Sen. Angus King deserves bipartisan support as he endeavors to expedite the relocation of Afghans who served as interpreters for NATO forces.
More than 18,000 Afghans who served as U.S. translators are still waiting to hear back on their special visa applications. They want to be relocated to the United States. Unfortunately, the U.S. government seems incapable of giving them an answer, despite the fact that they face personal danger for having helped U.S. forces.
One major issue is the State Department’s inefficiency in handling these applications in a timely way. The average timeline from the point of application to a processed application is 900 days. But with all U.S. military forces set to leave Afghanistan by September, very little time remains. Once U.S. forces have departed, those Afghans who have supported them will face severe Taliban reprisals. The Islamist fundamentalist group has made no secret of its blood lust for those who have had the courage to stand against it.
To address the backlog, Sen. King says he wants to see an increase in funding for the team tasked with reviewing the applications. He also wants the U.S. and its NATO allies to allow interpreters and their families to relocate to their territories (at least temporarily). This would allow for a baseline of improved safety until applications are finally processed. On Tuesday, King explained that he wants “the White House’s hair on fire” over the situation. He’s right to be angry.
This isn’t ultimately just about helping those Afghans who helped America. It’s also about helping sustain sacred American values. After all, what would it say about U.S. global credibility were Congress and Joe Biden willing to so callously abandon American allies?
It would risk suggesting that the U.S. government values moral leadership only so far as that leadership doesn’t cause bureaucratic headaches. That the U.S. cares about supporting its allies just as long as they happen to come from Western nations. It would show that America is, ultimately, not a friend to trust.
This is not to say that the government should take excessive risks in vetting whether translators pose a threat to U.S. interests. Afghanistan-based terrorist groups such as the Taliban, the Islamic State, al Qaeda, and the Haqqani network would all love to infiltrate officers to the U.S. under the guise of those officers being translators. Still, where numerous U.S. military or other government officers have vouched for specific translators, those applications can be expedited with little risk. This pool of government references applies to the vast majority of applications. It’s simply a matter of State Department review teams checking up on what applicants have put down on their forms.
Neither is there an issue of insufficient legislative interest. King’s concerns find wide, bipartisan support. In the House of Representatives, for example, Republican Mike Waltz is leading efforts to ensure that the interpreters are brought to safety. Congress should therefore act quickly. These translators fought and sometimes died alongside U.S. forces. They are true comrades in arms. The very least they deserve is the opportunity to avoid being dragged from their homes and executed in front of their families.
President Biden’s lethargy in resolving this issue has been intolerable. The least he can do is throw his support behind Sen. King.
