The White House revealed Thursday it has a plan in place to relocate thousands of Afghan interpreters and their families to other countries as the U.S. military prepares its withdrawal from Afghanistan and America’s longest war.
The safety of Afghan interpreters and translators who aided U.S. efforts during the war has become a key area of concern for the administration and lawmakers, because they are thought to be targets of the Taliban.
It comes as the Biden Administration also attempts to do some clean-up on the messy withdrawal plan of U.S. troops after two decades in Afghanistan. President Biden addressed the situation Thursday and said the decision to withdraw was made because it was clear the war was no longer having a substantial impact in the region.
Biden also disputed a reporter’s remark that U.S. intelligence sources say the Afghan government will collapse once American troops are gone. He said the government there has the resources to hold off the Taliban, and the U.S. will continue to provide aid.
“The likelihood there’s going to be one unified government in Afghanistan controlling the whole country is highly unlikely” — Biden pic.twitter.com/ATJrYP1sQj
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 8, 2021
The White House faced heavy criticism for its clumsy departure last week from Bagram Airfield, which had been the hub for the U.S. military since the war effort began in 2001. Afghan officials and the Administration have disputed complaints that the hasty exit left the area ripe for looting and the loss of electricity.
During her daily press briefing, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the plan to safely relocate interpreters was already in place and remains on schedule.
“We remain on the timeline that the president announced a few weeks ago… nothing has changed on our timeline or objective.”
She added that the administration has been working to streamline the process for getting the interpreters and their relatives visas “to bring them to the United States.”
Part of the plan Psaki mentioned apparently includes temporarily relocate about 9,000 Afghan citizens who worked with U.S. troops to three countries in Central Asia, per a report by Bloomberg.
The president says the U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan will be completed by August 31.