(TheRedWire.com) – Lawmakers and the American public have criticized President Joe Biden for his bungled August withdrawal and evacuation from Afghanistan. For several weeks, the Kabul International Airport served as the US logistics center where US citizens and Afghan partners in a special visa pool sought help to leave the war-torn country. On Tuesday, September 14, Secretary of State Antony Blinken told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that US officials didn’t vet Afghans who boarded planes out of the country.
Blinken Admits Most Afghans Were Not Vetted Before Boarding US Evacuation Planes https://t.co/F4dS7kD8hn
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) September 14, 2021
Due to the enormity of the situation and the number of people, Blinken said US officials waited until later to vet Afghans properly. The secretary insisted that the US government worked with third-party countries to create checkpoints to conduct a complete vetting process and ensure no one was a security threat before entering the United States. Blinken said approximately 45,000 Afghans are in the country.
It’s reasonable to suspect terrorists and criminals attempted to enter the United States from Afghanistan during the exodus. The Washington Times reported a case of a convicted rapist, deported in 2017, who managed to make it onto a flight out of Afghanistan.
How many people are in the US who shouldn’t be? It’s unknown. However, the evacuation process was rife with potential problems. While the US must always be vigilant to protect against terrorism in the homeland, it only takes the slip of one bad actor to cause a lot of trouble. Let’s hope the government didn’t miss one.
Copyright 2021, TheRedWire.com
