[UNHCR] Exiting Afghanistan: Biden’s Big Blunder

Written by Wall Street Journal

Upon American troops’ evacuation from Afghanistan, Kunduz and other provincial capitals fell to the Taliban within just 48 hours.

On April 14, 2:29PM, President Biden announced that “more and endless American military force could not create or sustain a durable Afghan government”. A bold claim, especially since following American troops’ evacuation from Afghanistan, Kunduz and other provincial capitals proceeded to fall to the Taliban within a mere 48 hours.

Biden’s controversial decision to pull out American troops from Afghanistan was not received well internationally, with news agencies such as BBC and NPR  stating that “As Kabul falls, Biden backlash grows” and that “Republicans were scathing about the White House’s actions, and Democrats, while acknowledging that President Biden was carrying out the policies of his predecessor, criticized the haphazard manner of the U.S. withdrawal.”

In addition, how relinquishing a large amount of support from Afghanistan will affect numbers of refugees entering America is still being questioned.

According to Vox, “So far, the US has only evacuated about 2,000 Afghan allies and their families — a fraction of the 88,000 who are estimated to have applied for US visas, not to mention the many thousands more who are not eligible for visas but who could apply for refugee status in another country, if they could somehow make their way there.”

This reflects the growing problem of not being able to process the tens of thousands of refugee applications, a problem that will only worsen under Biden’s decision to withdraw American troops from Afghanistan. Americans hoped that the Afghanistan war would improve under Biden’s presidency, but instead it has deteriorated, sparking disappointment and disapproval amongst American citizens.

During the UNHCR press conference, Wall Street Journal questioned the United States’ delegate on this matter, receiving a hesitant response claiming that President Biden’s administration has allowed more refugees than Trump into America and in that sense, they are progressing forward.

The uneasiness and hesitation of the United States’ delegate reveals the lack of preparation and consideration regarding this matter, and calls into question whether President Biden intends to do anything about this issue or not.

In addition, the way the delegate responded to the question places this situation in a competitive perspective, comparing President Biden to former President Trump, deflecting from the actual issue on the acceptance and integration of refugees.

The recent updates in Afghanistan prove the delegate’s claims otherwise, and according to the New York Times, President Biden initially “announced that he was leaving Mr. Trump’s limit of 15,000 refugees in place, which drew widespread condemnation from Democrats and refugee advocates who accused the president of reneging on a campaign promise to welcome those in need.” Two weeks later, however, “Mr. Biden quickly backtracked, promising only hours later that he intended to increase refugee admissions. With Monday’s announcement, the president formally bowed to the pressure.”

This backtracking, along with the removal of American troops from Afghanistan, call into question President Biden’s true views towards refugees entering America. 

Wall Street Journal pursued this discussion and requested for an interview with the UNHCR United States’ delegate, but received no response.

As of now, Afghanistan’s situation only continues to worsen, along with American citizens’ questioning of President Biden’s supposed humanitarian beliefs.