietnam War, the US evacuated thousands of South Vietnamese who supported the American mission and were at risk beneath the communist government.

With US and NATO forces facing a Sep 11 deadline to leave Afghanistan, most are recalling that desperate, hasty exodus because they urge the Biden administration to evacuate a large number of Afghans who worked as interpreters or elsewhere helped US military businesses there during the past two decades.

Despite unusual bipartisan support in Congress, the administration hasn't decided to such a move, declining to publicly support a thing that could undermine security in the country as it unwinds a war that started following the 9/11 attacks.

“We have a moral obligation to safeguard our brave allies who put their lives at risk for all of us, and we’ve been working for months to engage the administration and make certain there’s a plan, with few concrete results,” Republican Representative Peter Meijer of Michigan said throughout a House hearing last week.

Lawmakers have urged the administration to consider temporarily relocating Afghans who worked for American or NATO forces to a safe overseas location while their US visas are processed. Some have suggested Guam, a US territory that served an identical purpose following the Vietnam War. Kurdish refugees also were flown to the Pacific island in 1996 after the Gulf War.

Guam's governor recently wrote to President Joe Biden to state the territory was ready to help if needed.

The Biden administration for the present time is focusing on accelerating a special visa program for Afghans who helped US functions and pouring resources into relieving the backlog.

“We are processing and getting persons out at a record pace,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Wednesday. “We are working with Congress now to streamline some of the requirements that slow this technique down and we’re doing the kind of extensive planning for potential evacuation, should that become necessary.”

Zalmay Khalilzad, the State Department’s special representative for Afghanistan reconstruction, warned lawmakers in May that “the departure of most educated Afghans" would "signal panic" and hurt the morale of the country's security forces.

“That is a delicate, complicated balance that people need to keep," Khalilzad said.

In this Nov 30, 2017, file photo, American soldiers wait on the tarmac in Logar province, Afghanistan. (Photo: AP/Rahmat Gul)

Democratic Representative Jason Crow of Colorado recently introduced legislation that could nearly double the number of visas available this season, to 8,000, and ease eligibility requirements.

But he said congressional action will never be quick enough or sufficient.

Even if the legislation passed immediately, the quantity of visas would fall far short of the estimated 18,000 Afghans waiting to be processed. That figure will not include their spouses and children, who bring the total to about 70,000 people.

And the common wait is a lot more than three years. The process has been also hampered by the coronavirus pandemic, which led the US embassy in Afghanistan to suspend visa interviews.

Crow, a former Army ranger who served in Afghanistan, said he prefers the government “evacuate our Afghan partners to a non permanent evacuation site where we can safely conduct robust visa processing without threat to applicants’ safety by the Taliban.”

In a statement this month, the Taliban vowed never to attack those that worked for Western interests, urging Afghans to stay at home and warning their ranks against revenge killings.

Still, many Afghans are in need of a visa, fearing violence not only from the Taliban but heavily armed warlords allied with the US and seeing now as their last chance to leave Afghanistan.

The American withdrawal commenced May 1, when the amount of US troops was between 2,500 and 3,500, and could be completed by Jul 4. Some 7,000 NATO forces are set to leave by Sep 11.

Independent Senator Angus King of Maine said the federal government needs to discover a “creative” method of helping Afghans who caused the US military. That could include sending more people from the STATE DEPT. or the military to process visas in Afghanistan or evacuating people to a safe spot to be vetted.

“It’s not just a moral issue, it’s a national security issue,” said King, who sits on both Intelligence and Armed Services committees, adding that “we also have a practical responsibility, regarding do we want persons to help us later on?”

A lot more than 300 interpreters have already been killed in Afghanistan since 2016, according to NOBODY Left Behind, a business that advocates with the person.

Former Army Major Matt Zeller said a military evacuation may be the only viable option for thousands of Afghans facing threats who've been protected by the existence of US troops.

“I’m only alive because my Afghan, Muslim translator saved my entire life by killing two Taliban fighters who were going to kill me in a battle," said Zeller, whose interpreter waited 3 years for a visa.

The US government must have learned from what happened in Vietnam, said Jim Jones, a Vietnam veteran and former Idaho Supreme Court chief justice.

Initially fearing a mass evacuation would undermine the South Vietnamese military, the US watched for weeks as the North Vietnamese Army overtook South Vietnam prior to starting to fly out Americans and allies. Your time and effort ended with the largest helicopter evacuation ever sold in the ultimate hours of the war.

In this Apr 29, 1975, file photo the helicopter zone at the US Embassy in Saigon, Vietnam, showing last minute evacuation of authorized personnel and civilians. (Photo: AP)

In less than 24 hours, Marine helicopters airlifted about 7,000 US military personnel, South Vietnamese who supported the American mission and their dependants.

Many South Vietnamese soldiers and government officials left out were killed or held in “reeducation" camps. They included troops who had helped Jones stay alive as an Army artillery officer.

“We'd a moral obligation to extract as many as possible but, instead, we abandoned them to a horrific fate,” Jones wrote in the Military Times. “We just can't allow that sort of tragedy to occur again with the Afghans. I pray that this great nation does not again turn its back on beleaguered persons who placed their rely upon us.”

Pentagon leaders say they will be ready to help in in any manner they are able to and downplayed concerns that history will repeat itself.

“I don’t see Saigon 1975 in Afghanistan," General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, recently told lawmakers.