THE POINT OF VETTING
The writers for CNN seemed shocked — shocked! — at the news: There may be some Afghan evacuees who will be sent back to their home country if they can’t pass the vetting process required to enter this one.
To some of us, the whole point of this particular “vetting process” is to figure out who’s a friend and who’s not. And when tens of thousands of people (maybe more) scrambled to leave Afghanistan since August, some unfriendly types are bound to be mixed in.
Right now, many Afghan evacuees sit at safe places around the globe, answering questions and providing documents. Some are at American military bases. About 70,000 Afghans have already been admitted to the United States. Welcome to all. These are friends indeed. They helped the Americans during the war, and put their lives on the line for our national interests. May they make new lives here and prosper. They already seek the American Way even if they can’t yet pronounce the phrase. We should be proud to have these brave people, and their families, in the American fold.
Other Afghan evacuees have been cleared to go to other countries. Maybe some have a little French. Maybe some worked for the Germans. Maybe some have family in Pakistan.
But there is always the possibility that some of them will be told to head back to Afghanistan. Whether they will, or whether they’ll stay in their host countries longer than vetting requires, is another question.
As of now, a return to Afghanistan for those who don’t pass the vetting test is only a possibility. Only one option on the table. But common sense would say that somebody will be told (if not forced) to go back home. That has to be a possible outcome, or why have this vetting process at all?
The State Department was heard from in this matter. And its people rush to assure. A spokesman told CNN that the U.S. government is “confident that these Afghan evacuees will be able to be resettled in the United States or in third countries as appropriate.”
He didn’t emphasize it, but we will. That is, the word “appropriate.”
And a senior administration official said any return to Afghanistan might be more voluntary than otherwise. Even though the United States hasn’t sent anybody back to the government of the Taliban yet, the Americans “would leave all such possibilities on the table, which includes the fact that you might have evacuees for whom that is their preferred destination if the United States is not an option.”
Because of international law prohibiting the sending of refugees back to a country in which they may face torture, and the Taliban being the Taliban, human rights advocates worry that some evacuees could be stuck at military bases for long periods. That sounds more likely to happen.
But for somebody who joined the stampede out of Afghanistan and can’t be confirmed to be a friend, that might be the best scenario. Because it always seemed probable that a few would be so vetted.
National Security Council spokesperson Emily Horne said that “all Afghans hoping to begin new lives in America must first pass our security screening and vetting process and receive necessary vaccinations before they are permitted to enter the United States.
“The fact that some people have been flagged by our counter-terrorism, intelligence or law enforcement professionals for additional screening shows our system is working.”
Yes. And some of us aren’t shocked — shocked! — at those words.