Matt Zeller: ‘This Is a Tragedy of Unspeakable Proportions, But I Wish the Trump Administration Would Take Ownership for Some of Their Blame’

RUSH EXCERPT:

ZELLER: “Yes, I do. I’m only sitting here alive talking to you today because my Afghan interpreter killed two Taliban fighters who were about to kill me in a battle. He did that because he believed that the Americans he served with were honorable people who kept their promise. And let’s be clear, it was people like me in uniform who looked our Afghan allies in the eye and said, if your time of duress comes, our country will not abandon you. We will take care of you. My fear is that if we continue down this path where we make every Afghan a pariah, we’re going to get U.S. Soldiers killed in far larger numbers in future wars. Because in the next conflict, the next American service member in harm’s way won’t have their janis like I did, protecting them, watching their back. This is a horrific event. And let’s be clear, every single member of the Afghan diaspora and the veterans community in this country, our hearts and our thoughts and our prayers are with the deceased soldier, her family, the injured soldier who we hope fights and makes it, and their family as well. This is a tragedy of unspeakable proportions, but I wish the Trump Administration would take ownership for some of their blame. The only reason there was an Afghan evacuation was because they signed a surrender agreement to the Taliban in doha in 2019 that obligated us to be on that course of action. Let’s also be clear that you mentioned that the individual was was vetted in Qatar. That’s partially true. It wasn’t just Qatar. They were vetted at the time of their employment. He didn’t just get to walk on to a CIA base and say, hi, my name is so-and-so and I’m brother to so-and-so, and I’d like to work for you. He had to pass an entire series of background investigations just to work for the CIA. He had to pass another series of background investigations to make it from Qatar to the United States. And then when they all landed in the U.S. they went to one of 12 different U.S. Army bases. I know this because I was personally there. I saw them all get vetted. Every single Afghan who got evacuated was brought to the United States army base. Here in the United States. They were sometimes held for up to four months before we allowed them to go out into the American public. So I my biggest fear is this I’ve seen how the administration is reacting, and I fear that they’re going to”