WASHINGTON (AP) – A world away from the evacuation violence in Afghanistan, President Joe Biden was meeting Thursday with a bipartisan group of governors from across the U.S. who have said they want to help resettle Afghans fleeing their now Taliban-ruled country.
The White House meeting was taking place days before a Tuesday deadline for the U.S. to halt evacuations of Americans and vulnerable Afghans from the airport in Kabul, and to withdraw from the country entirely after 20 years of engagement.
Some governors have said they want to help temporarily house or resettle Afghans in their communities because many aided the U.S. war effort and now fear retribution from the Taliban for that assistance. Officials say the U.S. must keep its word to help these Afghans.
But some conservatives have been sounding alarms about a new influx of refugees to the U.S., coming on top of large groups of Central American migrants and unaccompanied children trying to enter the U.S. through the border with Mexico.
There are also concerns that some refugees coming from Afghanistan might actually be terrorists, though the administration says all are being screened.