Written by: Sasha Reva
The Biden Administration is putting American lives at risk by sharing information to the Taliban. At Biden’s order, U.S. officials sent information regarding the names of American citizens, green card holders, and Afghan allies to the Taliban. They believe it will help with the evacuation process of American citizens in Afghanistan. This decision infuriated lawmakers and military officials, especially following the suicide bombing attacks in Kabul.
Currently, about 100,000 people have been evacuated. The evacuation process requires evacuees to walk through Taliban checkpoints. “Basically, they just put all those Afghans on a kill list,” said one defense official. “It’s just appalling and shocking and makes you feel unclean.” Meanwhile, President Joe Biden said he didn’t know there were lists with names but also never denied that sometimes the U.S. hands over names to the Taliban.
“They had to do that because of the security situation the White House created by allowing the Taliban to control everything outside the airport,” one U.S. official said. After thousands of visa applicants came into the airport because of their limited capacity, they were asked not to go and wait until they were cleared. From then on, the list fed to the Taliban didn’t include those Afghan names.
Since August 25, only U.S. passport and green card holders are eligible for evacuation. The Taliban has gone door-to-door searching for Afghan interpreters and all people who have helped U.S. and Western forces.
After the attacks, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chair Bob Menendez appeared to judge the Biden administration’s strategy of communicating with the Taliban, writing in a statement: “As we wait for more details to come in, one thing is clear: We can’t trust the Taliban with Americans’ security.”
Photo from: AFP/Getty Images Composite: Mark Kelly
