August 24, 2021
Afghans Who Risked Their Lives Helping U.S. Deserve Best Efforts to Ensure Their Safety
KABUL - July 1 : KABUL - July 1 : Abdul Rashid Shirzad poses with his family, Ali Omid, 8 yrs (left ) Ali Akbar, 7, with his wife Nargis, holding their youngest child Ali Abbas , 2 years at his home July 1st, 2021 in Kabul, Afghanistan. Shirzads application for a Special Immigrant Visa to the U.S. was denied without any explanation after years of service to the US military. (Photo by Paula Bronstein for The Washington Post via Getty Images)
The world watched in horror as a U.S. military plane carrying 640 Afghans took off from the airport in Kabul with people clinging to its exterior. We watched as several of them fell to their deaths after take-off. We wondered what could drive a person to such a desperate final act. The answer: for some, it is better to die clinging to a false hope of freedom than to die at the hands of the Taliban.

A severely botched U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan has stranded more than 10,000 U.S. citizens there, as well as tens of thousands of Afghans who served as translators or assisted the U.S. government in other ways. Merely by working alongside U.S. government personnel, they put themselves and their families at risk. Many undertook those risks with the understanding that the U.S. government would provide them safety.

In an article in Daily Caller, Heritage CTP Director Lora Ries and Heritage Senior Policy Analyst Olivia Enos write <[link removed]> that the U.S. government’s number-one job is to protect its citizens; it must get all remaining American civilians out of Afghanistan immediately. But the Afghans who risked their lives to ensure the success of U.S. efforts there deserve more than an afterthought. They deserve our best efforts to ensure their safety. The window of opportunity is quickly closing for Afghans to flee the country. Hopefully, that window has not closed completely – especially as the Taliban begins its reign of terror. Reports are already circulating of the Taliban going door-to-door to murder people and sending frightening written warnings to individuals, especially women, former Afghan government officials and religious minorities (including Christians), saying that the Taliban knows who they are.

To the U.S. and the international community: The Afghan people don’t have nine months to wait in Afghanistan for their SIV application to process, nor do many have the financial or security resources to flee the Taliban-run Afghanistan to get to a third country to have their application processed. The focus for now should be to get people to safety – out of the Taliban’s reach – regionally and beyond. Countries across the globe should be stepping up to at least temporarily receive fleeing Afghans. More than 60 countries say Afghans and others must be allowed to leave Afghanistan, but those same countries – and more – should go further and provide at least temporary safety and shelter. Next, the UNHCR should work with many countries to vet and interview refugee applicants for refugee resettlement. The U.S. and Canada have committed to resettle tens of thousands of Afghans. Many more countries need to put skin in the game as well. This should be a global effort.

Although the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan has been chaotic, it is imperative that the Biden administration use the orderly U.S. Refugee Admissions Program process to vet and adjudicate these refugee applications. The administration should not repeat the Obama administration’s rushed, insecure process of setting unreasonable and dangerously high refugee numbers for Syrian migrants fleeing ISIS in 2016. U.S. Intelligence officials warned about such Syrian refugee operations back then, and their warning must be heeded now when we know terrorists occasionally exploit refugee flows to enter countries they target. Unfortunately, the Biden administration’s efforts to throw untold resources at more quickly processing the hundreds of thousands of aliens illegally crossing the U.S. southern border will make it more difficult to adequately resource SIV and refugee processing of these Afghans, many of whom are fleeing true persecution. The Biden administration needs to get its priorities straight and focus on those most in need of protection.

To ordinary Americans: There are civil society-led pledge efforts to charter private planes to get Afghans out. If you have the capacity to donate to these efforts, you may play a direct role in ensuring the safe transport of countless Afghans. Furthermore, as Afghans are resettled into the U.S., there is a need for volunteers to help ease Afghan family’s transitions into life in the U.S. You can volunteer with your local refugee resettlement agency. If you know Afghans who worked with the U.S. government and need to get to safety, the U.S. Department of State created a task force that is compiling the lists for evacuation. Afghan nationals in need of help can call or email the U.S. State Department to get their names on evacuation lists. There are different lines of effort currently underway, including efforts directed towards SIVs, P-1 and P-2 refugees, and others who do not qualify under any of the aforementioned designations. Afghan nationals should ensure that their names are on evacuation lists so that they can get out sooner rather than later.

In the face of such dire straits and an utter mishandling of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan – everyone, but especially the Biden administration– has a responsibility to act and to do their part to get U.S. citizens and Afghans to safety.
Repurposing Navy Cruisers Planned for Decommissioning: An Interim Capability for Countering Chinese Missile Attacks on Guam
Guam, home to 168,000 U.S. citizens, is where America’s day begins—so goes the unofficial motto. Heritage Senior Fellow Brent Sadler writes <[link removed]> that Guam is also a critically important strategic hub for U.S. military operations throughout the Indo–Pacific. It is unsurprising, then, that its defense from a massive and modern Chinese missile arsenal is at the top of the Indo–Pacific Command’s (INDOPACOM’s) wish list.

Devising a perfect missile defense of Guam is impossible and certainly cost prohibitive—but that is not required. What is required is a defense that complicates Chinese wartime plans by keeping the Air and Naval Forces on Guam in the fight. To this end, INDOPACOM has proposed a Guam Defense System centered on current systems, notably a proven system called AEGIS Ashore—but, even if money were appropriated tomorrow, it would not be operational on Guam for at least three years. However, the threat is present today, and improved defense cannot wait: Near-term cost-effective defenses must be deployed until a more substantial one can be placed on Guam.

The Navy should:

1. Repurpose the three BMD-capable Ticonderoga-class cruisers for moored-area integrated air and missile defense operations. To accomplish this:



- The Chief of Naval Operations must rescind the decision to decommission CG-61, 72 and 73, and devise appropriate manning plans to include the increased use of reservists; and
- The Secretary of the Navy should examine the utility of collaborating with Japan in further alleviating the BMD-mission burden on the fleet, while engaging the governments of Palau and Saipan on the feasibility of mooring these ships in their harbors.



The Secretary of Defense should:

1. Direct the deployment of M61A1 components of the C-RAM to Guam for cruise missile defense. Doing this will require INDOPACOM to direct the U.S. Army Pacific Command, in consultation with the Navy, to recommend cruise missile defense as part of an integrated defense on Guam.

Congress should:

1. Meet INDOPACOM’s unfunded requests for defense of Guam, and mandate a semi-annual Department of Defense progress report to better inform future budgets. These reports should include updates on near-term defense measures (such as the C-RAM and repurposed BMD cruisers) and maturity of more capable future defenses.

2. Set a requirement that future warship decommissioning plans be associated with delivery of matching firepower to sustain the overall fleet’s warfighting capacity. Should original plans to decommission seven Ticonderoga-class cruisers in FY 2022 happen, that would amount to a reduction of 9 percent in the overall surface fleet’s missile firepower.

The threat of a Chinese missile attack on Guam is significant, and defense of U.S. citizens and military infrastructure on the island is a national imperative that the U.S. must not ignore. No defense of Guam will be perfect, and damage to U.S. military installations on the island should be expected, along with the associated disruption to military operations in conflict. However, a more adequate integrated air and missile defense of the island can mitigate such disruptions, and can make it harder for missile attacks by China to succeed. Hardening Guam’s defense capabilities also bolsters the credibility of U.S. security commitments in the Indo–Pacific.
September 16, 2021 @ 9:00 am EDT - VIRTUAL EVENT: Hong Kong: Debating the National Security Law’s Impact on Business <[link removed]>

It has been over a year since the signing of the National Security Law in Hong Kong, effectively ending Hong Kong’s autonomy. While much of the focus has been on the diplomatic and political implications, there is very little analysis on the law’s impact on the business community in Hong Kong. Has the law impacted business operations? If so, how? To answer these questions and more, please join us <[link removed]> for a debate between two eminent scholars: Hong Kong University Professor Y.C. Richard Wong, and Harvard University Senior Fellow and former Hong Kong Legislative Council Member Dennis Kwok.

-