[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 45 (Wednesday, March 15, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1842-S1843]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mrs. SHAHEEN (for herself, Mr. McCain, Mr. Reed, Mr. Tillis, 
        Mr. Blumenthal, and Mr. Kaine):
  S. 630. A bill to amend the Afghan Allies Protection Act of 2009 to 
make 2,500 visas available for the Afghan Special Immigrant Visa 
program, and for other purposes; to the Committee on the Judiciary.
  Mrs. SHAHEEN. Mr. President, I come to the floor again today to speak 
about a program I have been working on that has had bipartisan support 
for a number of years; that is, the Afghan Special Immigrant Visa 
Program. This program allows Afghans, including interpreters, who have 
supported the U.S. mission in Afghanistan and who face threats as a 
result of their service to apply for refuge in the United States. As I 
said, this has had strong bipartisan support. I have worked with 
Senators McCain, Tillis, Leahy, Graham, and so many others here in the 
Chamber to try to make sure we provide enough visas for those Afghans 
who are being threatened and who want to come to the United States.
  I wish to point out that the Trump administration, even as it has 
sharply restricted immigration and refugee programs, has made 
exceptions for those who served alongside our soldiers and diplomats. 
In fact, when the administration's original Executive order on 
immigration was released, there was bipartisan anger that Iraqi 
interpreters were not protected because this program has served not 
just those in Afghanistan who have helped us but also those in Iraq. So 
the administration recognized its mistake and has made an exception for 
Iraqi SIV recipients, and now they have exempted Iraq from their 
Executive order.
  It is really past time that we rally renewed support for the Afghan 
SIV Program. Last week, we learned that the State Department has 
stopped interviewing applicants for the Afghan program because there 
are more applicants in the final stages of the process than there are 
visas. Unless Congress acts, the final visas will be exhausted by the 
end of May. It is estimated that more than 10,000 applicants are still 
in some step of the process of obtaining these visas.
  For these Afghans, it really is no exaggeration to say that this is a 
matter of life and death. Interpreters who served the U.S. mission are 
being systematically hunted down by the Taliban, and unless Congress 
acts, this program will lapse and we will abandon these Afghans to a 
harsh fate.
  The United States promised to protect those Afghans who served our 
mission with great loyalty and at enormous risk, and it would be a 
stain on our national honor to break this promise. It would also carry 
profound strategic costs. U.S. forces and diplomats have always relied 
on local people to help us accomplish our missions. We continue to 
require this assistance in Afghanistan, and we will need this support 
in other places in the future where we face conflict. So we have to 
ask, if we don't keep our promise, why would anyone agree to help the 
United States if we abandon those who assist us? This is exactly why 
the former commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, GEN David Petraeus, 
and his predecessor, GEN Stanley McChrystal, have pleaded with Congress 
to extend the Afghan SIV Program. In a letter to Congress last year, 
more than 30 additional prominent generals, including Gen. John Allen, 
the former commander in Afghanistan, GEN George Casey, the former 
commander in Iraq, and two former Chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff 
also urged Congress to extend the program.
  In addition, our soldiers and marines are keenly interested in 
protecting the interpreters who served with them in Afghanistan. Many 
of them owe their lives to the interpreters who went into combat with 
them. In recent years, I have gotten to know one of those servicemen, a 
former Army captain, Michael Breen, who is a Granite Stater. He served 
with the infantry in Iraq and led paratroopers in Afghanistan. He 
speaks with admiration about one interpreter in particular who was an 
Iraqi--part of the Iraqi program--a woman in her early twenties who was 
named Wissam.
  On one occasion, Captain Breen and his soldiers were at a small 
forward operating base in Iraq. He said that a man approached, 
frantically pointing to his watch and indicating an explosion with his 
hands. The Americans didn't speak Arabic, so they couldn't tell if the 
man was trying to warn them or threaten them. Wissam hurried over 
toward Captain Breen to assist. Wissam was beloved by her American 
comrades, always cheerful and eager to help. She listened to the man 
and said that he was actually there warning of an improvised explosive 
device on the main road.
  As Captain Breen later told me, ``A trusted interpreter can be the 
difference between a successful patrol and a body bag.'' He noted that 
every night, he and his fellow soldiers would hunker down in their 
heavily guarded perimeter, but Wissam would leave the compound and go 
home. One evening after she left the American compound, three gunmen 
ambushed her car. She was killed--one more interpreter who paid

[[Page S1843]]

the ultimate price for serving the American mission. As Captain Breen 
later said, one day there will be a granite monument with the names of 
all of the American servicemembers who died in Iraq and Afghanistan. 
Wissam deserves to have her name on that monument, too, because she 
took great risks and she gave her life while serving the United States.
  To be eligible for a visa through the Afghan SIV Program, new 
applicants must demonstrate at least 2 years of faithful and valuable 
service to the U.S. mission. To receive a visa, they must also clear a 
rigorous screening process that includes an independent verification of 
their service and then an intensive interagency review.
  We know that the service of these individuals has been critical to 
our successes in Afghanistan.
  Last month in Keene, NH, I met with a remarkable recent immigrant 
from Afghanistan named Patmana Rafiq Kunary. Patmana had worked closely 
with the U.S. Agency for International Development in Kabul. She went 
door to door, encouraging women to take out microloans to start their 
own businesses. Patmana eventually became vice president for operations 
at the USAID-sponsored Microloan Program.
  In fact, just today I talked to a woman reporter from Afghanistan who 
wanted to know what message of hope I could provide to the women of 
Afghanistan. Well, I told her about Patmana, and I told her that one of 
the things that keep us in Afghanistan supporting our soldiers is 
concern about what is happening to the women in Afghanistan.
  For Patmana, going door to door and working closely with Americans--
this was dangerous work. She drew unwelcome attention wherever she 
went, and she became a high-profile target for the Taliban and others. 
And then one day in 2013, she got a call at her USAID office. It was 
from the distraught wife of one of her USAID colleagues, another 
Afghan. The caller's husband had just been murdered, apparently in 
retaliation for his work with the Americans.
  Realizing that her life was in danger, too, Patmana applied for a 
special immigrant visa. For 2 years, she and her husband were subjected 
to repeated interviews at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul. Her background was 
checked and rechecked before visas were finally granted. She told me 
that they would move frequently. They couldn't stay in one place very 
long because the Taliban would find them. And she said occasionally 
there was a knock on her relatives' door, saying ``We know where 
Patmana is,'' and that would be a signal to move.
  She and her husband now live happily in Keene, NH. I am pleased to 
say her husband has found work as an auditor with a local financial 
company, and they have a 2-year-old daughter. They are welcomed as 
valued members of the Keene community and of our larger Granite State 
family.
  The many contributions of these Afghans--both in Afghanistan and now 
as residents or citizens of the United States--those contributions help 
explain why senior U.S. commanders and diplomats have urged Congress to 
extend the Afghan SIV Program. Our Secretary of Defense, GEN James 
Mattis, during the confirmation process, said: ``Most of our units 
could not have accomplished their missions without the assistance, 
often at the risk of their lives, of these courageous men and women.''
  We would never leave an American warrior behind on the battlefield. 
Likewise, we must not leave behind the Afghan interpreters who served 
side by side with our warriors and diplomats.
  We made a solemn promise to these brave people, and I am going to do 
everything I can to ensure that we keep this promise. I know there is a 
lot of bipartisan support in this body to do that. So today I am 
introducing the Keep Our Promise to Our Afghan Allies Act with Senators 
McCain, Reed, and Tillis. This legislation would authorize additional 
special immigrant visas and would help ensure that the program does not 
lapse and leave behind thousands of Afghans who helped us with the 
threat by the Taliban.
  In addition, I intend to work closely with Senators who are 
negotiating legislation to fund the Federal Government in order to 
ensure that additional visas are included. I urge my colleagues to join 
me. Let's keep the promise we made to our Afghan allies and support 
these efforts.
                                 ______