Veterans’ Advocates Slam White House for Lack of Plan to Evacuate Afghan Interpreters
District of Columbia | June 8, 2021
Veterans’ advocates are blasting the White House for refusing to evacuate thousands of Afghan military interpreters who worked for American troops and who could be left at the mercy of the Taliban as the U.S. military withdraws this summer.
Ahead of the Sept. 11 military withdrawal deadline, which President Joe Biden announced in April, the administration has yet to address its plans to handle the backlog of 18,000 Afghan interpreters who have applied for U.S. visas through a special State Department program. Many of the Afghans—who serve as language and cultural translators for American soldiers, including during combat—are likely to face retribution attacks from the Taliban if they are left behind.
At least 300 interpreters have been killed in Afghanistan due to their work for the U.S. military since 2016, according to James Miervaldis, an Army veteran who served in Afghanistan and chairman of the No One Left Behind advocacy group for veterans and interpreters. He expressed frustration with the administration’s failure to come up with a plan.
“Not a peep [from the White House]. Nothing,” Miervaldis told the Washington Free Beacon. “Everyone’s pretty much in the dark…. We are very unclear what their plans are for this backlog.”..
(Excerpts from the Washington Free Beacon)