WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Angus King (I-Maine) delivered impassioned remarks today on the Senate floor in support of efforts to have the administration pursue all options to process Special Immigrant Visas (SIVs) to protect the safety and well-being of Afghans who aided the U.S in our two decade military mission in Afghanistan. With the U.S. planning to withdraw troops on or before September 11, 2021, there are currently less than three months to help secure the safety of qualified SIV applicants and their families. Senator King has been aggressively highlighting the need to protect Afghan partners in recent days, to raise awareness and pressure for needed action. In a column earlier this week for the Military Times, Senator King cited that continued delays in the SIV process “could very well be a death sentence for those who put their lives on the line to help the United States”, in addition to potentially discouraging future allies from working with American military efforts. Last week, he pressed a top Defense Department nominee for his commitment to prioritize efforts to bring America’s Afghan partners to safety. Last month, Senator King joined a bipartisan group of his colleagues to urge President Joe Biden to streamline the SIV program for Afghan nationals who worked for or on behalf of the United States.

“We are leaving Afghanistan after 20 years, the longest war in this country's history. During the entirety of that 20 years, there were brave people in Afghanistan, Afghanistan people, who helped us, who were translators, who were guides, who assisted us in the struggle against terrorism and in the struggle against the Taliban – and as we leave, those people are in grave danger,” said Senator King. “The Taliban has made no secret of the fact that they are in grave danger. They have already started killing them. If we leave without providing for the safety of those people, providing them a way to maintain their lives, it will be a stain on this country that will exist for generations. Not only is it a moral and ethical obligation, it's a national security obligation, because if we don't take care of the people who took care of us, who is going to come to our aid the next time? Who is going to come to the aid of the Americans who turned their backs on those that risked their lives on behalf of this country – the answer is no one. So this is not only an ethical and moral obligation, this is a matter of national security in terms of our standing in the world and our ability to work with allies and others against adversaries of this country and other countries in the world.”

“The average time I'm told it now takes to process the paperwork for one of the people that we're trying to get out of Afghanistan through the special visa program is 600 days. We're going to have a military presence in Afghanistan less than 90 days. There's a mismatch there. We've got to take steps to protect these people. Now, maybe it's surging – we've talked about military surges. Let's surge some paperwork, people, to get this work done faster. But I don't believe we're going to be able to do that. Now, by the way, I'm not saying we open the door to everyone – there are 18,000 people on tear list, that's not to mention their families – that we just open the door and say everybody come here. Because as we know, Afghanistan has been the home to very dangerous terrorist groups, Al Qaeda, ISIS, and others. So we do have to have some processing. But we've got to be able to process these people in a way that protects us in terms of our national security, but also gets them out of harm's way.

“One possibility – and I'm delighted that just a few hours ago the President mentioned that he's going to be working with other countries to find a safe place to move these people while we're doing the processing. I think that's exactly what we have to do. We can't just hope that when we leave in August or – September 11 is the deadline that the President has established – that we just hope the Taliban won't take over Kabul. The Taliban won't take over other regions of the country and start murdering the people that helped us. This isn't a speculative problem. This isn't something we think may happen. They've told us it's going to happen. I learned all my life, believe people when they tell you what they're going to do. And this is one of those situations. We know what's coming. And if what ends up coming is a blood bath, that blood is on our hands.”

As Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee and a member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Senator King is recognized as a thoughtful voice on national security and foreign policy issues in the Senate. In addition to his committee work, Senator King serves on the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, the Senate North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Observer Group, and is co-chair of the Cyberspace Solarium Commission. He voted in favor of the Senate’s passage of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2021, which includes several funding and policy priorities advocated for by Senator King to support military facilities and communities in Maine and advance the national defense. The legislation – containing 25 bipartisan cybersecurity recommendations from the Cyberspace Solarium Commission – became law earlier this year after Senator King and the overwhelming majority of his colleagues voted to override former President Trump’s veto.