Russell Berman writes:

The Afghans were not ready to leave.

That was how President Joe Biden, in his address to the nation on Monday, tried to explain why his administration had not acted sooner, and faster, to evacuate America’s allies from Afghanistan ahead of the Taliban’s rapid march to Kabul. Many of the local partners who aided the U.S. military during its 20-year war—interpreters, activists, civil servants, and others—were “still hopeful for their country,” Biden said. He made no mention of another possible reason for the U.S. delay—a darker explanation whispered by Democratic members of Congress, aid workers, and even some administration officials in recent days: Was it politics? Did the fear of criticism from Republicans cause the president to reject an influx of refugees who are now at grave risk?

All Krish O’Mara Vignarajah knows is that Biden’s explanation rang false. Vignarajah, who runs a Baltimore-based resettlement agency called the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, told me she’s been inundated since the spring with pleas from America’s Afghan allies to help them escape. “We have been screaming from the rooftops that we need to get these allies out,” Vignarajah said. “The undeniable truth is that we had both the means and the time to save those in danger, and yet we’ve neglected to act in any meaningful way.”

Eskinder Negash, the former director of refugee resettlement in the Obama administration who is now the president of the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, told me that Biden’s statement was “inconsistent” with what his group was hearing and seeing. “They’re pleading. They want to get out as soon as possible,” Negash said. The delayed evacuation has led to scenes of chaos and desperation at the airport in Kabul, reminiscent of the last-minute rush to leave Saigon at the end of the Vietnam War, in 1975. “This is not Saigon,” Vignarajah told me. “This is worse than Saigon.”

The image of the final military helicopter taking off from the U.S. embassy is now infamous, but before and after South Vietnam fell, the U.S. managed to help 135,000 Vietnamese civilians flee to safety. By comparison, the Biden administration says it has relocated just 2,000 Afghan allies to the United States. As many as 80,000 Afghans are still in the pipeline of the Special Immigrant Visa program, Vignarajah told me, because the law allows qualified applicants to bring immediate family members with them. How many of them will be able to get out is unclear. [Continue reading…]