NEW YORK TIMES: … Now, about 5,000 Afghans deemed under threat will be competing for fewer than 2,300 visas, to say nothing of the hundreds coming in to start their applications every month.
“It’s as if we intentionally denied them their benefit,” said Marc Chretien, a former adviser to the commander of the coalition forces in Afghanistan. “It hasn’t been a priority until now and only under public pressure.”
After years of criticism from worried American service members and the news media, the government has stepped up pressure on the State Department to prioritize the program and streamline the byzantine application process, recently passing legislation that requires high-level oversight of the program and a series of measures to make the process less opaque… (more)
EDITOR: This is deja vu, a possible replay of the USA’s most conspicuous and despicable act of betrayal: The last helicopter taking off from the roof of the U. S. Embassy in Saigon and leaving thousands of faithful Vietnamese colleagues to the death squads and re-education camps of the Viet Cong.
Five thousand visas are not enough. We should make 50,000 available for Afghanistan friends and their families, along with living allowances were necessary for six months each. This is the proper thing to do. And they will be an asset to our country.
