The truth-bending and mud-slinging that filled the debate between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump left me deeply concerned for my country. But the remark that rankled most deeply was Biden’s errant observation that there were “not any troops dying anywhere in the world” during his presidency.
The Gold Star families of the 13 service members killed during Biden’s disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal did not need to hear additional proof that the president wants to forget their sons and daughters.
Over the past three years, I have written extensively in the Washington Examiner about developments in Afghanistan, interviewing hundreds of left-behind allies, distraught refugees, forgotten Afghan women, and veteran, service member, and civilian volunteers about the upheaval caused by Biden, Trump, and a host of prior U.S. leaders.
I recently interviewed Army veteran John Moses, who assisted stateside during the chaos of the Kabul evacuation and later cofounded the Massachusetts Afghan Alliance to assist Afghan refugees. Moses was startled by the president’s assertion, saying, “The 13 who lost their lives at Abbey Gate were engaged in the most critical mission a service member can undertake — saving American citizens amidst the chaos we created. They deserved greater recognition from the American president rather than the muted silence of political calculation.”
The losses of our service members were followed by a host of additional tragedies. Veterans and service members battle moral injury and post-traumatic stress. Afghans were scattered to the wind, forced to manage the trauma of their country’s collapse while trying to build new lives. Volunteers and Afghans still battle furiously against the government while waiting for visa processing and refugee adjudication. Within Afghanistan, our former allies live in hiding as the Taliban target its enemies for death.
Immediately after the withdrawal, my inboxes were flooded with individuals who had hope that raising their voices might create positive change. Cold reality winnowed those hopes so that devastating stories now cross my desk at a slower trickle. My most recent contact came from operational interpreter Alex, referred to here by his call sign. Last month, he implored me by phone to help his family escape death by the Taliban.
After 12 years of service with the National Guard, Marines, Office of Global Affairs, and U.S. Embassy, Alex was interviewed at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul in June 2021 for his special immigrant visa. Before he could receive his SIV, Alex and one brother, also a U.S. interpreter, had to be evacuated from a collapsing Kabul in August 2021. His younger brother, sister, and mother remained in Afghanistan.
Alex told me his younger brother began receiving Taliban death threats by text message shortly after Alex arrived in the United States. One threat included a video showing Talibs murdering a man. Alex said the message was accompanied by a promise: “This situation will come to you soon. We will find you one day.”
Scrambling for a solution, Alex secured visas for his family members to escape to Iran, where they remained as refugees for two years. Several months ago, they were forcibly returned to Afghanistan. Now, his family changes locations often to avoid detection, and he is afraid to leave the house to shop for necessities. Despite numerous efforts, Alex cannot acquire visas for his family members to travel to any safer countries.
It will be decades before Alex can bring his family to the U.S. A State Department spokesperson confirmed only citizens can sponsor parents and siblings for a green card. Alex received his green card in May 2022 and cannot receive citizenship until 2027. There is currently a nearly 17-year backlog for processing sibling F4 visas.
Two days after our call, Alex sent me images of a young man dead on the ground. He told me the Taliban killed the man the previous day because his brother was an OGA interpreter.
“This is the current situation of Afghanistan,” he explained. “They kill your relatives and family members.”
When I asked Andrew Sullivan, Army veteran and No One Left Behind’s chief advocacy officer, about the threats facing Alex’s family, he explained that “the Taliban have a long memory, and they continue to reprise against American allies and former members of the Afghan government. Unlawful detention, torture, and murder are pervasive. The Taliban’s human rights abuses have been well documented by governmental inspectors, including the U.N. and special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction, but non-profits and American volunteers working on behalf of Afghans are also seeing this brutality through the Afghans they’re helping.”
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The community of Afghanistan advocates is small and tight-knit. I had the somber privilege of joining its numbers last August to honor the 13 U.S. service members who died in Kabul and their Gold Star families. The pain in one mother-in-law’s eyes was palpable as speakers promised they would never forget those brave and honorable sacrifices.
Biden continues to thrust our allies into a deadly standoff between the Taliban’s reprisal campaign and a callous bureaucracy while saddling volunteers with the backbreaking load of rectifying the painful fallout of his bungled withdrawal.
Beth Bailey (@BWBailey85) is a freelance contributor to Fox News and the co-host of The Afghanistan Project, which takes a deep dive into nearly two decades of war and the tragedy wrought in the wake of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.