'It's overwhelming:' US Lawmakers flooded with evacuation pleas from Afghan Americans

House lawmakers in the US have been making appeals to the secretaries of state and defence, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the director of national intelligence to evacuate more Afghan families and Americans stranded in Kabul as the US President appears to remain intact with the Aug. 31 deadline for complete troop withdrawal from Afghanistan. Many eligible US citizens and allies have been unable to make it to the gates of the crowded Hamid Karzai International airport.

Lawmakers have reported that they are flooded with thousands of heartbreaking pleas from the Afghan nationals and the Americans begging to be rescued from the now fundamentalist hardliner Taliban-dominated central Asian nation. Even as the extraction is still on the ground, hundreds of thousands of Afghan Americans now fear that they would be left behind as the window of opportunity to be airlifted closes. 

“A long line waited outside the office of Rep. Eric Swalwell’s Castro last week as Afghan Americans sought help from the Democratic congressman to rescue their loved ones in Kabul. a family drove up from Utah,” Los Angeles Times reported, adding that Congressman Swalwell labelled the situation as “overwhelming.” It was earlier reported that the congressmen and several military officials advised President Biden to negotiate with the Taliban and reconsider plans of evacuation as thousands of American citizens and Afghans trapped in the war-torn nation may not be lifted to safety by August 31.

[Families evacuated from Kabul, Afghanistan, walk through the terminal before boarding a bus after they arrived at Washington Dulles International Airport, in Chantilly, Va., AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana]

US troops have been making desperate efforts to rescue as many Afghan helpers as possible, although the lawmakers believe that “there’s only so much they can do despite their best efforts, sources told LA Times. US State Department rolled out a single email for at least 100 senators constituent help digits for evacuation coordination. 

“I talked to my constituent services person. We reached out directly to three constituents, and they were able to get to the airport and successfully out of the country,” Rep. Ami Bera (D-Elk Grove) told reporters, adding that his office handed the US State Department a list of 6,500 names submitted by the loved ones, making appeal to the US government to evacuate their relatives. Rep Bera’s residence is situated in California’s Afghan American population colony. 

“Stories have poured in by the thousands with heartbreaking pleas not to be left behind,” the Associated Press reported on Friday quoting Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif. “We’re seeing all of this, you know, anxiety, and we can’t do enough,” he said. Offices of the Congressman across the US are now operating as the makeshift crisis centers, which, sources reveal, are flooded with requests about evacuations and help with getting on the last flights for the US.

To date, as many as 109,000 people have been evacuated from Afghanistan since the Taliban takeover on 15 August 2021. “Getting every single person out is — can’t be guaranteed of anybody,” Biden told reporters as troops have been racing against time to get as many Afghans out as possible. 

[Families evacuated from Kabul, Afghanistan, walk through the terminal before boarding a bus after they arrived at Washington Dulles International Airport, in Chantilly, Va., on Friday, Aug. 27, 2021. AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana]

Appeals of evacuations from retired colonels, widowed wives

Office of Democratic Rep. Don Beyer in Northern Virginia receives more than 1000 constituent requests each day. The area houses military personnel and defence contractors. While the office of Democratic Rep. Gerry Connolly in the adjacent congressional area was flooded with 10,000 requests of the evacuation of the Americans and Afghan interpreters, appealing to convey forward those requests to the US Department of State. Nebraska Republican Rep. Don Bacon told Associated Press that his office has been working on the requests of more than 800 people seeking to get out of Afghanistan, including appeal made by two retired colonels plus a Gold Star wife whose husband was killed serving in Kabul.

The San Francisco Bay Area in the US houses the largest population of 60,000 Afghan Americans. The congressman from the area told the reporter of LATimes that his Twitter inbox has been flooded with direct messages from concerned constituents seeking Afghanistan evacuation assistance. Secretary of State Antony Blinken earlier on Wednesday told the presser that at least 1,500 US citizens may still be in Afghanistan but those that want to leave will be able to do so as over 500 have been given instructions for making their way to the airport.