Congressman Fred Upton says it’s a tragedy the U.S. didn’t have enough time to get all of the Afghans who helped the country throughout the last 20 years out of Afghanistan as the deadline withdrawal approached this week. President Biden Tuesday praised the military for evacuating more than 100,000 people in just a few weeks, but Upton tells WSJM News that August 31 deadline was always going to be a problem.
“I don’t think there’s a rosy picture about the departure,” Upton said. “Yes, we did get more than 100,000 people out in a couple of weeks, but we needed more time than that.”
Upton is expecting some Afghan refugees to come to southwest Michigan.
“We don’t know a number yet, but I expect that we will see a number of Afghans resettled here. Of course, remember they all have to be vetted, which is very difficult to do, but it’s my understanding that we’re going to see substantial numbers, more in the neighborhood of a couple hundred probably in the next couple of weeks. But we’ve not learned details yet.”
Upton says not only did the August 31 deadline prevent the U.S. from getting many deserving Afghans out, but it also prevented the U.S. evacuation from being as organized as it could have been. He says the Taliban now has in its possession U.S. military equipment that was left behind.
