By Misha DiBono
SAN DIEGO — Rep. Darrell Issa (R-El Cajon) says he’s still working to get Americans home after the U.S. military’s chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan and the Taliban’s takeover there.
Issa says the U.S. State Department understates the number of people still trying to return. He says he’s tracking about 200 cases of people stranded in Afghanistan, with hundreds more if you include their family members.
The congressman says the tie-ups are in large part bureaucratic, including cases where people have copies of their passports but not the original, valid document, and they’re not being permitted to return until they can get a new one delivered to them in Afghanistan.
Issa says of the people stranded abroad, about 28 are from his East County district.
“We’re not cutting through the red tape nearly enough to get Americans out of a very dangerous situation,” Issa said. “And if you think it’s bad for an American with a blue passport, how about if you’re the wife or the husband of an American, but not a citizen. They’re saying, ‘Your visa has to be approved before you can leave.’ Well, guess what: You can’t get an interview in Afghanistan; we don’t have an embassy there any longer.”