When you cannot properly pull out of an area, you leave a mess to clean up. Some are worse than others, and for President Biden, his was a mess of epic proportions. As he put the lives of American service members and thousands of Afghans at risk with his horribly calculated moves, he now is left to face the consequences of his actions coupled with promises the American government made to the people of Afghanistan.
A large part of those promises was the promise of American citizenship and a better life for those willing to help us in an unfamiliar country, as well as for their immediate family. As these people went on countless missions and provided some of the most valuable intelligence gathering possible in the country, it was of vital importance the U.S. keep its word. Now, instead of a properly vetted program done over time, Biden wants to bring thousands of these refugees here with minimal checks before they are given their green cards in a three-step process.
First, they are crafting a plan to bring thousands of Afghans from Qatar to the U.S. This isn’t an unexpected move and given the outpouring of support from various government officials to keep the word we gave the Afghans it isn’t an incorrect move. Along with the efforts of government officials, tens of thousands of dollars have been raised by various Veterans organizations to help speed along the process and cut the red tape. They largely targeted those who have already been cleared but who were unable to make it to the airport in Kabul before the Americans left.
Secondly, they are speeding up the vetting process. By doing this, the time for an Afghani to be screened, vetted, approved for refugee status, and on their way via plane to the U.S. is done within 30 days. Given the months and sometimes years this process can take for people of other countries this is a vast improvement. It is more in keeping with the promises officials made to them since we started invading Afghanistan back in 2001.
Lastly, this program in Qatar puts the Afghanis in the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program on an immediate program to receive green cards. This status is incredibly important as it allows them to receive benefits in the U.S. that would largely be unavailable to them. They need this help to ensure that they have the best shot at the American dream.
However, there is a large number of problems with these programs. Things like refugee contractors and non-governmental organizations need to be established or approved to help them. With such a huge rush to impregnate the U.S. with these refugees, it leaves the door wide open for abuse of the programs and fraud. Something we saw largely with the small business loans and grants during the COVID pandemic.
This corruption is nothing new in. government contractors. We have seen it since the initial invasion of Afghanistan and even more in Iraq and Kuwait during the last 21 years. Companies like Blackwater, Haliburton, and KBR were given overinflated government contracts to provide service and support to service members, and many either failed to deliver as promised, & many put lives at risk. In some situations, service members lost their lives as a result of these shortcuts.
Additionally, there has been little guidance given to the American people about where President Biden plans to put these thousands of people. As they will quickly be able to establish themselves as Americans it also means they will be eligible to vote. That may be part of the reason for the push to make them citizens as quickly as possible. They won’t know our systems or how our politics are set up. They will know that President Biden is the one who got them there, and that could lead them to vote all Democrat for the 2022 midterms.
