[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 108 (Tuesday, June 22, 2021)]
[House]
[Pages H2936-H2937]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             SUPPORTING THE SPECIAL IMMIGRANT VISA PROGRAM

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Florida (Mr. Waltz) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. WALTZ. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to talk about our local allies 
in Afghanistan, those that are trying to come to the United States 
through the Special Immigrant Visa program.
  Beside me here is one of the brave Afghan interpreters who stood 
alongside my Special Forces unit, my fellow Green Berets, in 
Afghanistan during one of my tours. He volunteered for that duty. He 
stood with us in combat. He faced extremism head-on.
  And when these brave Afghans stand up, Mr. Speaker, to stand with us, 
to stand with our soldiers, as a critical asset that enables us to deal 
with the populous and communicate with the populous that we are trying 
to protect, but also fight alongside our Afghan security forces 
partners, we could not do what we have done in the last 20 years in 
Afghanistan and around the world in places like Yemen, Syria, Iraq, and 
in places like Africa, without these brave individuals who not only put 
their lives on the line but put their families' lives on the line to 
stand with us against extremism.
  We called him Spartacus. We didn't use his real name, because if the 
Taliban found out that he was with us, they would not only track him 
down, they would track his entire family down.
  Well, unfortunately, after our redeployment, Mr. Speaker, the very 
thing that he needed to get a visa to the United States, the 
identification paperwork that he had fought with the United States, 
that he had fought with America, was found on him in a Taliban 
checkpoint. He was taken back to his home village and beheaded, along 
with his brothers and cousins in his family.
  This story of Spartacus is happening right now, as we speak. The 
Taliban, as they slowly and methodically take over Afghanistan, are 
hunting these brave individuals down who stood with us against 
extremism.
  We need to ask ourselves, as Americans, what message are we sending 
in terms of keeping our promises, not only with the Afghans, but again, 
around the world? The bottom line is, we need to get them out. We have 
a moral obligation to get them out.
  This is not just a moral obligation, but it is a national security 
obligation. The State Department has a 14-step process that takes over 
a year to do the appropriate vetting and to assign these visas. We 
don't have time for that anymore with U.S. forces withdrawing within 
weeks.
  The Defense Department is ready to do an evacuation right now. The 
Governor of Guam has said he is ready to accept these people, as they 
have done with our partners in South Vietnam, as they did with the 
South Koreans, as they have done with Cubans. We can process them in a 
safe third country and then bring those individuals home.
  The Defense Department says they are ready; Guam says they are ready. 
Everyone is waiting on the green light from the White House.
  Where is that green light, Mr. Speaker? Where is it? Will President 
Biden stand up and stand with those and do the right thing for those 
that fought with us?
  And I have to be candid, he hasn't always done so. He didn't support 
the evacuation of our South Vietnamese allies when he was a Senator. I 
pray and hope he will correct that past sin and stand with those who 
stood with us against extremism.
  I mentioned this is a national security issue as well. The Chairman 
of the Joint Chiefs, Mr. Speaker, just testified that he believes there 
is a decent likelihood, a medium probability, that al-Qaida will come 
roaring back in the wake of our withdrawal. So we must also ask 
ourselves, when our soldiers have to go back into Afghanistan, who are 
they going to have to fight alongside? Will they have anyone left that 
will not have been hunted down like Spartacus was?

                              {time}  1215

  Finally, this isn't just an interpreter issue. Twenty-five percent of 
the Afghan Parliament is set aside for women. These women are also 
being hunted, abused, forced to stay home, not go into their elected 
office. Some have had acid thrown on their face. Some are even executed 
themselves.
  Civil society leaders, journalists, all those who have spoken out 
against the atrocities that we have seen, that we have fought against 
are also being targeted.
  We have an obligation, as an American people, as a military, to 
support those who have stood with us.
  Mr. Speaker, should we not, time is running out. The world is 
watching, and when that last American soldier

[[Page H2937]]

goes wheels up, these people will have a death sentence, and there will 
be blood on this administration's hands.

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