According to the Inspector General, the Obama administration failed to follow through on its pledge to relocate Afghan friends during the tenure of former President Joe Biden.
Officials have stated that “bureaucratic dysfunction and understaffing” make it difficult for President Biden to save and relocate the thousands of Afghan troops who were left behind when the United States attempted to depart Afghanistan but didn’t do it the correct way.
According to the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), “The U.S. promised to resettle its allies in safety, but the U.S. is failing.” Since the closure in August of 2021, the United States has provided over $8 billion in aid to Afghanistan. On Wednesday, the Special Inspector General for Afghan Reconstruction (SIGAR) issued a report discussing the major vulnerabilities to this funding.
According to the report, the brutal rule of the Taliban, who assumed control of Afghanistan after U.S. soldiers withdrew, is the primary cause of the “humanitarian catastrophe” there. Wednesday, Congress will convene a hearing titled “The Biden Administration’s Disastrous Withdrawal from Afghanistan, Part I: Review by the Inspectors General,” at which Department of Defense Inspector General John Sopko and State Department and USAID Inspector Generals will testify.
While President Biden was in control, the strategy for leaving Afghanistan was a shambles. Hundreds of Americans and thousands of Afghans who had aided the United States were angered by the loss of thirteen service members.
It’s been an issue that Republicans have spent so much time attempting to shift blame to President Biden. Republican House Oversight and Accountability Committee Chairman James Comer said in a statement on Wednesday that “this Administration continues to make excuses for the self-inflicted humanitarian and national security disaster,” and that “senior officials are actively blocking meaningful congressional oversight.”
The Republican Party’s displeasure with the Obama administration’s approach to the crisis in Afghanistan has been made very clear. To make it simpler for Afghans to migrate to other countries, special cards would be issued, but the White House claims Congress isn’t following the laws.
A source claims that President Biden promised the safe evacuation of thousands of Americans and the welcome of Afghan allies who helped the U.S. during the war when he made the decision to bring American troops home and end the 20-year war that had cost thousands of lives and tens of billions of dollars annually with no end in sight.
MAGA The Afghan Adjustment Act is just one example of legislation that House Republicans have blocked or delayed in an act of surrender to the Afghan people who have sacrificed their lives alongside American forces for the past 20 years. This demonstrates that the discussions are a sham for political gain.
There are rumors that President Joe Biden reassured American allies a month before the Taliban overthrew the Afghan government that the United States would not abandon them. The SIGAR study’s findings corroborate this. Here is a transcript of President Joe Biden’s speech to the refugees on July 8, 2021. As he puts it: “If you want to, you can have a home in the United States, and we will stand with you, just as you have stood with us.”
After the United States abandoned its allies, many estimated that it would take each family an average of one year to reach safety.
As of right now, around 175,000 Afghans are waiting for the U.S. government to process their applications for a Special Immigration Visa (SIV) or as refugees. According to SIGAR data, only roughly 20% of those who sought for SIV status by the end of September 2022 actually received cards. According to the research, it would take more than 30 years to relocate and repopulate all of the potential SIV hotspots.
According to SIGAR’s analysis, the SIV program suffered from “chronic understaffing,” “reliance on old IT systems,” and “inadequate coordination between agencies.”
The research highlighted the significance of “expeditious processing” and screening refugees for vulnerabilities to national security. According to the statistics, “the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General documented problems with screening Afghans who came to the U.S. in the fall of 2021.” This resulted in the deployment of “two Afghans who were later found to be threats to national security and were put into removal proceedings.”
According to rumor, a third American helped several Afghans get false identification documents.
More than $8 billion in U.S. aid to the Afghan people may have been misappropriated, stolen, or lost in other ways, according to SIGAR’s estimations. According to the report, this funding is “at greater risk than ever” since the Taliban are making it difficult for NGOs and the UN to carry out their missions.
The SIGAR High Risk List will be made available for 2014, 2017, and 2019 by the end of March 2021. This research examines the entire nation for the first time since the United States withdrew.
This month, President Trump’s administration conducted its own analysis of the process of leaving Afghanistan. Many citizens blamed the previous administration for the lengthy withdrawal of the armed forces.
White House sources claim that President Biden was stuck in Afghanistan with few options because to the actions of his predecessor.
The letter accuses Trump of arming the Taliban before consulting with U.S. friends and partners in the region by initiating peace negotiations with the Taliban. Trump’s intention to reduce the number of American troops in Afghanistan until at least 2020 was another topic of conversation.
Upon Biden’s appointment as vice president, the Obama administration claims, “the Taliban were in the strongest military position they’d been in since 2001.” That’s equivalent to saying they controlled or battled over half the country.
Official in charge of national security at the White House, John Kirby, has stated, “It was always the president’s plan to end that war.” However, the previous administration’s actions and lack of preparation have made things difficult for the current administration.