RASC News Agency: Jack McCain, a retired U.S. Navy officer and the son of the late Senator John McCain, has issued a forceful appeal to the United States government, urging it to fulfill its moral obligation to rescue Afghanistani nationals who once stood shoulder-to-shoulder with American troops during the two-decade war in Afghanistan. In a televised interview with CBS News, McCain warned that these former allies interpreters, pilots, logistics personnel, and ground support staff are now at grave risk of Taliban retaliation. “The Taliban is actively hunting those who aided us,” McCain declared. “These individuals some of whom remained at their posts until the final hours of our withdrawal are now facing the threat of detention, torture, and execution simply for having chosen the right side of history.”
McCain underscored the strategic betrayal these individuals have suffered, as many were left behind during the haphazard and poorly coordinated withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan in 2021. He revealed that during the chaotic final days of the evacuation, critical decisions on who could be saved were made hastily by low-ranking officers on the ground, without a clear plan or adequate resources from the top. “I was forced to prioritize lives,” he said grimly. “I had to decide which allies could be extracted and who would be left behind to face the wrath of the Taliban. No military officer should ever be placed in that position.”
According to McCain, the danger is not confined to those still within Afghanistan. Afghanistani allies who have resettled in the United States are being psychologically terrorized by the Taliban’s long arm of intimidation. The regime, he explained, is now targeting their family members back home detaining, threatening, and using them as leverage to instill fear in the diaspora. “These people have already lost their homeland. Now they are being tormented by the knowledge that their loved ones are in Taliban crosshairs,” McCain said. “It’s a form of hostage-taking by a regime that should never have been legitimized.”
He went on to denounce the Biden administration’s immigration policies, particularly its decision to let the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Afghanistani nationals expire on July 12. The Department of Homeland Security absurdly claimed that “security conditions in Afghanistan have improved” a statement McCain rejected as dangerously naive and politically motivated. “Such claims insult the intelligence of anyone who has even a passing familiarity with the current realities on the ground,” McCain said. “Afghanistan under Taliban rule is not a safe place it is a theocratic dictatorship where dissent is criminalized, ethnic minorities are persecuted, and women are rendered invisible.”
McCain also criticized the current paralysis in refugee resettlement programs. More than three months after former President Donald Trump issued an executive order halting all refugee transfers upon his return to the White House in January, the U.S. government has yet to resume the process of evacuating at-risk Afghanistani allies. “Time is not on our side,” he warned. “Every delay strengthens the Taliban’s grip, weakens our moral credibility, and puts more lives in jeopardy.” He issued a bipartisan call to action for lawmakers in Congress both Democrats and Republicans to urgently pass legislation that would expand the Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) program and eliminate the bureaucratic red tape stalling its implementation.
“These brave men and women were not just our translators and drivers,” McCain said. “They were our partners in a shared mission. We made them a promise. It is a stain on our national conscience that we have yet to keep it.” The backdrop to McCain’s remarks is increasingly grim. Inside Afghanistan, reports of Taliban vengeance against former U.S. collaborators are mounting. Human rights organizations have documented waves of extrajudicial detentions, forced disappearances, and retaliatory violence. The Taliban emboldened by international apathy and internal impunity continues to systemically erase the legacy of the former republic and silence all voices of dissent.
In McCain’s words, “This is no longer about foreign policy. It is about honor, humanity, and the soul of a nation that once prided itself on never leaving its allies behind.”
