UNITED AND DIVIDED
2 Conn. politicos who served in Afghanistan assess the chaos
State Rep. Matt Blumenthal, a Democrat who represents parts of Darien and Stamford, and Alex Plitsas, chair of Fairfield’s Republican Town Committee, are unlikely to see eye-to-eye on most issues, though both served in military deployments in Afghanistan.
On this, at least, they agree: The United States must do more to safely evacuate its Afghan allies amid the Taliban takeover.
President Joe Biden is facing intense criticism for the chaos unfolding in Kabul, following his decision to withdraw U.S. troops from the country, ending a nearly 20-year war.
Blumenthal and Plitsas, who deployed to Afghanistan around the same time, have
watched in horror as the country has fallen to Taliban forces, and Afghans, who worked alongside U.S. forces during the war that has spanned four presidential administrations, plead for help.
“It’s really heartrending to watch how everything has unfolded there and to know so many people who helped us and put themselves at risk alongside our troops and diplomats are in serious danger,” Blumenthal said.
Blumenthal, who served in the Marine Corps in Afghanistan in 2011, son of Connecticut’s senior U.S. senator, did not want to cast blame on Biden, saying the time will come to examine how the withdrawal was conducted.
“The important thing right now is for the administration to dedicate the will and resources necessary to get Americans, Afghans and our third country allies to safety,” he said in an interview Thursday.
“We’re still in the process of that mission and whether the mission is a success or failure will depend on the actions we take not just today, but in days to come,” he added.
Plitsas, like Blumenthal, supports Biden’s decision to pull out of Afghanistan, which followed a deal between former President Donald Trump and the Taliban to end the war and withdraw all U.S. forces by May 1, 2021.
But his support does not extend to how the process has unfolded. On his Twitter page, where Plitsas has amassed 19,000 followers as a conservative voice, he has harshly criticized Biden and the execution of the withdrawal. The evacuations should have begun months ago, before the troop exits, Plitsas said in a phone interview last week from Italy, where he was on vacation.
He accused Biden of going “missing in action” as the disorder ensued, leaving for a long planned getaway to
Camp David, before coming back to Washington 72 hours later. Plitsas also criticized the president for not answering reporters’ questions on the evacuation. Biden finally did so after a Friday briefing, where he continued to defend his decision.
Plitsas deployed to Afghanistan in 2012 as a defense civilian intelligence officer after serving in the Army in Iraq. He fears a repeat in Afghanistan of what happened in Iraq after then-President Barack Obama withdrew American forces from the country in 2011, following through on an agreement made by his predecessor, former President George W. Bush, and shortly after the Islamic State seized power.
While Biden inherited America’s longest war, including the political calculations made by three of his predecessors, Plitsas said the president bears responsibility for “the actions he took unilaterally after taking office.” That includes his decision to grant a waiver earlier this year allowing the Pentagon to proceed with the withdrawal without providing a risk assessment to Congress, as legally required.
Blumenthal, on the other hand, said Biden’s hands were tied by the deal negotiated by Trump.
“I think the Trump administration did severely limit the options the current administration had by the deal it agreed to with Taliban, which very much empowered the Taliban and completely cut out the Afghan government,” he said.
The crisis presents a complex picture for people in politics such as Blumenthal and Plitsas, as the leaders of both parties took key actions leading up to it.
On Aug. 15, the same day the Taliban took over Kabul, Afghanistan’s capital city, Blumenthal posted on his Twitter page: “If you are trying to score political points on what’s happening in Afghanistan today, you are wrong.”
In a tweet the next day, he called the war in Afghanistan, a “generational failure.” “There is plenty of blame to go around,” he said. “But if you couldn’t be bothered to stand up for Afghan refugees before today, spare us.”
Despite the political divide, both Blumenthal and Plitsas were adamant that the focus now should be on safely evacuating Afghan refugees and resettling them in the United States, which they said should not be a partisan issue.
Both men have received a flurry of messages from Afghan interpreters, some they know personally, most they don’t, seeking help leaving the country. Many of the interpreters have applied for the Special Immigrant Visa Program, a cumbersome process that, if successful, enables them to resettle stateside.
As a Marine infantry platoon commander serving in Marja in southern Afghanistan in the fall and winter in 2011, Blumenthal said his platoon relied heavily on Afghan interpreters to “interface” with Afghans on the ground and with the Afghan security forces, as it conducted security patrols in the region.
“We had Afghans who would regularly come up to Marine platoons to warn them about Taliban IEDs on the road,” he said, referring to warnings from Afghans to his and other platoons of improvised explosive devices.
He wrote letters of recommendations for some of the interpreters he worked with as part of their SIV applications. As a lawyer, he helped an interpreter successfully get a visa — a time-consuming effort that brought to light how flawed and bogged down the application process has become.
“The first thing we need to do is to cut the red tape in the refugee process,” Blumenthal said, adding, “It doesn’t help that the Trump administration completely shut it down.”
The United States should use its “massive logistical resources,” through the military and State Department, “to get these people out of Afghanistan,” he said. “We can sort the paperwork out later.”
If the U.S. is able to safely evacuate its Afghan allies, its new mission will be to help these people get on their feet, including providing them food, clothing and shelter, Plitsas said.
“We have a moral obligation as country to take care of them,” he added.