I thought the the language of expendable assets and the double cross was universal:
"In Afghanistan, endangered interpreters await US visas; Thousands have applied; backlog of cases expands" by Kevin Sieff |
Washington Post, October 26, 2012
KABUL — Of the more than 5,700 Afghans who have applied for US visas
under a program tailored for those who have supported the American war
effort, 32 have been approved, the State Department says, leaving the
rest in limbo as foreign forces start withdrawal.
The growing, protracted backlog threatens to undermine
congressionally approved legislation, as well as the longstanding
guarantee that the United States will protect Afghans whose contribution
to the American mission has left them hunted and vulnerable.
The Empire always forgets and leaves others behind. Once they have their way with you, they are done with you. Now get your clothes on and get your ass out of this bed.
Btw, the whole undermining thing looks like an illegality to me, but that would raise impeachment of the executive so I'll let it drop.
In 2009, the Afghan Allies Protection Act allocated 7,500 visas for
Afghans employed by the US government, mostly as military interpreters.
The legislation was intended to respond to a prospect that the
interpreters knew well: Without a swift escape route, they would be
high-priority targets for the Taliban after the American war effort
draws down.
But the channel established by Congress has been far from swift. Some
applicants say they have waited years with hardly a word from the State
Department. The US embassy’s visa office in Kabul has been severely
understaffed, according to immigration attorneys who have worked on
interpreters’ cases.
Where's John Kerry's infamous outrage!?!
The long wait has been disheartening to thousands of men and women
critical to the American mission, many of whom serve on the front lines
with US troops. Since 2007, at least 80 interpreters have been killed in
combat.
It's not as if we do not have enough immigrants in the nation without needing to take them in over wars we initiated, but having done that already in this case.
I'm amazed that somehow I'm supposed to be the subversive here at my keyboard, simply asking questions, when you have the very war-mongering government that cajoled all these people to cooperate with them (collaborator$, you might say) betraying and abandoning them.
Until late 2011, the US Embassy in Kabul did not process a single
visa under the Afghan Allies program, according to the State Department.
Before then, interpreters were asked to travel to Islamabad — a
precarious journey for Afghans working with the US military — to
complete their applications. Even there, few visas were granted.
US officials acknowledge that the program was not prioritized in the years after its establishment.
I'm in fear for my life here after helping you and I'm not prioritized?
Message: never cooperate with the AmeriKan Empire. We have a long history of betraying and abandoning people. Ever talk to a Kurd -- or a wounded American veteran who is no longer useful on the battlefield trying to get health benefits?
‘‘We didn’t plan for an increase in staffing or resources . . . and
there was a pent up demand,’’ said one US embassy official who spoke on
the condition of anonymity.
It looks like they didn't plan for any!
But after a slow start, US officials say they now have the resources to handle the backlog.
‘‘It’s absolutely a top priority for us now,’’ the US official said.
Last I read of it, and sorry it took me so long to post.
When the Afghan Allies program was established, members of Congress
said there was urgency behind the legislation. But some officials at the
US embassy in Kabul expressed concern that that program could remove
from Afghanistan talented local employees at a time they were sorely
needed.
‘‘This act could drain this country of our very best civilian and
military partners: our Afghan employees,’’ former Ambassador Karl
Eikenberry wrote in a February 2010 cable to Secretary of State Hillary
Rodham Clinton that was obtained a year later by the Associated Press.
He went on to warn that the program could ‘‘have a significant
deleterious impact on staffing and morale, as well as undermining our
overall mission in Afghanistan. Local staff are not easily replenished
in a society at 28 percent literacy.’’
What is that mission now?
--more--"
Related: Time is right to get out of Afghanistan, Obama says
I see we are still there.
