CLEVELAND -- Since 2001, many Afghans have helped us fight al-Qaida and the Taliban. Translators and others gave blood, sweat and tears in supporting our troops. They risked their lives. They put their families at risk. They merit our support.
President Joe Biden has promised to evacuate them. Yet, except for a small contingent of troops assigned to protect our embassy in Kabul and the Kabul airport, we have no assets to execute that evacuation. The slaughter last month of nearly two dozen Afghan commandos who had surrendered reveals the murderous nature of the Taliban.
What will be the translators’ fate? More slaughter? One thing seems evident: The government of Afghanistan has little or no ability to protect their safety.
I’m a Vietnam veteran assigned to Special Forces. Sadly, we’ve seen the unfolding picture in Afghanistan before. The South Vietnamese government and its military had matured into a significant fighting force, but it needed U.S. military support, especially air power. Congress foolishly cut off funding and prohibited our military from providing further assistance. A North Vietnamese invasion overwhelmed the south. The scenes of Americans and Vietnamese making a final, desperate escape burn deeply in our memories.
Still, in one bright note amid a dismal catastrophe, Vietnamese and American heroes managed to evacuate 130,000 Vietnamese refugees before April 30, 1975.
Ever since I was 12, I had read about the historic battle of Dien Bien Phu. I wanted to go to Vietnam and I volunteered.
In 1961, I had helped sponsor a program that brought the Vietnamese ambassador to Xavier University. He presented what was happening. He explained the Strategic Hamlet Program pushed by Gen. William Westmoreland that might have succeeded had the Washington politicians given Westmoreland their backing.
In 1968, I got my traveling wish when I received orders to go to Vietnam. There, I served with 5th Special Forces Group Airborne. I met many good people, including our Vietnamese interpreter.
Between 1975 and 1980, I co-chaired the Vietnamese Information Services coalition. We resettled 10,000 refugees in Ohio, where I live. My personal experience involved my Vietnamese interpreter, who came with her family from Fort Chafee and stayed in our home. Others lived with welcoming Cleveland families. We worked to help them resettle here and integrate into our society. This process was repeated thousands of times throughout America, with the support of immigration agencies.
Of course, differences exist between Vietnam and Afghanistan.
First, in Vietnam evacuations, Americans and Vietnamese intermingled. Both groups traveled together. Americans had a deep commitment to not abandoning their Vietnamese allies. Second, Washington gave the evacuations unwavering support.
In Afghanistan, most Americans have left. The “sprinkling” strategy of Americans and Afghans is not now possible. Second, for all the brave talk, the same dedication of our government officials seems missing. While the administration has referred to certain actions under the label Operation Allies Refuge, whose details it won’t reveal because of operational security – a valid rationale – the task that lies before them in an increasingly hostile war zone is huge.
The U.S. evacuation seems poorly thought through. It is coming very late. Some hope that a possible three-month ceasefire that the Taliban has offered in exchange for the release of 7,000 of its prisoners may create a space for evacuation.
Learn from history. In 1975, hope arose that the South Vietnamese government could strike a truce with the Communists. It was an empty hope. And even if it occurs in Afghanistan, that does not answer the question of how a massive evacuation of Afghans scattered around a large country can be rescued.
Here are requirements for a fruitful evacuation:
First, define clearly how many Afghans we will evacuate. I propose 100,000. That embraces 18,000 interpreters who aided our soldiers, plus their families, totaling 50,000. There are other at-risk Afghans, including women leaders. These may consist of another 50,000.
Second, how do we communicate with these people in Afghanistan? Most interpreters have filed for the SIV Program (Special Immigrant Visas for translators/interpreters). Their applications contain contact information. Also, virtually everybody in the world has a cellphone. So start by trying cellphone networks. Ultimately, we may have to rely on word of mouth.
In Vietnam, the goal was to save people, not dot every “i” on a bureaucrat’s application form. Agencies had drawn up lists and rankings of at-risk Vietnamese. But it was agreed to save as many as possible even if some might fail to pass detailed interrogatories.
Third, how do we get people out? In Vietnam, river barges carried thousands to our waiting Navy. Vietnamese Navy ships rescued thousands, and took them to the Philippines. The Vietnamese Air Force airlifted people to Thailand. Aircraft filled with refugees flew from Saigon’s Tan Son Nhat Airport. Helicopters landed precariously on Saigon rooftops and ferried people to the American fleet. Other Vietnamese self-evacuated. They boarded anything that could float and went out to sea.
Passenger aircraft may prove the best option in land-locked Afghanistan. Some may use land routes to reach Afghanistan’s neighbors. But it is uncertain how they will be welcomed.
Fourth, what about safely flying out of Afghanistan? Will the Taliban hinder that? Will they shoot down our airplanes? Do they have operable Stinger missiles? Remember, there are thousands of Taliban prisoners. This will sound callous, but on each passenger aircraft we could place some Taliban people, leaders, and families. Make no mistake. The Taliban care about the fate of their own people. Taliban prisoners provide important leverage to safely evacuate other Afghans. We should detail jets loaded with bombs and napalm to fly protection. In this scenario, hostile action would be swiftly countered.
Fifth, where should these Afghans be taken? Some recommend Guam, a U.S. territory, or other countries. I advocate against this for several reasons. I recommend the 100,000 be evacuated to the United States, and to house them temporarily on military bases. That was done for the Vietnamese. It will be easier to assist Afghans if they are on the U.S. mainland, where American immigration services and nongovernmental organizations are located and can provide needed resettlement help. This will avoid possible problems in other countries. It would inspire confidence among refugees.
Sixth, all evacuated Afghan families should remain on U.S. bases (or perhaps temporary but livable camps) until a named sponsor is obtained for that family. Sponsors will be recruited from throughout America. This will require a substantial public-relations outreach. The sponsors can be churches and mosques, local community groups, Afghan groups, resettlement and immigration organizations, and individual American families. Sponsors would agree to work closely with the Afghan family, perhaps for five years. That worked with Indochinese and American sponsors by establishing close, long-term relationships.
Seventh, the aim should be achieving self-sufficiency and employment for each Afghan family. No long-term financial assistance should be allocated for anyone. A generous monthly stipend will only create dependency, leading recipients to expect this forever. Furthermore, these Afghans generally possess English language skills. Many are well-trained and will be eager to work hard and succeed. This has been our experience with the Indochinese.
Joseph Patrick Meissner when he was named Outstanding Veteran of the Year in Cuyahoga County.
The overriding goal: achieving independence for each Afghan family. The motto: “Any job is a good job.” I will mention again my Vietnamese interpreter. When she came to Cleveland, I kept telling her, “Here is another job opportunity. Visit this place; talk to the hiring people.”
“No, Anh Ba (Brother Number Three, my Vietnamese name),” she repeated over and over. Three weeks after my initial urgings, she boasted she had a job. She had secured a splendid position with an American company. She had knocked doors on her own and telephoned for in-person interviews.
So we should help find employment for a family. Families then start up the American ladder toward success.
The evacuation is late. We need to act now to fulfill our moral obligation to our friends and allies who helped our soldiers in Afghanistan.
As retired U.S. Gen. Joseph Votel, former commander of U.S. Special Operations Command and U.S. Central Command, recently remarked about our Vietnam evacuation: “We did the right thing. We stood by people that stood by us, that were going to be persecuted because of their association and support to us. And we brought them to our country and then made them part of our society.”
Joseph Patrick Meissner, a Vietnam veteran and retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel, spent 46 years as a Legal Aid lawyer in Cleveland and sponsored his Vietnamese interpreter and 19 of her family to resettle in Cleveland. He also sponsored 29 Cubans for resettlement. A graduate of Harvard Law School, Meissner has returned to Vietnam more than 30 times since the end of the war on humanitarian missions with the Friendship Foundation of American Vietnamese, a group founded by former Vietnamese interpreter Luong Thi Gia Hoa.
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