Series of U.S. Actions Left Afghan Allies Frantic, Stranded and Eager to Get Out

WASHINGTON — As President Biden past period defended his decision to extremity the U.S. subject beingness successful Afghanistan, helium delivered a committedness arsenic aged arsenic the warfare itself to the Afghans who had risked their lives to assistance American troops.

“Our connection to those women and men is clear: There is simply a location for you successful the United States, if you truthful choose,” the president said. “We volition basal with you, conscionable arsenic you stood with us.”

But his determination not to statesman a wide evacuation of Afghan interpreters, guides and their relatives earlier this twelvemonth has near thousands of radical successful limbo, stranded successful a state present controlled by the Taliban aft 20 years of war.

Even earlier Mr. Biden announced the withdrawal of U.S. troops, his medication rejected frantic calls from lawmakers and activists to evacuate Afghans, who present find themselves successful jeopardy.

Then this summer, Afghanistan’s president, Ashraf Ghani, implored Mr. Biden to clasp disconnected connected evacuations until U.S. forces were gone for good, fearing that the representation would undermine assurance successful his government.

Mr. Biden alternatively took steps to streamline a visa strategy plagued with backlogs, adjacent though it was ne'er intended for the wide transportation of radical successful a abbreviated magnitude of time. And successful the United States, immoderate officials were expressing concerns astir imaginable governmental blowback implicit an influx of refugees.

Taken together, the administration’s actions near Mr. Biden’s committedness mostly unfulfilled past play and led to searing scenes astatine the Kabul airport, wherever Afghans clung to the sides of departing American planes. And they raised questions astir whether an medication that has said it would prioritize quality rights overseas has abandoned the Afghans it depended upon most, dimming the United States’ accepted planetary representation arsenic a sanctuary for the persecuted.

The president connected Wednesday defended the U.S. withdrawal and said helium did not spot a mode to permission Afghanistan without “chaos ensuing.” In an interrogation with ABC News, helium was asked whether the exit could person been handled better.

“No, I don’t deliberation it could person been handled successful a mode that we’re going to spell backmost successful hindsight and look — but the thought that somehow, there’s a mode to person gotten retired without chaos ensuing, I don’t cognize however that happens,” Mr. Biden said. “I don’t cognize however that happened.”

But critics said the medication was squarely to blame.

“The nonaccomplishment to evacuate our allies rests solely successful the hands of the Biden administration, who ignored veterans and advocates, adjacent erstwhile they offered elaborate plans connected however evacuation to U.S. territory could beryllium managed,” said Chris Purdy, the task manager for the Veterans for American Ideals programme astatine Human Rights First.

Since 2002, the United States has employed Afghans to assistance its troops, diplomats and assistance workers. Many of those radical were threatened, attacked oregon forced to fly their homes arsenic a effect of their work, prompting Congress successful 2009 to found a visa programme specifically for those who had helped the U.S. government, arsenic good arsenic their contiguous relatives.

The programme is abstracted from the process typically utilized by those fleeing persecution oregon torture. About 18,000 radical are successful the process of applying for the visas, and those applicants person astatine slightest 53,000 relatives who would beryllium eligible to articulation them. Despite a legislature mandate that the United States process the visas successful 9 months, thousands person faced agelong delays for vetting.

The Biden medication has evacuated astir 2,000 of the applicants to subject bases since mid-July, according to the State Department.

In a bid of meetings and calls since March, including earlier Mr. Biden announced the U.S. withdrawal, lawmakers and resettlement officials warned the White House and the State Department that the concern required an urgent effect — 1 that could not beryllium addressed by the peculiar visa program, which took excessively overmuch time, according to resettlement and erstwhile authorities officials who spoke connected the information of anonymity to picture interior discussions.

The peculiar visa programme requires applicants to wide extended levels of vetting and supply grounds of their enactment — documents that tin beryllium hard to get for families who person been forced to fly their homes. The Biden medication has blamed the erstwhile medication for exacerbating the delays done “extreme vetting” requirements.

The calls for swift evacuations picked up adjacent arsenic the Biden medication deployed further unit members successful Washington and astatine the embassy successful Kabul to code the backlogs. One authoritative said the medication chopped done the bureaucracy by slashing successful fractional processing delays that totaled an mean of 2 years erstwhile Mr. Biden came into office, lobbying Congress to grow the fig of visas and waiving requirements for aesculapian examinations.

Even successful the champion of circumstances, however, vetting refugees is enormously time-consuming. The imaginable of thousands of Afghan refugees coming to the United States — alternatively than to different countries — raised concerns among immoderate authorities officials, who argued that it would unfastened up the White House to governmental pushback, according to medication officials and different radical acquainted with the matter.

Some lawmakers, specified arsenic Representative Matt Rosendale, Republican of Montana, person expressed concerns astir expediting the vetting process.

“Now we’re going to make a process with which we tin vet thousands of individuals and conscionable relocate them to the United States?” helium said successful an interview. “Once they’re settled here, they tin bring further household members here. One benignant deed does not marque an ally.”

Leaving down Afghans — particularly women and girls — could person important governmental implications for Mr. Biden.

“The time they commencement sidesplitting women successful Afghanistan: That is their governmental nightmare,” said Michael A. McFaul, a prof of planetary studies astatine Stanford University and a erstwhile ambassador to Russia during the Obama administration. “Those numbers that enactment withdrawal are incredibly soft. If women who took U.S.A.I.D. wealth statesman to beryllium arrested oregon killed, that enactment volition diminish quickly, and radical volition beryllium outraged by the president.”

Refugee advocates accidental the Afghans’ sacrifices for the United States should outweigh immoderate imaginable governmental hazard that comes with wide resettlement.

In the days since the Taliban took power of Afghanistan, Mr. Biden has approved an further $500 cardinal for “unexpected urgent exile and migration needs of refugees, victims of struggle and different persons astatine hazard arsenic a effect of the concern successful Afghanistan.”

The medication besides enactment retired a telephone for volunteers passim the authorities to assistance with processing the Afghan visas. An email from United States Citizenship and Immigration Services described the accidental arsenic an “extraordinary initiative” and encouraged immoderate worker successful immoderate presumption to apply.

Understand the Taliban Takeover successful Afghanistan

The Pentagon’s apical 2 leaders said connected Wednesday that the United States was committed to evacuating each Americans who privation to permission Afghanistan, arsenic good arsenic Afghans who helped the warfare effort and were cleared to participate the United States.

“We mean to evacuate those who person been supporting america for years, and we are not going to permission them behind,” Gen. Mark A. Milley, the president of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters. “And we volition get retired arsenic galore arsenic possible.”

At a quality conference, however, neither General Milley nor Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III would guarantee harmless transition to the airdrome for Americans, Afghans and different foreigners extracurricular the perimeter.

“The forces that we person are focused connected information of the airfield,” Mr. Austin said. “I don’t person the capableness to spell retired and widen operations presently into Kabul.”

The medication has insisted that its actions successful caller months were calculated decisions, not missteps.

It relied connected intelligence showing that a Taliban takeover was 18 months away, and officials person acknowledged that they underestimated the gait of the Taliban beforehand erstwhile considering whether to transportation retired evacuations. Many Afghans were adjacent to the extremity of the visa pipeline, leaving officials with an inaccurate consciousness that the medication had capable clip to proceed to trust connected the visa program.

The medication has besides emphasized Mr. Ghani’s petition implicit the summertime to clasp disconnected connected evacuations until aft the Americans were retired of Afghanistan.

“The Afghan authorities and its supporters, including galore of the radical present seeking to leave, made a passionate lawsuit that we should not behaviour a wide evacuation lest we trigger a nonaccomplishment of assurance successful the government,” Jake Sullivan, the nationalist information adviser, said astatine a White House quality briefing connected Tuesday. “Now, our signaling enactment for the authorities evidently did not prevention the government, but this was a considered judgment.”

The medication was hesitant for months to determination the Afghans to subject bases successful the United States oregon its territories, specified arsenic Guam, preferring to determination them to different countries instead, according to medication officials and radical acquainted with White House and State Department deliberations. Many of the evacuees would person lone impermanent extortion portion their visas were processed. If they were denied visas, they would request to use for asylum oregon different signifier of extortion successful the United States — migration programs that Republicans person seized connected to onslaught Mr. Biden.

One erstwhile contractor for the United States who was relocated from Jalalabad strolled aimlessly extracurricular a lodging analyzable successful eastbound Maryland connected Monday afternoon, familiarizing himself with his caller surroundings.

The man, who asked to beryllium identified lone arsenic Masoon retired of fearfulness for his safety, said helium had made it from Kabul to Maryland aft a 20-hour stopover astatine the Fort Lee subject basal successful Virginia. Although helium arrived safely with his woman and 5 children, his parents and sisters remained successful Jalalabad.

“I’m precise blessed here,” Masoon said, “but I americium not blessed astir my family.”

He added: “The Taliban is successful Jalalabad, and what tin I bash astir that situation? It is truly a unsafe thing.”

Masoon said helium had mislaid each interaction with them since helium departed Afghanistan little than 2 weeks ago.

Eileen Sullivan, Jennifer Steinhauer, Michael D. Shear, Eric Schmitt and Catie Edmondson contributed reporting from Washington.