US homeland security debate focuses on the potential entry of terrorist suspects following US withdrawal.

US homeland security debate focuses on the potential entry of terrorist suspects following US withdrawal.

The US Director of National Intelligence claimed that the presence of several suspected terrorists inside the country posed a direct threat to the security of American citizens.

In an interview with Fox News, Tulsi Gabbard claimed that the Biden administration failed to conduct security screenings and allowed the entry of about 18,000 suspected terrorists.

According to her, according to statistics from the US National Counterterrorism Center, about 2,000 of these people are Afghan nationals who entered the United States after the withdrawal of American forces in 2021 (1400 solar year).

Referring to the pre-Thanksgiving shooting in which two National Guard members were shot and one died, she considered the incident an example of the direct results of the previous administration’s policies.

In contrast to these claims, reports and available evidence consider this acceleration in screenings to be a justification arising from the special circumstances of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan.

According to reports published after the chaotic 2021 withdrawal, the Biden administration was faced with commitments and decisions made during the first Trump administration, including the troop withdrawal agreement and the lack of operational planning for the evacuation of troops, American citizens, and local allies.

According to Arab News, Biden administration officials have emphasized that the previous administration, despite a four-year window, not only did not expedite the process of issuing special immigrant visas for Afghan allies, but also slowed it down and weakened the infrastructure for reviewing cases.

From this perspective, the acceleration of the transfer of Afghans to the United States is considered an emergency measure to reduce the risk of death to local American partners from the Taliban.

At the same time, the reports note that the majority of Afghans who entered the United States after the summer of 2021 were law-abiding individuals and there is no credible evidence that they are widely considered a security threat.