After weeks of pledges to not depart behind interpreters who’ve labored facet by facet with U.S. forces in Afghanistan, Pentagon and White Home officers on Thursday spoke extra bluntly about how they’re planning to evacuate these key allies within the waning weeks of U.S. army operations there.
President Joe Biden mentioned efforts have been already underway to assist these Afghans and their households depart Afghanistan and keep away from violent retaliation by the Taliban.
“We’ve already begun the method. Those that helped us are usually not going to be left behind,” Biden mentioned in response to shouted questions after delivering remarks on the White Home on his infrastructure plan.
On Thursday, a senior White Home official advised NPR that as many as 100,000 Afghans could possibly be transported overseas.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and Chairman of the Excessive Council for Nationwide Reconciliation Abdullah Abdullah will go to each the Pentagon and White Home Friday.
Biden mentioned a part of the dialogue with Ghani will embrace places the place these hundreds of interpreters and their households would possibly reside whereas U.S. officers course of their functions to come back to the USA.
“He’s coming to my workplace. That will probably be mentioned. However they’re welcome right here similar to anybody else who risked their lives to assist us,” Biden mentioned.
One choice floated by veterans’ teams is to fly these households to Guam, a U.S. territory that has been used as a visa ready room for interpreters and refugees after the 1991 Gulf Struggle and the Vietnam Struggle.
At a Pentagon briefing shortly after Biden spoke, press secretary John Kirby mentioned whereas no remaining choices have been made, these interpreters and their households could possibly be flown out on chartered flights as an alternative of army plane.
“It isn’t like we have not executed this earlier than utilizing chartered plane, commercially leased plane or contracted plane,” Kirby mentioned. “So there’s a lot of alternatives right here, a lot of issues that we nonetheless need to work by.”
Even when the army has largely drawn down, DOD will be capable of conduct the evacuation, Kirby mentioned.
DOD and the State Division have been working to hurry the visa course of for Afghans, however the effort to assist them depart their dwelling nation will contain way more than that, Kirby mentioned.
“The planning will clearly embrace housing and medical care, and, clearly, sustenance, after all, all these issues are going to be factored into the planning right here for the way we’re capable of proceed the [Special Immigrant Visa] course of for people that we assist depart Afghanistan, who’s going to do all that,” Kirby mentioned
He mentioned no determination has been made about which authorities workplace will present momentary housing, for instance.
“However sure, broadly talking, the U.S. authorities will clearly fulfill these obligations, these primary life help and life-sustaining obligations to those women and men and their households,” Kirby mentioned.