Welcome to Thursday, September 2nd, colleagues,

Biden hailed the 'extraordinary success' of the Afghanistan withdrawal in remarks.

Biden defended his decision to withdraw by the August 31st deadline and pushed back on assertions that the operation could have begun sooner:

“Now, some say we should have started mass evacuations sooner and 'Couldn’t this have be done — have been done in a more orderly manner?' I respectfully disagree. Imagine if we had begun evacuations in June or July, bringing in thousands of American troops and evacuating more than 120,000 people in the middle of a civil war. There still would have been a rush to the airport, a breakdown in confidence and control of the government, and it still would have been a very difficult and dangerous mission.”

Since the Taliban entered Kabul on August 14th, about 116,000 (of the over 120,000 people evacuated) were flown out. 

In his remarks, Biden said “for those remaining Americans, there is no deadline. We remain committed to getting them out if they want to come out.”

At present, no commercial or chartered flights are flying evacuees out of Afghanistan, but Biden said there are efforts “to reopen the airport, as well as overland routes” for people to leave.

How do you feel about Biden’s remarks on the end of the Afghanistan war and evacuation?

Special Immigrant Visa

In 2006, Congress established the Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) program to allow Afghans and Iraqis who served alongside U.S. forces as interpreters or contractors to receive permanent U.S. resident status. This also extends to their spouse and unmarried children under 21.

A senior State Dept. official told Politico and the Wall Street Journal that the majority of Afghan SIV holders and applicants weren’t evacuated by the August 31st deadline, while NBC News reported that preliminary figures suggest only 8,500 out of tens of thousands of Afghan SIVs were able to make it through Taliban checkpoints to catch a flight out of Kabul. 

Do you support the Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) program for Afghans who worked with the U.S.?

U.S. Boosts Funding for Resettling Americans From Afghanistan

The Senate on Tuesday unanimously passed the Emergency Repatriation Assistance for Returning Americans Act, increasing funding for the resettlement of American citizens repatriated from Afghanistan from $1 million to $10 million.

The Democratic and Republican leaders of the Senate gained unanimous consent by running it through the "hotline" ― a process of letting senators know about the request to pass the bill unanimously and ensuring there aren’t objections to it moving forward.

President Joe Biden signed the bill into law later in the day.

How do you feel about increased funding for resettling Americans evacuated from Afghanistan?

All the Memes Fit to Post

And, In The End...

Grab your limes to put them in the...

Coconut water is too expensive,

—Josh Herman

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