FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

December 17, 2022

Former Joint Chiefs Chairmen, NATO Commander, SOCOM Commander, and other Flag Officers Support Afghan Adjustment Act

Admirals Mullen, McRaven, Stavridis; Generals Myers, Dunford, McChrystal, and more Urge Congressional Approval By Year’s End

Washington DC – Three former Chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Supreme Allied Commander of NATO are among the high ranking military leaders who are now urging Congress to pass the Afghan Adjustment Act in a letter organized by #AfghanEvac and sent to congressional leadership today. If the Afghan Adjustment Act does not pass, tens of thousands of our Afghan allies will be vulnerable to deportation back to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan in a few months.

“We are convinced that the Afghan Adjustment Act furthers the national security interests of the United States. It is also a moral imperative. Congress must act now and include the Afghan Adjustment Act and related provisions in the FY2023 Omnibus,” they write in the letter to Congressional leadership. 

“With the Afghan Adjustment Act, we would implement the strictest security vetting in our immigration system for Afghans, keeping our country secure,” they added, pointing out that it will maintain “our country’s binding commitments, too often sealed in blood, that were made to men and women who joined us, shohna-ba-shohna (shoulder-to-shoulder).” 

They go on to say that the act will honor military veterans and civilians who sacrificed greatly in Afghanistan. Many veterans and frontline civilians, as private citizens, have borne the burden of working to save U.S. allies who were left behind or left with an uncertain future. As a result, these veterans suffer continued trauma and moral injury. 

“If Congress fails to enact the AAA, the United States will be less secure. As military professionals, it was and remains our duty to prepare for future conflicts. We assure you that in any such conflict, potential allies will remember what happens now with our Afghan allies,” they conclude in the letter. “If we claim to support the troops and want to enable their success in wartime, we must keep our commitments today. The AAA will go a long way.”

The full letter can be read at go.AfghanEvac.org/flag-letter. 

“This latest show of support from senior military leaders underscores both the urgency and widespread popularity of the Afghan Adjustment Act. Multiple generations of veterans and frontline civilians are waiting for Congress to do the right thing,” said Shawn VanDiver, Navy veteran and President of #AfghanEvac. “Leaders like Senators Grassley and McConnell have said they stand with our troops, veterans, and military families. This is their time to prove it.”

The following are signatories on the letter urging they include the Afghan Adjustment Act in the FY23 Omnibus:

General Joseph F. Dunford, U.S Marine Corps (Ret)

Admiral Mike Mullen, U.S. Navy (Ret)

General Richard Myers, U.S. Air Force (Ret)

Admiral Jim Stavridis, U.S. Navy (Ret)

General Peter W. Chiarelli, U.S. Army (Ret)

General Stan McChrystal, US Army (Ret)

General David McKiernan, U.S. Army (Ret)

Admiral William H. McRaven, U.S. Navy (Ret)

General Austin S. Miller, U.S. Army (Ret)

General John W. Nicholson Jr,, U.S. Army (Ret)

General M. David Rodriguez, U.S. Army, (Ret)

General Curtis M. Scaparrotti, U.S. Army (Ret)

General Raymond A. Thomas III, U.S. Army (Ret)

Lieutenant General John A. Bradley, U.S. Air Force (Ret)

Lieutenant General Jeff Buchanan, U.S. Army (Ret)

Lieutenant General Stephen Fogarty, U.S. Army (Ret)

Lieutenant General Benjamin C. Freakley, U.S. Army (Ret)

Lieutenant General Ben Hodges, U.S. Army (Ret)

Lieutenant General John C. Thomson, U.S. Army (Ret)

Lieutenant General John F. Mulholland Jr., U.S. Army (Ret)

Lieutenant General Mark C. Schwartz, U.S. Army (Ret)

Lieutenant General Francis Wiercinski, U.S. Army (Ret)

Major General Edward Dorman III, U.S. Army (Ret)

Major General Walter D. Givhan, U.S. Air Force (Ret)

Major General William Hix, U.S. Army (Ret)

Major General James B. Linder, U.S. Army (Ret)

Major General Mark R. Quantock, U.S. Army (Ret)

Major General Edward Reeder, U.S. Army (Ret)

Major General Patrick J. Reinart, U.S. Army (Ret)

Major General Jefforey Smith, U.S. Army (Ret)

Major General James “Boe” Young, U.S. Army (Ret)

Brigadier General Gary M Jones, U.S. Army (Ret)

The Afghan Adjustment Act has been recently updated to reflect comments from Republican members of Congress, including the requirement that the Department of Homeland Security conducts in-person interviews to ensure evacuees are sufficiently vetted; that a Customs and Border Protection agent interview cannot satisfy the in-person interview requirement; that congress has more oversight of the vetting process before it is finalized; and it now responds to every recommendation in recent inspector general reports, including that the Department of Homeland Security and Department of Defense brief congress on security concerns posed by evacuees. 

The announcement comes as urgency grows around the Congressional bill, without which tens of thousands of Afghans will be left without a pathway to remaining in the U.S. after their humanitarian parole begins to expire in August 2023.

The letter signed by flag officers follows a similar letter organized by AfghanEvac earlier in the week featuring signatures from former Chiefs of Mission at Embassy Kabul in an unprecedented coming together of military and diplomatic leaders to support this bill. 

Also last week, U.S. Senators Moran, Wicker, Leahy, and Shaheen became co-sponsors of the bill, which will enable newly arrived Afghans to undergo a robust vetting with all necessary security reviews and have a path forward to lawful permanent residency here in the United States. This brings the total number of cosponsors to 10. 

The Afghan Adjustment Act, known in the House as H.R. 8685 and in the Senate as S. 4787, would mirror efforts made by the U.S. government for Vietnamese and South Asian refugees following the fall of Saigon. 

As a result of the U.S.’s hurried evacuation from Afghanistan, the vast majority of Afghan evacuees were admitted to the country on a temporary basis under “humanitarian parole,” which does not confer a direct pathway to lawful permanent residence.

In order to provide such a pathway, as the U.S. has previously done for every generation of modern wartime evacuees, the Afghan Adjustment Act would allow eligible Afghan evacuees to apply for lawful permanent residence in the U.S. after one or two years of physical presence in the country.

The more than 200 organizations that make up the non-partisan #AfghanEvac coalition work hand-in-hand with government entities and advocate for ways to provide new Afghan community members with the stability they need to resettle and thrive in their new lives here. 

For twenty years, Afghan allies worked and fought side-by-side with U.S. and allied forces through the longest war in American history. The #AfghanEvac coalition is committed to ensuring that their service, partnership, and commitment to American ideals is honored. 

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