‘Do Not Abandon the Afghans’

Veterans, journalists, human-rights groups, and ordinary Americans had for months urged President Joe Biden to develop and implement a serious plan to protect and relocate our allies before the United States withdrew its forces from Afghanistan. This summer, I wrote privately to members of his administration on this issue. Now the situation has reached a crucial juncture. In the coming hours and days, the most profound decisions that will determine the fate of thousands of Afghan women and men, who for two decades served alongside Americans, must—and will—be made by our president. That is why I am writing to him directly.

Dear President Biden,

I am a former enlisted Army Ranger. As a team and squad