Former CIA senior intel officer says moral obligation in Afghanistan is to get US allies out
Marc Polymeropoulos expressed his skepticism after the Taliban announced they will allow 200 Americans to evacuate from Mazar-e-Sharif.
Afghan-Americans are trying to get Vice President Kamala Harris to hear their pleas, including 24-year-old Willy Moosayar, who says voters "expected a lot more" from the country's first female, immigrant-born VP.
Moosayar, the son of Afghan immigrants, protested outside California Gov. Gavin Newsom's anti-recall rally on Wednesday in San Leandro, where Harris joined the governor to campaign on his behalf, as FOX 40 Sacramento first reported.
The 24-year-old emphasized that he and other protesters weren't there to voice support for or against the Newsom recall but to instead deliver a message to the vice president as the Biden administration continues its work to pull hundreds of U.S. citizens and allies out of Afghanistan after ordering a complete withdrawal of the U.S. military from the country by Aug. 31.
"You know, we were excited to have Kamala — a woman of color, the daughter of an immigrant — in our government as a vice first female vice president because we thought we can connect with her, she will feel for us," Moosayar told Fox News. "But it's been a total disappointment, which is why we were there."
Willy Moosayar at protest (Credit: Willy Moosayar)
He added that Afghan-Americans "were there to support her" when she was running for president, and now, "the Afghan people are watching her."
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"As a leader of a powerhouse nation and as a leader of a country like America, we expected a lot more from her," Moosayar said. "I know that a lot of the Afghan community supported her through her campaign and was very excited to have her as our vice president. But it's clearly a disappointment for us."
California — specifically the Bay Area — is home to some of the largest Afghan communities in the U.S.
"I mean, the guilt has been killing us," Moosayar said of his family. Their home in Afghanistan was "bombarded" and "destructed" after they left the country.
"There's nothing there any more. My parents wouldn't have fled if they didn't have the chance to become [refugees] in America," he said. "I wouldn't be here today. They wouldn't be here today. So, we were given a second chance at life and to come and pursue the American dream. And it was an act of humanity for us."
Now, his family and other Afghan immigrants and Afghan-Americans feel an "obligation" to help others seeking refuge in U.S., and they are looking to Harris, a former California senator, for some acknowledgment that she is willing to offer assistance.
Protesters like Moosayar also want assurance from Harris that the U.S. government will refuse to acknowledge the Tablian as an official government for Afghanistan and refuse any kind of relationship with the terror group.
"They are not a government," he explained. "I mean, most of those officials were released from Guantanamo Bay or prisons in Pakistan, and they're now leading a country of over 30 million people. Can you imagine what America would do if we had a prisoner as our president?"
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Protesters are demanding not only "support" from the vice president but a "game plan" of what the Biden administration is "going to do to assist Afghanistan."
The Biden administration has brought more than 6,000 American citizens and lawful permanent residents home to the United States under what the White House describes as "Operation Allies Welcome" thus far.
Fox News' Brooke Singman contributed to this report.
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