Displaced people are seen at a refugee camp in Kabul, Afghanistan, April 16, 2021. /Xinhua
Displaced people are seen at a refugee camp in Kabul, Afghanistan, April 16, 2021. /Xinhua
Editor's note: Xin Ping is a commentator on international affairs. The article reflects the author's opinions and not necessarily the views of CGTN.
Twenty years on since the war in Afghanistan began, the U.S. troops are pulling out at a pace faster than expected. Yet, there is no confession of the failed counter-terrorist war, no repentance of man-made sufferings, still less proper arrangement for the Afghan translators indispensable to the U.S. presence in this country.
The estimated 9,000 Afghan translators were the eyes and ears of American officials and soldiers stationed there. Strictly vetted, the Afghans stuck to their posts working for American troops for at least a few years. They removed communication barriers by speaking Dari or Pashto and comprehending local culture. They saved the troops' troubles by telling whether a person was friend or foe and even helping spot spies from a group. They faced danger head-on by directly interrogating the captured "terrorists." They paved the way to get support from the Afghan government forces for U.S. counter-terrorism efforts. They made the case with Afghan people, many of whom were Taliban sympathizers.
In the war-torn country, they came to help the uninvited guests for a simple reason: to bring peace and stability back to their homeland. They worked in harm's way for 20 years, convinced that they would be protected by the mighty country in return for their service and sacrifice.
That may never happen as things stand. U.S. President Joe Biden did proclaim recently, "Those who helped us are not going to be left behind." But the problem is, how long do the helpers have to wait anymore?
Since 2006, the U.S. Congress has enacted a series of legislative provisions to enable those who had worked for the U.S. forces to apply for the Special Immigration Visa (SIV) to claim refugee status and resettle to safety in the United States. Over the past years, altogether 18,000 applications have been made; half of them just entered review process. During the long wait, the multilingual workers developed what they call "SIV syndrome" after refreshing the U.S. State Department webpage every day for months and even years to check their visa status.
A graveyard where a number of war victims have been buried in Kabul, Afghanistan, April 16, 2021. /Xinhua
A graveyard where a number of war victims have been buried in Kabul, Afghanistan, April 16, 2021. /Xinhua
Some efforts paid off: 2,500 visas have been issued to Afghans, a point highlighted by President Biden. But more people are rejected for no reason or minor infractions during their service, for example, uttering a swear word when receiving a uniform that didn't match. In the last three months of 2020 alone, 1,646 SIV applications from Afghanistan were denied.
Visa denial means much more than a lost chance to settle in the U.S.; it also takes away the last shot to survive. Things have already gone worse following the U.S. departure. The Afghan translators already felt the looming danger. One of them, receiving threatening calls on a daily basis, turned down his fiancée's marriage proposal for fear of implicating his loved one.
When Afghans try to dash away from death, the United States steps on the brake. It is reported that U.S. officials have not reached an agreement on whether the people should be settled within the U.S. borders. The Congress has not removed or raised the cap on the number of Afghan refugees it allows to accept. Between the absence of contingency plans domestically and mounting humanitarian concerns internationally, the United States now turns to Afghanistan's neighbors to take in the former U.S. employees. It has been persuading Central Asian countries to help settle the Afghans while their SIV applications are pending. There is no luck so far.
What is behind the U.S. reluctance to reciprocate and protect those who have saved the Americans lives? A federal court ruled in 2019 that the U.S. government had failed to abide by a law requiring it to process SIV applications within nine months. A report by the U.S. State Department Inspector General in 2020 identified six serious shortcomings in the SIV program that have to do with the chronic delays and logjams. If there were any real moves to plug the loopholes, swarms of Western reporters would have covered them.
The silence in the media was broken by a forthcoming White House senior official. He said the United States is concerned about the potential security risk posed by the incoming Afghans. That may be the most important reason for the plight of the Afghans.
After 20 years of fighting shoulder to shoulder on the Afghan soil, the United States has shown no trace of respect, still less gratitude to those who once trusted and welcomed them with a helping hand. But as Americans leave, they have failed to bring peace and stability, and have even kicked down the ladder for once their helpers, fearing their own lives may be affected if the Afghans are let in their country.
At the start of the Afghan war, former U.S. President George Bush said, "We care for the innocent people of Afghanistan, so we continue to provide humanitarian aid." If the last two decades were about protecting the Afghan people instead of using them as disposable tools, the last thing the United States would do is treating the tested and dependable Afghan translators with rejection and suspicion.
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