The U.S. Should Process Visas for Afghan Interpreters

The United States Department of State is taking the low road in the implementation of granting visas to Afghan interpreters who served side-by-side (or Shona-ba-Shona) with their U.S. counterparts for a number of years. With the war winding down (at least for the U.S.) the need for employing the interpreters diminishes. In addition, many of these interpreters are at risk of retaliation from the insurgents because they assisted the United States. Congress approved a visa program for the interpreters but the State Department has dragged their feet. Evidently the problem resides within the U.S. Embassy in Kabul where a small committee of bureaucrats who spend much of their time sipping "tea" at the "duck and cover" are taking their sweet time processing visas. Many times they just stamped "rejected" on the application with no explanation of why the visa was rejected. This is definitely not the way we should treat loyal allies. Secretary Kerry needs to get involved and fix this mess. Read more in "Afghan translators deserve special visas - and fast", The Washington Post, January 2, 2014.