SALEM — U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton urged Americans to set blame aside and instead focus on the evacuation of Afghan civilians late Tuesday morning while speaking to reporters outside his office about the situation unfolding in Afghanistan and the withdrawal of U.S. troops.
“It is still within the power of the U.S. to save thousands of innocent lives,” said Moulton.
Approximately 20,000 Afghan allies who worked with the American military were expecting special visas to come to the U.S. However, as many as 100,000 people were awaiting evacuation, taking into account wives and children, said the Congressman.
“These are men and women who risked their lives for us (who) we promised to get out,” Moulton said. “And right now, they face slaughter by the Taliban.”
On Monday, Moulton announced three steps that the U.S. had to take in his opinion. These steps included securing the Kabul airport, getting rid of bureaucratic obstacles to evacuate Afghan civilians and making it clear that the U.S. would see the operation through and not quit.
After the U.S. Marine Corps took control of the Kabul airport on Monday, the priority was to bring the civilians to safety first and then sort out the paperwork, Moulton said. In his view, people who won’t pass security checks at that point could be sent back. Congress should pass Temporary Protected Status for Afghan refugees and they should be able to get jobs in the U.S, he said.
“I would love to have them as neighbors. I would love to have them as members of our community, as small-business owners,” said Moulton. “Look what the diaspora from Vietnam has done for America today, for communities all across the country.”
Moulton completely disagreed with President Joe Biden, who said that Afghan allies don’t want to leave until the situation changes, pointing out that some were so desperate to leave that they were climbing planes to get out and have been blaming the backlog of special visa applications for decades.
“There is a lot of blame to go around,” Moulton said.
Although Biden took responsibility for the decision to withdraw in his Aug. 16 speech to the nation, more people from his administration have to take the responsibility for how the operation is going right now, Moulton said. He praised VA Secretary Denis McDonough for putting out a statement on Afghanistan to veterans.
Moulton refused to criticize both Afghan and American troops, saying “We (have) got to be careful how we look at the sacrifices that so many Afghans made. Even if they were ultimately unsuccessful, (it) doesn’t mean they were not doing the right thing.”
He put part of the blame on the previous administration, whom he said hadn’t done enough planning for the withdrawal after President Donald Trump announced it last year. The Trump administration significantly cut down on the special immigrant visa program, which Moulton said prevented many Afghans who served alongside American troops from getting out four to five years ago.
“For any Republican who supported Trump’s withdrawal and now blaming Biden when he actually delayed the timeline, when he is undoubtedly doing way more to save our allies than the immigration-hating President Trump would ever have done, I mean, that’s just utter hypocrisy,” Moulton said.
However, he didn’t absolve Biden’s administration from responsibility completely and said that Congress has failed in its basic function of oversight by failing to have enough debate with the public when authorizing the Afghan invasion.
Moulton said that it is heartbreaking to see everything U.S. soldiers fought for in Afghanistan evaporate in a blink of an eye because “we just turned our backs and left.”
He said a lot of U.S. veterans who served in Afghanistan are reaching out to him and his team, trying to help their Afghan colleagues and friends. At this point, Moulton’s team is making lists of these people and trying to see how they can be helped.
