CHARLESTON, W.Va. — West Virginia’s U.S. senators have joined colleagues on letters to President Joe Biden urging action on evacuating Afghan allies and Americans from Afghanistan following the Taliban’s takeover of the country.
Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and 54 senators signed a letter calling on the Biden administration to continue taking Afghan special immigrant visa applicants and their families, as Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., joined 15 senators in demanding the president “devote all means necessary to ensure every American citizen and all eligible Afghan partners are successfully evacuated.”
Biden told ABC News on Wednesday that the United States will do “everything in our power” to evacuate Americans and allies, even keeping troops in Afghanistan beyond his Aug. 31 deadline of concluding military operations. There is an estimate of between 50,000 and 65,000 Afghan nationals who assisted the American military.
The letter from 55 senators describes the Afghan Special Immigrant Visa program as an essential program providing safety for Afghans who provided services during American missions. The senators noted the country launched Operation Allies Refuge on July 17 to evacuate applicants; 2,000 Afghans have arrived in the United States.
“The Taliban’s rapid ascendancy across Afghanistan and takeover of Kabul should not cause us to break our promise to the Afghans who helped us operate over the past twenty years and are counting on us for assistance. American inaction would ensure they become refugees or prime targets for Taliban retribution,” Manchin and the bipartisan group said in the Aug. 18 letter.
The senators requested ongoing coordination between the Departments of State and Defense to secure the Hamid Karzai International Airport near Kabul. The lawmakers also called on the Biden administration to implement changes to the visa program which lawmakers approved in July. The recommended actions include updating guidance to reflect the lowering of the employment eligibility requirement from two years to one year, issuing special immigrant visas to all applicants and qualified family members who have passed all steps of the visa process but are still waiting for a medical examination, and fully repealing the “sensitive and trusted” requirement for people employed by or worked on behalf of the NATO-led military mission in Afghanistan.
The senators also urged action about allowing applicants to go through an appeals process as well as full transparency and guidance for applicants.
“We were pleased that you immediately signed this legislation to make extensive improvements to the SIV program into law three weeks ago, and now ask that you move just as quickly to ensure it is properly and fully implemented ensuring applicants and their families can get out of harm’s way,” the group wrote.
According to the Department of State, the United States has 34,500 visa openings.
Democrats and Republicans have criticized the Biden administration’s plan to withdraw American troops from Afghanistan as well as actions ahead of the Taliban’s takeover.
“We are extremely concerned that, despite our recommendations, your administration failed to establish a coherent plan to get all American civilians and Afghans who have aided us out of the country as quickly and safely as possible,” Capito and 15 Republican senators wrote to Biden in a letter dated Thursday.
The 16 legislators took note of Biden’s comments on troops possibly remaining in Afghanistan past Aug. 31, saying military forces “must maintain and project an uncompromising resolve to do whatever it takes to rescue our citizens and Afghan partners.”
“Not only should we protect American citizens in Afghanistan, we must also uphold our promise to the thousands of Afghans who put their lives on the line to work with us to advance our shared security goals,” the group said. “Otherwise, they will face a tragic and deadly fate.”
Capito joined Republican colleagues on a separate letter to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin requesting information on military equipment and the Taliban’s seizure of American equipment. The senators also requested an assessment of the Taliban’s likelihood it will seek to work with other countries on related training and infrastructure, in addition to any plans about destroying equipment that could possibly be used by terrorist groups.