George W. Bush Urges Safe Haven For Afghan Refugees, Shares ‘Deep Sadness’

Former President George W. Bush on Monday urged the U.S. to start instantly welcoming refugees from Afghanistan following the collapse of the nation’s authorities and takeover by the Taliban, saying “the Afghans now on the biggest danger are the identical ones who’ve been on the forefront of progress inside their nation.”

“The US authorities has the authorized authority to chop the purple tape for refugees throughout pressing humanitarian crises,” he mentioned in an announcement. “And we’ve got the duty and the assets to safe protected passage for them now, with out bureaucratic delay.”

Bush — who in 2001 launched a “conflict on terror” in Afghanistan after which an invasion of Iraq utilizing false and deceptive narratives — added that he and his spouse, former first woman Laura Bush, stay optimistic and assured about America’s skill to soundly evacuate Afghan residents, whilst they watch the occasions unfolding “with deep disappointment.”

“Like our nation, Afghanistan can be made up of resilient, vibrant folks. Almost 65 % of the inhabitants is below twenty-five years outdated,” the previous president mentioned. “The alternatives they are going to make for alternative, schooling, and liberty will even decide Afghanistan’s future.”

Bush launched the 20-year conflict in Afghanistan, American’s longest, as a way to take away the fear group al Qaeda, which had taken sanctuary in Afghanistan below the militant Taliban regime, following the 9/11 terror assaults. Shortly after invading the nation, Bush additionally despatched troops to Iraq to take away its president, Saddam Hussein ― one in all Bush’s earliest objectives upon taking workplace ― below the false premise that he was harboring weapons of mass destruction.

Karl Rove, who served as senior adviser and deputy chief of workers to Bush throughout his presidency, mentioned Monday that his former boss and the previous first woman are “deeply upset” concerning the Taliban’s quick takeover and Afghanistan’s anticipated return to an oppressive Islamic rule of regulation.

“For 20 years, Laura Bush has hosted teams of Afghan ladies who got here into the US after starting to style freedom in their very own nation so as to be taught concerning the alternatives that had been obtainable to ladies all world wide. And the concept the Taliban goes to someway permit that to proceed is completely ridiculous,” Rove mentioned in an interview with Fox Information.

President Joe Biden introduced late Monday that he has allotted $500 million in further funding to assist relocate Afghan refugees, in addition to present Particular Immigrant Visas.

Evacuating Afghanistan has not been straightforward, nonetheless.

Employees and prime officers had been swiftly pulled from the U.S. Embassy in Kabul on Sunday, and flights had been suspended on the Hamid Karzai Worldwide Airport on Monday attributable to swarms of individuals blocking the tarmac in a determined try to flee. The airport is one of some locations within the nation that remained managed by U.S. troops, permitting for an escape route.

Seven folks had been reportedly killed within the airport chaos, together with people who fell from a departing U.S. navy transport jet. Comparable evacuation makes an attempt had been being made on the bottom on the nation’s border, which is now managed by the Taliban.