The Biden Admin’s criteria for Afghan refugees is now so broad as to include Afghans (& their relatives) who never even worked with/for the US government. This follows 2 decades of large-scale resettlement to US & underscores the larger systemic failure of US military policy. 1/6
https://twitter.com/axios/status/1422154718307135489
By definition, if a local population’s expectation for cooperating w/US is to live here, then the nation-building exercise is doomed from start. For 20 yrs, we’ve asked our soldiers to shed blood for Democracy overseas, while simultaneously relocating our local partners to US.2/6
From my own experience, the top military brass doesn’t see the pattern here: fight distant war, create instability, ask locals to help rebuild in exchange for US visa, watch new gov’t fail. DOD refugee mtgs always revolve simplistically around increasing #’s from US conflicts.3/6
For example, after US military involvement in Somalia in early 90’s, Somali resettlement dominated US refugee admissions for 2 decades (only ceasing when 45 took office, now resumed by 46). US admissions are like a heat map tracking US conflicts/military activity around globe.4/6
None of this prompts introspection from Pentagon. Unending resettlement is seen as the cost of doing business. The conflict-resettlement pattern persists because State Dept/refugee agencies want more refugees, progressives want more migration & neocons support the conflicts. 5/6
Needless to say, it’s time for a completely new paradigm. 6/6
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