The reason the failures of troop withdrawal are the central issue in our Afghan policy right now is that the withdrawal appears to have been deliberately conducted in a way that minimized the number of Afghans, including visa holders, who would physically reach the United States https://twitter.com/mattyglesias/status/1427741767307300864 …
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Bear in mind that even under the original projections for withdrawal (that anticipated Kabul holding out for a few months), evacuation by US forces was impossible from most of the country. And when panic set in, the State Department literally burned applicants' passports.
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This was not the US being overtaken by events, or making the best of a bad hand, or even a failure of planning. It was a deliberate policy choice by the President, to whom keeping Afghans out of the United States trumped any moral or legal responsibility to our staunchest allies
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All I'm asking people to do is clear the bar for intellectual honesty set by Trump on this question. He called these places shithole countries and made it as hard as possible for people living there to get to America. Same policy as Biden, except without the cant and sanctimony.
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The United States painted the faces of the Afghan Girls' Robotics team on their embassy wall in Kabul, called them the Afghan Dreamers, used them as a political prop under three presidents, and wont't let them get on a plane. They're begging Canada now. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/08/16/afghan-girls-robotics-team-kabul-airport-trapped-rescue/ …pic.twitter.com/ezenVx3AyO
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A good rule of thumb is that if a US government labels you "Dreamers" in any context, run and hide as fast as your legs can take you.
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I hope the Afghan Girls' Robotics team can make it to safety and will accept my death in the pincers of their future killbot army with equanimity. We had it coming.
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When these Afghan girls wanted to come to the US to take part in a robotics competition, it was Trump who cut through the red tape and found a way to let them in (They were denied visas for fears they might stay). Biden won't do as much to save their lives https://www.fox5dc.com/news/afghan-girls-robotics-team-arrives-in-us-just-in-time-for-competition …pic.twitter.com/TkPXq77ZB3
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The bipartisan bigotry against Central Asian muslims runs so deep that the US won't even act in its self-interest and cherry-pick a cohort of the most educated, promising Afghan young people, whose contribution would be massive, to allow in. That is a deep commitment to fear.
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Biden also looking to move the US asylum process out of courts and into the hands of bureaucrats. The system already relies on the fact that almost no applicants understand their legal rights or have access to counsel; this change would go far towards making asylum discretionary.pic.twitter.com/Hg2scmUWdL
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There's a line of argument that says Biden needs to be tough on immigration to prevent Republicans from returning to power. But that ignores the fact that Biden's immigration policy is worse than Trump's.
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Update: ten of the girls on the Afghan Robotics Team have made it safely to Qatar, after that government sent a plane .https://www.today.com/parents/girls-afghanistans-robotics-team-rescued-t228683 …
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