The Biden Presidency is underway.

[Alstein]

Primary their asses

[KevinC]

I’m not sure I’m understanding Tapper’s framing that they are being left to slaughter. They were granted a Visa but were killed before they could get out of the country. Is the Biden admin dragging their feet on providing transport out of the country or something?

I’m not trying to take away from the tragedy of the situation, I just feel that I’m missing some context with how the tweets are written.

[scottagibson]

I’m sure it’s an expression of the establishment view that Biden is (wrongly) abandoning the Afghanis to their fate.

[KevinC]

Huh, wasn’t aware that was their perspective. We’ve been there a couple decades, we can’t stay forever and we can’t “win” in the way GWB was likely envisioning. I absolutely do think that those who have worked with us there need to be taken care of. I’d be angry if this man was denied a Visa. But it seems like he was given one so that he could leave Afghanistan and come to the US, which I think is the right course of action here?

[ShivaX]

@scottagibson

I’m sure it’s an expression of the establishment view that Biden is (wrongly) abandoning the Afghanis to their fate.

Mostly the expressions I’ve seen have been more along the lines of: “Hurry up and get them out of there and to Guam ASAP!”
Which given the context of targeted assassinations is a very legitimate position.
It’s the sort of thing the military could likely do quickly if ordered to. Moving people is in their wheelhouse.

[RichVR]

When Trump talked about bringing troops home he was a true patriot supporting the military. Now that Biden is doing it he’s leaving Afghanis to a fate worse than death.

[Menzo]

@RichVR

When Trump talked about bringing troops home he was a true patriot supporting the military. Now that Biden is doing it he’s leaving Afghanis to a fate worse than death.

Don’t you see, though? If Trump were still President the Taliban wouldn’t dare kill anyone because of his sheer presence and overwhelming manliness.

[HideousRex]

They’d be too busy crying and calling him “Sir”.

[Timex]

Why wouldn’t the US allow those people to move here as refugees?

It can’t be that many people. And they did not fit America than most Americans.

Seriously, what could possibly be the rationale for saying no, if they actually want to come here?

[JoshL]

Could it possibly be 40 years of demonizing refugees and brown people?

[Sharpe]

According to the article, I thought those folks were granted a Visa, which means the US was in fact allowing them to come. The issue was apparently they were attacked before they could leave. If that is all true, then it’s further evidence of the inability of the Afghan government to protect its people, which is one of the underlying reasons we need to leave: there is just not enough stable government in Afghanistan to serve as a foundation. There is also an argument, we need to coordinate exit security for people granted Visas (but that may be impossible given the weakness of the Afghan government combined with the terrain.)

[Sharpe]

Yeah, reading a bit more into the initial post, it sounds like the issue is getting the approved refugees OUT of Afghanistan before they can be targeted. The central gov in Afghanistan cannot protect its own people. Which is yet more evidence that the cornerstone of our Afghan policy for two decades, strengthening the Afghan government, has been an abject failure. And I’m not sure how realistic it is for us to expect the departing US military to provide that kind of security. It’s a clusterfuck, but its a clusterfuck two decades in the making IMO.

[ShivaX]

@Sharpe

And I’m not sure how realistic it is for us to expect the departing US military to provide that kind of security.

I strongly suspect they’d happily volunteer to do it. And the military certainly has the capability.
If nothing else just having them and their families escorted to a base or the like would be pretty effective. Hell, it could probably be done in a day or two if there was a will to do so.

And I don’t blame Biden so much as the system as a whole. I think it was likely an oversight scenario, but now that attention has been drawn to it, it needs to be fixed. Local commanders could probably even do it, but having it come from Biden or the generals would be ideal.

[Timex]

I would say we should bring them home with our guys, if at all possible.

[Sharpe]

It does seem like a major error in planning not to have anticipated this issue.

[ooomalley]

We didn’t do it in Iraq (see: This American Life episodes), don’t see why we’d suddenly find competence/courage/decency/etc now.

[Canuck]

@KevinC

Huh, wasn’t aware that was their perspective. We’ve been there a couple decades, we can’t stay forever and we can’t “win” in the way GWB was likely envisioning. I absolutely do think that those who have worked with us there need to be taken care of. I’d be angry if this man was denied a Visa. But it seems like he was given one so that he could leave Afghanistan and come to the US, which I think is the right course of action here?

This video might help answer your queries.

Let's talk about who we're leaving behind over there....

[ShivaX]

@ooomalley

We didn’t do it in Iraq (see: This American Life episodes), don’t see why we’d suddenly find competence/courage/decency/etc now.

Pretty much. Systems don’t generally change if not forced to. The same system that left Iraqis out in the cold is the same system that is leaving Afghans there.

Edit: Seems Beau agrees on the tradition angle.

[Djscman]

Hopefully the final pullout won’t look like this.

[ShivaX]

As bad as that was, they at least were getting people out.

It wont look like that because there wont be any helicopters to save anyone.
Which is quite a bit worse, but so much easier to forget.