Afghanistan

Floor Speech

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Mr. KING. Madam President, I rise to talk about a moral obligation and a national security obligation.

We are leaving Afghanistan after 20 years, the longest war in the country's history. During the entirety of that 20 years, there were brave people in Afghanistan--Afghanistan people--who helped us, who were translators, who were guides, who assisted us in the struggle against terrorism and in the struggle against the Taliban.

And as we leave, those people are in grave danger. The Taliban has made no secret of the fact that they are in grave danger. They have already started killing them.

If we leave without providing for the safety of those people, providing them a way to maintain their lives, it will be a stain on this country that will exist for generations.

Not only is it a moral and ethical obligation, though, it is a national security obligation because if we don't take care of the people who took care of us, who is going to come to our aid the next time? Who is going to come to the aid of the Americans who turn their backs on those that risk their lives on behalf of this country? The answer is no one.

So this is not only an ethical and moral obligation, this is a matter of national security in terms of our standing in the world and our ability to work with allies and others against adversaries of this country and other countries in the world.

The average time, I am told, it now takes to process the paperwork for one of the people whom we are trying to get out of Afghanistan through the special visa program is 600 days. We are going to have a military presence in Afghanistan less than 90 days. There is a mismatch there.

We have got to take steps to protect these people. Now, maybe its surging--we have talked about military surges; let's surge some paperwork people to get this work done faster. But I don't believe we are going to be able to do that.

Now, by the way, I am not saying we open the door to everyone--there are 18,000 people on their list; that is not to mention their families--that we just open the door and say everybody come here because, as we know, Afghanistan has been the home to very dangerous terrorist groups, al-Qaida, ISIS, and others.

So we do have to have some processing, but we have to be able to process these people in a way that protects us in terms of our national security but also gets them out of harm's way. One possibility--and I am delighted that just a few hours ago, the President mentioned that he is going to be working with other countries to find a safe place to move these people while we are doing the processing. I think that is exactly what we have to do. We can't just hope that when we leave in August or September 11, as the deadline the President has established, that we just hope that the Taliban won't take over Kabul, that the Taliban won't take over other regions of the country and start murdering people who helped us.

This isn't a speculative problem. This isn't something we think may happen. They have told us it is going to happen. And I have learned all my life, believe people when they tell you what they are going to do, and this is one of those situations. We know what is coming. If what ends up coming is a bloodbath, that blood is on our hands.

I have talked about the national security, but I think, more important, this is a moral and ethical obligation to meet the safety needs of those people who have helped us. I have friends who have fought in Afghanistan, and they are agonized about this. They are agonized about what is going to happen to people that they know, that they have worked with, and that have put their lives on the line for America. What is going to happen to those people when we leave?

This is a moment of test for this country. This is a trial for us, and history is going to judge us as to how we meet this test. This isn't something--we are not talking about landing a man on the Moon or some kind of terrible technological challenge; this is just putting resources in the right place and making the arrangements to take care of these people. It can be done. It can be done. And if it isn't done, shame on us.

I know that is a phrase that is often used, but it fits in this case. If we don't protect those who protected us, shame on us.

On December 1, 1862, Abraham Lincoln came to this Capitol to talk about the course of the Civil War and what was happening. And he was trying to move the Congress out of the politics as usual as they dealt with this extraordinary crisis. His final words echo over the last 100- plus years, and I think they apply exactly today. Here is what Abraham Lincoln said:

Fellow-citizens, we cannot escape history. We of this Congress and this administration, will be remembered in spite of ourselves. No personal significance, or insignificance, can spare one or the other of us. The fiery trial which we [now] pass, will light us down, in honor or dishonor, to the latest generation.

This is a test of the moral integrity of this country. We must--we must--defend those who have defended us from a peril that we know is imminent.

This fiery trial through which we pass this summer, will light us down--we in the Congress and the administration, as Lincoln said, ``will light us down, in honor or dishonor, to the latest generation.

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