First group of Afghan interpreters, allies join 75,000 other Afghans resettled in U.S.

The first group of Afghans and their families under Operation Allies Refuge have arrived to the United States, and to Fort Lee specifically.

They will now join approximately 75,000 other Afghans who were previously resettled in the U.S. through the Special Immigrant Visa Program over the last decade.

These brave men and women, at great risk to themselves and their families, served alongside U.S. and coalition forces and diplomats to support our operations and prevent Afghanistan from becoming a safe haven for terrorism that threatens our homeland.

We have spoken many times about the moral obligation  we have to help those who have helped us, and we are fully committed to working closely with our interagency partners to meet that obligation. 

In support of the State Department led effort, approximately 300 U.S. service members from several installations, and under the direction of U.S. Northern Command stand ready to provide logistics, temporary lodging, and medical support at Fort Lee, DOD announced 30 July.

The Department remains committed to our partnership with Afghanistan, including protecting our diplomatic mission, providing support to the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces, and advising Afghan security ministries. 

Background. The United States military has been engaged in Afghanistan since shortly after the 9/11 attacks in 2001. In 2003, NATO assumed leadership of the United Nations-mandated International Security Assistance Force Mission (ISAF). At its height, ISAF included more than 130,000 troops from 51 NATO and partner nations. ISAF forces fought alongside the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF) as the international community worked to improve ANDSF capabilities. U.S. force levels peaked at roughly 100,000 in 2011, and began to decrease through 2014, as the ANDSF gained strength. There have been more than 2,400 U.S. military deaths in Afghanistan since 2001, and over 20,000 U.S. service members have been wounded in action. U.S. casualties in Afghanistan peaked at 499 in 2010 and dropped sharply to an average of about 17 per year after January 2015, when Afghan forces assumed full responsibility for combat operations against the Taliban. Dept of State

DOD Official Discusses ‘Moral Obligation’ to Help Those in Afghanistan Who Helped U.S.

MAY 20, 2021 | BY C. TODD LOPEZ, DOD NEWS

The U.S. military is currently conducting retrograde operations to leave Afghanistan. U.S. military personnel there now will come home, and equipment in the country will also be shipped back, sold, destroyed or moved elsewhere. The deadline for withdrawal is Sept. 11, 2021.

While soldiers leave the country, many Afghans who provided support to the U.S. and its allies will remain behind. They and their families may face the threat of retribution for having provided support to the Americans. The Defense Department believes it’s important those individuals and their families are taken care of.

“We have a moral obligation to help those that have helped us over the past 20 years of our presence and work in Afghanistan,” David Helvey, the acting assistant secretary of defense for Indo-Pacific security affairs, said during a hearing today before the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Right now, Helvey said, the DOD is working with the State Department and other government agencies to look at programs, including the Special Immigrant Visa Program, as a solution to help partners in Afghanistan who won’t be retrograded out of the country along with soldiers, helicopters and weapons systems. But the SIP is limited in its ability, Helvey said.

“We’d like to be able to work with Congress to be able to increase the quotas and the resources for special immigrant visas,” Helvey said. “But there are certain categories of our Afghan partners that wouldn’t meet the thresholds for special immigrant visas, so we need to look at other tools and other mechanisms to help those that have helped us.”

Two other options, he said, might include humanitarian or significant public benefit parole, which U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services can use to let some classes of individuals who are currently outside the United States into the country.

“We are working within the interagency to be able to identify those and get the proper resources attached to them,” Helvey said. “With respect to Special Immigrant Visas, we’re working very closely with the State Department to identify and provide data that can help to provide the identification and the identities of those employees of the Department of Defense that would qualify. We’re also looking at biometric data which can also help to provide information and insight on who may qualify for that type of benefit.”

The U.S. entered Afghanistan in October 2001, following the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the U.S., as part of Operation Enduring Freedom. OEF shut down in 2014, but some U.S. forces stayed on after. Helvey said he believes the U.S. accomplished what it set out to do in Afghanistan.

“It was a counterterrorism mission,” Helvey said. “That’s why we authorized forces to go there … it has largely succeeded. We brought the perpetrators of the 9/11 attacks to justice. And we have significantly reduced the threat of international terrorists emanating from Afghanistan.”

While the U.S. will no longer be in Afghanistan, the U.S. relationship with Afghanistan will not end — it’ll just change, he said.

“We will continue to work with the Afghan government, we will continue to maintain a diplomatic presence, and we will continue providing support to our Afghan partners because we do have interests still in Afghanistan,” he said.

Following the U.S. withdrawal, any number of possibilities might arise, including a takeover of the country by the Taliban — or a defeat of the Taliban by the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces.

“I will acknowledge the range of potential outcomes in the months as we go forward,” Brig. Gen. Matthew Trollinger, the deputy director of politico-military affairs for the Middle East, on the Joint Staff, said. “I will say the ANDSF — they’re a capable force. They have capable ground, air and special operations forces, and here, very recently, they’ve effectively both defended against Taliban attacks as well as gone on the offensive to disrupt Taliban activities.”

NATO TIMELINE:

The Allies have decided to start the withdrawal of forces deployed under the non-combat Resolute Support Mission (RSM), which has been training, advising and assisting the Afghan security forces and institutions since January 2015. The drawdown of all US and RSM forces will start on 1 May 2021 and should be completed within a few months. RSM was launched following the end of the mission of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in December 2014, when responsibility for security in Afghanistan was transferred to the Afghan national defence and security forces. NATO Allies and partners will continue to support the ongoing Afghan-owned and Afghan-led peace process. The withdrawal of troops does not mean the end of the relationship with Afghanistan but rather the start of a new chapter.

NATO has participated in that process, by supporting development of transparent, accountable and cost-effective international funding mechanisms and expenditure arrangements for all strands of the ANDSF.

As of 8 March 2021, total contributions made to the Trust Fund since its establishment in 2007 amount to over USD 3.4 billion. The ANA Trust Fund is open for contributions by the broader international community. The Afghan government itself is also expected to continue to maintain and increase financial contributions to support their army and police forces.

The ANA Trust Fund is one of four funding streams used to channel financial support to Afghanistan’s security forces and institutions. The other three are the Law and Order Trust Fund for Afghanistan (LOTFA), administered by the United Nations Development Programme; the United States Afghanistan Security Forces Fund (ASFF); and the Afghan government’s commitment to providing USD 500 million each year, while attempting to increase this amount annually, until they can financially sustain their own forces. LOTFA is used to pay the salaries of police and justice personnel and to build the capacity of the ministry of interior. The ASFF is subject to a US-Afghan bilateral agreement and pays for equipping and running Afghanistan’s security forces.

• NATO led the UN-mandated International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) from August 2003 to December 2014. ISAF’s mission was to enable the Afghan authorities and build the capacity of the Afghan national security forces to provide effective security, so as to ensure that Afghanistan would never again be a safe haven for terrorists.
• ISAF was NATO’s longest and most challenging mission to date: at its height, the force was more than 130,000 strong with troops from 50 NATO and partner nations.
• ISAF also contributed to reconstruction and development in Afghanistan through 28 multinational Provincial Reconstruction Teams.
• The transition to Afghan lead for security started in 2011 and was completed in December 2014, when the ISAF operation ended and the Afghans assumed full responsibility for security of their country.
• In January 2015, NATO launched the Resolute Support Mission (RSM) to train, advise and assist Afghan security forces and institutions. Currently, it numbers around 10,000 troops from 36 NATO Allies and partner countries.
• At the July 2018 NATO Summit in Brussels, the Allies and their operational partners committed to sustain RSM until conditions indicate a change is appropriate; to extend financial sustainment of the Afghan security forces through 2024; and to make further progress on developing a political and practical partnership with Afghanistan.
• In April 2021, the Allies and their RSM partners decided to start the withdrawal of troops on 1 May 2021. The plan is to complete the orderly, coordinated and deliberate drawdown of all US and RSM troops within a few months.
• The Allies continue to support the ongoing Afghan-owned and Afghan-led peace process. They urge the Afghan government and the Taliban to fulfil their commitments to working towards a comprehensive peace agreement that puts an end to violence and builds on the progress of the last 20 years to safeguard human rights, uphold the rule of law and ensure that Afghanistan never again serves as a haven for terrorists.
• The Enduring Partnership — set up in 2010 and strengthened at the 2016 NATO Summit in Warsaw — is NATO’s political partnership with Afghanistan. A traditional partnership with Afghanistan remains NATO’s long-term goal.
• NATO’s Senior Civilian Representative represents the political leadership of the Alliance in Kabul, advising the Afghan authorities on the Enduring Partnership as well as liaising with the government, civil society, representatives of the international community and neighbouring countries.