Note from Tom: Afghanistan

[Tom Malinowski for Congress]( This weekend, I woke to an image of an Afghan woman raising a baby over the Kabul airport fence into the arms of US Marines. I hope this soon-to-be-American child’s family somehow made it across, too. I felt a mixture of anger over our failures in Afghanistan, admiration for our troops and Foreign Service officers trying to save lives, and determination that we do right by the Afghans who stood with us and bet their lives on the future we had promised. As you read this, there are still thousands of American citizens in Afghanistan, trying to get to the airport that our military controls so that they can fly home to safety. There are also Afghan translators who helped our troops and Afghan soldiers who fought at our side, Afghans who worked for our embassy and for American aid groups, outspoken advocates of women’s rights, journalists, students at the American University in Kabul, and many others who would be targeted by the Taliban if we left them behind. There are military aircraft and private charter flights organized by resourceful and compassionate Americans waiting to take them. I’ve been in touch hour by hour with veterans and aid groups working to get these vulnerable people out, and know that just getting them to the airport has been painfully hard. They have to run the gauntlet past Taliban thugs outside the airfield gates, and there have been incomprehensible breakdowns on our side as well, which I’m trying to resolve. But President Biden has pledged that our military will do everything in its power to evacuate our citizens and allies. It would be unconscionable and devastating to our credibility if we left them behind to the mercy of the Taliban. This past week, I mobilized dozens of members of Congress, from the most liberal Democrats to the most conservative Republicans, to urge him to keep our troops at that airport long enough to complete the rescue mission. The president’s previous self-imposed August 31st deadline for getting our troops out should not apply to the evacuation. Once our allies are out, we will have time to reflect on our 20 year experience in Afghanistan. I imagine that you have mixed feelings about it, as do I. We lost 2,500 young Americans in Afghanistan. Their families have suffered unbearable pain. Meanwhile, in Afghanistan there was massive corruption, disunity, and poor leadership. At the same time, we did deliver justice to Bin Laden. We have prevented a second 9/11. Millions of Afghan women got an education. Afghans had free elections and a free press. We had a valuable military base, a strong partner in fighting terrorism, and more European NATO troops there than Americans. Many Afghans fought bravely for their country; tens of thousands died defending their families against the Taliban. We did not leave because they lost their will to fight; they lost their will in part because we left. No matter how long we had stayed, we could not have fixed what was wrong with Afghanistan. But does that mean we should have sacrificed all that was right? Keep in mind that for all the chaos their departure caused, our troops are not coming home. They are simply moving to other bases in the region, from which they will conduct the same drone strikes and counter-terrorism raids in Afghanistan as before, but at a greater distance, with poorer intelligence, and no allies on the ground. I’m not sure that what we have gained here justifies what we have lost. Whether you share my concerns about this or not, I hope you will agree with me that right now we must do all in our power to save as many of our allies as we can, and that we should welcome them with open arms to America, just as our Marines on that fence opened their arms to the child of parents who believed in what we promised. And I hope you’ll agree that despite our problems at home and failings abroad, America should always strive to act like a country worthy of their faith in us. As always, I’d welcome your thoughts. Tom Tom Malinowski served as a diplomat in the Obama administration, standing up to dictators overseas. Now he's standing up for our democracy as a Congressman representing New Jersey's 7th district. [Donate Once]( [Donate Monthly]( Tom Malinowski for Congress P.O. Box 263 Somerville, NJ 08876 United States [Click here to unsubscribe from Tom's email list.]( Paid for by Tom Malinowski for Congress