The United States government planned to achieve full withdrawal of approximately 3,000 U.S. troops from Afghanistan by September 11, 2021. We did not go to Afghanistan to nation build, Biden has said (Links to an external site.). Its up to the Afghans to make decisions about the future of their country.1 Despite the fact that the U.S. continued to provide airstrikes in the support of Afghan forces, during the first nine days of August, at least five provincial capitals swiftly fell to the Taliban.2 At the time of writing this prompt, the capital of Kabul has been taken over by the Taliban and the situation at the Hamid Karzai International Airport is unstable. The U.S. has had to recommit troops to Afghanistan to provide support to evacuate Americans and their allies.
The Department of State authorized additional Special Immigrant Visas (SIV) for Afghanis and their families in December 2020.3 However, there have been significant delays in their evacuation and severe impediments to getting these visas approved.4 Because Afghans who worked with the U.S. armed forces or diplomatic corps have been targeted for reprisals, there is a real and serious concern that the process for evacuation and visa approval will have come too late for too many.
The Assignment Prompts:
1.Would Kant argue that the United States had a duty to immediately expedite the evacuation and accelerate the grant visa approval process for all the Afghani interpreters and their families who who wished to leave Afghanistan and would have nominally qualified for the SIV program? Briefly defend your answer with specific reference to Kant’s primary works. (40 points)
- Identify one key problem with Kant’s Deontological approach to ethics as it applies to this particular case. Remember, this section is not intended to be a counter-consideration that Kant, himself might have (this should be included in the prior section). This section should be about a fundamental problem with Kant’s theory. (10 points)
- Your Position: Where do you personally stand on this issue? Do you think that the United States had a duty to immediately expedite the evacuation and accelerate the grant visa approval process for all the Afghani interpreters and their families who who wished to leave Afghanistan and would have nominally qualified for the SIV program?
