Short answer is US government bureaucracy who don't give an iota about political refugees. This is now the long answer of government ineptness on top of indifference to the plight of our friends. https://www.rollcall.com/2021/08/16...afghans-at-risk-as-us-slowly-considers-visas/ “To say that today is anything short of a disaster would be dishonest,” said Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass. “America and our allies must drop the onerous visa requirements where a typo can condemn an ally to torture and death, and the military must continue the evacuation for as long as it takes.” “The Biden administration’s blind eye to Afghan nationals is a stain on the United States,” Ali Noorani, president of the National Immigration forum, said in a statement Sunday. “What is astonishing is the utter lack of planning by the administration to develop a plan to protect the tens of thousands of Afghan nationals who worked with our military.” The Afghan SIV program, designed to provide a safe haven for U.S. military allies in Afghanistan, has long been beleaguered by onerous requirements and wait times that stretch for years. Last month, lawmakers authorized an additional 8,000 visa slots in a law to improve Capitol security, as well as more than $1 billion to fund the evacuation. State Department officials in recent weeks have cited plans to move SIV applicants who have not yet completed security vetting to third countries while their applications are processed, and to expand priority refugee pathways for Afghans who don’t qualify for the SIV program’s narrow parameters but are likely to face persecution after the U.S. withdrawal. Educators and women's rights activists are among those seen as vulnerable.
You seem to have more ambition for what America should be doing in Taiwan than I do. You’re the one pitting America against China and Russia, not me. However, yes, if need be we could handle both China and Russia because we are that strong.
The real problem is the lesson that other countries are taking away from this episode... Afghan abandonment a lesson for Taiwan’s DPP: Global Times editorial https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202108/1231636.shtml The US troops' withdrawal from Afghanistan has led to the rapid demise of the Kabul government. The world has witnessed how the US evacuated its diplomats by helicopter while Taliban soldiers crowded into the presidential palace in Kabul. This has dealt a heavy blow to the credibility and reliability of the US. Many people cannot help but recall how the Vietnam War ended in 1975: The US abandoned its allies in South Vietnam; Saigon was taken over; then the US evacuated almost all its citizens in Saigon. And in 2019, US troops withdrew from northern Syria abruptly and abandoned their allies, the Kurds. Some historians also point out that abandoning allies to protect US interests is an inherent flaw that has been deeply rooted in the US since the founding of the country. During the American War of Independence, the US humbly begged the king of France, Louis XVI, to ally with it. After the war, it quickly made peace with Britain unilaterally and concluded a peace treaty with Britain that was detrimental to France's interests. This put Louis XVI's regime in a difficult position, giving cause for the French Revolution. How Washington abandoned the Kabul regime particularly shocked some in Asia, including the island of Taiwan. Taiwan is the region that relies on the protection of the US the most in Asia, and the island's Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authorities have made Taiwan go further and further down this abnormal path. The situation in Afghanistan suddenly saw a radical change after the country was abandoned by the US. And Washington just left despite the worsening situation in Kabul. Is this some kind of omen of Taiwan's future fate? Tsai Ing-wen, who had sent a message of condolence to the US president for the death of his dog, did not mention even a word about the change in the situation in Afghanistan. Other DPP politicians as well as the media that tilt toward the DPP downplayed the shocking change as well. But they must have been nervous and feel an ominous presentiment. They must have known better in secret that the US is not reliable. The geopolitical value of Afghanistan is no less than that of Taiwan island. Around Afghanistan, there are the US' three biggest geopolitical rivals - China, Russia and Iran. In addition, Afghanistan is a bastion of anti-US ideology. The withdrawal of US troops from there is not because Afghanistan is unimportant. It's because it has become too costly for Washington to have a presence in the country. Now the US wants to find a better way to use its resources to maintain its hegemony in the world. Taiwan is probably the US' most cost-effective ally in East Asia. There is no US military presence on the island of Taiwan. The way the US maintains the alliance with Taiwan is simple: It sells arms to Taiwan while encouraging the DPP authorities to implement anti-mainland policies through political support and manipulation. As a result, it has caused a certain degree of depletion between the two sides of the Taiwan Straits. And what Washington has to do is only to send warships and aircraft near the Straits from time to time. In general, the US does not have to spend a penny on Taiwan. Instead, it makes money through arms sales and forced pork and beef sales to the island. This is totally a profitable geopolitical deal for Washington. Once a cross-Straits war breaks out while the mainland seizes the island with forces, the US would have to have a much greater determination than it had for Afghanistan, Syria, and Vietnam if it wants to interfere. A military intervention of the US will be a move to change the status quo in the Taiwan Straits, and this will make Washington pay a huge price rather than earn profit. Some people on the island of Taiwan hype that the island is different from Afghanistan, and that the US wouldn't leave them alone. Indeed, the island is different from Afghanistan. But the difference is the deeper hopelessness of a US victory if it gets itself involved in a cross-Straits war. Such a war would mean unthinkable costs for the US, in front of which the so-called special importance of Taiwan is nothing but wishful thinking of the DPP authorities and secessionist forces on the island. In the past two decades, the Kabul government cost over 2,000 US soldiers, $2 trillion, and the majesty of the US against the "bandits." But how many lives of US troops and how many dollars would the US sacrifice for the island of Taiwan? After all, the US acknowledges that "there is but one China and that Taiwan is part of China." Will the US get more moral support from within and from the West if it fights for the secession of Taiwan than it did during the Afghan War? The DPP authorities need to keep a sober head, and the secessionist forces should reserve the ability to wake up from their dreams. From what happened in Afghanistan, they should perceive that once a war breaks out in the Straits, the island's defense will collapse in hours and the US military won't come to help. As a result, the DPP authorities will quickly surrender, while some high-level officials may flee by plane. The best choice for the DPP authorities is to avoid pushing the situation to that position. They need to change their course of bonding themselves to the anti-Chinese mainland chariot of the US. They should keep cross-Straits peace with political means, rather than acting as strategic pawns of the US and bear the bitter fruits of a war.
China and Russia respect US military power as far as not invading mainland USA. After that they don't care. Russia invaded eastern Ukraine and the US did not react. China is destroying democracy in Hong Kong. The US does not care. As to Israel Arab countries never had to fear a nuclear attack unless they en masse attacked Israel and she was on the brink of destruction. People like you on the left have a distorted view of the US. However as much as you complain you enjoy the benefits of capitalism and never leave for the socialist paradises of Venezuela or Cuba etc.
Thanks for posting in depth what I previously mentioned in a probably overlooked 1 sentence. I learned more about the concerns of Taiwan. Thanks.
its been 18 months since we lost a soldier in Afghanistan In the next 18 months will we lose lives due to terrorism from Afghanistan
"dumb righties" wtf Either you are an 8 year old or else you have a very low IQ / education Dont expect an invitation to the Algonquin Round Table