We’ll get to the Afghan Adjustment Act momentarily.

First, “for scale”…

How quickly we forgot.

We promised we never would, but we did.

We remember the day but we forgot the people…

Until Jon Stewart got up in front of congress and ripped them a new one, most of us had no idea those physically affected by 9/11 were still struggling.

Nearly 15 years after that monumental and tragic day that kicked off a series of violent and seemingly never-ending conflicts, thousands of first responders and victims were still in need of healthcare funding to treat illnesses and injuries that have prolonged or worsened over the years.

The Victim Compensation Fund originally lasted only 3 years (until 2004). It was brought back to life in 2011 and re-upped in 2015. Then extended again in 2020 to accept new claims.

From June 2019:

Rupa Bhattacharyya, the special master who oversees the fund, said then that future payments would have to be reduced by as much as 70 percent. So far, more than 800 awards have been reduced, Ms. Bhattacharyya said.

— via New York Times article: “How Jon Stewart Became a Fierce Advocate for 9/11 Responders” ( June 2019 )

As bad as that sounds, there has been $7.4 billion appropriated to the fund since its inception, which certainly sounds like more than enough, but let’s break that down:

Over $7 billion in taxpayer funds was paid to 5,560 eligible claimants. Families of 2,880 victims received almost $6 billion in compensation. In addition, 2,680 physical injury victims were paid over $1 billion by the fund.

— via GovInfo.gov

So that comes out to over $125k per claim on average. Which sounds pretty good out loud, especially since some of that money was coming in during the early 00s. The problem, of course, is the severity of the victims’ health issues, the astronomical price of medical care in America, and the time span that they’ve been dealing with them.

Now stretch that $125k over two decades (let’s call it $200k for those who needed extra assistance) and that’s $8-10k, which again, is definitely beneficial, but for those dealing with chronic, life-threatening illness, multiple surgeries, and consistent hospital visits, that number looks a lot smaller, and we all know the horror stories of the American Healthcare system…

Isn’t it $5k for an ambulance ride? That needs fixing.

Still, $7.4 billion sure is a lot of money.

That considered, I don’t think it’s actually fair to say that we truly forgot, but congress kinda tried to…

The fund was depleted time and time again. It had to be revived by big-time “lobbying” efforts, rather than automatic adjustments to the yearly fiscal budget.

It took Jon Stewart’s celebrity status as former host of The Daily Show to bring attention to this thing and a man, dying of liver cancer, sitting front row to remind congress that this is still an issue.

I’m sure 5 years from now, when it needs re-upping once again, there will be another fight for those suffering at home with a little less vigor than before, and so on and so forth over the years…

But that’s for Americans…

Who were attacked on our soil…

Who live here…

Will we show the same fight for the Afghan refugees who we promised to shelter?

A SIMILAR PROMISE THAT will Be EASIER TO FORGET

It’s hard to predict the same fight will be brought forth for the Afghan refugees. It’s hard to see us continuing to fight for their well-being years after the evacuation. It’s barely been two years and they’re on the brink of being sent back to hell on earth.

It’s not just innocent women and children we’re talking about. It’s the Afghan supporters who fought alongside us, who flew our planes, who provided valuable intel, who served as translators/nurses/military support staff, and aided our own soldiers that are a part of these 70k plus refugees here in country on a temporary hold. These are people the Taliban were HUNTING while the U.S. was still evacuating. And already, even after congress promised publicly that we’d protect them, it’s looking more and more like the lot of them will be sent back and face horrifying circumstances.

“This is life or death for anybody involved," said U.S. Navy pilot and Afghan war vet Jack McCain, son of the late Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain, who has been advocating a solution for Afghans in the U.S.

— via ABC News

LACKING REPUBLICAN SENATE SUPPORT

These people are now at risk of being sent back this summer after the Afghan Adjustment Act failed to receive support from 10 Republican Senators. Leading the way is Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, claiming the screening process wasn’t tight enough.

The Department of Homeland Security inspector general last year found that many evacuees were not properly vetted. At least two resettled Afghans "may have posed a risk to national security and the safety of local communities" and were subsequently removed from the U.S., according to the IG report.

"My issue is that folks need to be properly vetted. We need to go through the process. It should include in-person interviews," Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Missouri., told ABC News.

Two years after the fact and a full scale evacuation that involved limited fighting* and TWO of the 77,000 people MAY have been unsafe (and we sent them back). Feels pretty safe to me. And I’m not speaking from a distance. Philadelphia is one of the refugee cities taking in some of those people.

Regardless, what needs to be done to make that screening process tighter? I can’t imagine it’s possible to get approval on a new and improved screening process of 70,000 people in less than four months. After two years in America and time spent in Afghanistan aiding U.S. soldiers, I’ve got to imagine these people get a pass.

From an aesthetic standpoint, it’s a 90-year-old Senator from Iowa leading the stymying of this bill, citing independent watch dogs as his rationale. How many of these refugees are even in Iowa???

*U.S. vs. Taliban gunfire that is… can’t say the same for Taliban versus Afghan citizens

TENS OF THOUSANDS OF LIVES IN JEOPARDY

According to CBS News, fewer than 5,000 of the 77,000 Afghan refugees have secured settlement agreements in the U.S. source

Once deported, it’ll be even easier to forget about these people who will return, in fear for their lives and their children’s.

They won’t be here to fight for themselves and no impassioned celebrity speech will help them after the fact.

I won’t pretend to know what will happen to them with certainty but it’s very likely many of them will be subjected to prison, torture, and death for supporting the U.S.

Once again, this is a group we promised to protect and harbor, loud and clear on a microphone and in front of a camera for the world to see.

For the millionth time, an American president’s grandiose display of words turned out to be nothing more than that, words.

Biden’s declaration here was a rare one—coherent and clear. He didn’t start stammering about nothing halfway through. It was pretty early in his presidency though.

Biden needs to show, and very publicly so, that these refugees have been properly vetted, and an emergency vote needs to happen on the senate floor, if only to grant an extension, and keep our comrades where they belong—in America.

The failure to include the AAA in this year's government spending bill almost guarantees it will not pass the U.S. House of Representatives in its current form when Republicans assume the majority in the new Congress next month. Tens of thousands of Afghans face the prospect of returning to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan when their parole expires in 2023.