The Obama administration was accused Wednesday of giving terrorists an incentive to kidnap as it unveiled a hostage policy overhaul allowing families of U.S. hostages to pay ransom and allowing the U.S. government to help families communicate with captors.
“This doesn’t fix anything,”Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., a leading critic of the administration’s hostage policy, told Fox News. “The money that we’re going to be paying ISIS is going to be used to buy arms and to buy equipment to fight Americans and to fight the Iraqis.”
But the White House said the changes are being unveiled with the families and victims in mind.
WASHINGTON The Biden administration said Wednesday that it is prepared to begin evacuation flights for Afghan interpreters and translators who aided the U.S. military effort in the nearly 20-year war but their destinations are still unknown and there are lingering questions about how to ensure their safety until they can get on planes.
The Operation Allies Refuge flights out of Afghanistan during the last week of July will be available first for special immigrant visa applicants already in the process of applying for U.S. residency, according to the White House.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki declined to detail how many Afghans are expected to be among those evacuated in the first flights or where those evacuated will be taken, citing security concerns.
Evacuation begins for Afghans who aided US military >Former Afghan interpreters hold banners during a protest against the U.S. government and NATO in Kabul, Afghanistan, April 30. AP FILE PHOTO >Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, center, greets Gen. Scott Miller, the former top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, as Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley, left, looks on, upon Miller s return, Wednesday, July 14, 2021, at Andrews Air Force Base, Md. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Pool) Alex Brandon
Published: 7/14/2021 10:09:49 PM
WASHINGTON The Biden administration is set to begin evacuations of Afghan interpreters and translators who aided the U.S. military effort in the nearly 20-year war, an administration official said.
The U.S. will begin flying Afghan nationals who supported U.S.
and coalition operations in Afghanistan, according to a senior Biden administration official. Evacuation flights will begin in the last week of July.
During the 20-year war in Afghanistan, thousands of Afghan citizens served as interpreters, provided intelligence and assisted the U.S. and its coalition partners as drivers, security guards and in other roles.
Roughly 18,000 Afghan nationals, along with tens of thousands of their family members, have applied for special immigrant visas to the U.S. But administrative delays have long meant the visa process can take years, allowing the backlog to grow.
An American lieutenant, center, meets with villagers in Afghanistan s Kunar province in 2009, assisted by an interpreter, sitting to his right wearing a baseball cap. The U.S. will begin the evacuation of some 18,000 Afghan nationals who aided military operations, along with their families, in late July. David Guttenfelder/AP
toggle caption David Guttenfelder/AP
An American lieutenant, center, meets with villagers in Afghanistan s Kunar province in 2009, assisted by an interpreter, sitting to his right wearing a baseball cap. The U.S. will begin the evacuation of some 18,000 Afghan nationals who aided military operations, along with their families, in late July.