Afghanistan civilians are fleeing the country in the hope of a haven from the current reign of hell from the Taliban. 

“We are pushing, pushing, pushing to get as many Afghans out of Afghanistan as we can and we’d love to have them here in Iowa,” said Senator Joni Ernst to reporters while attending the annual Iowa state fair. 

She also noted how she and Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, a New Hampshire Democrat, are working together to push as many Afghans as possible into a Special Immigrant Visa Program. 

The program is specifically targeted at Afghans who directly worked with U.S forces as interpreters or translators. 

Both Shaheen and Ernst have been advocating for this approach to the U.S State Department. 

The State Department dragged their feet on getting our Americans & Afghan partners out of Afghanistan.

Now, we’re left with a disaster. pic.twitter.com/vLWu1AaYaA

— Joni Ernst (@SenJoniErnst) August 24, 2021

Representative Marrianete Miller-Meeks also spoke, condemning the troop to pull out on the House Floor. 

“The scene that unfolded at Hamid Karzai Airport in Kabul last week is a betrayal to American civilians and soldiers, our Afghan partners who aided American troops in the Global War on Terror, and the Afghan people-The catastrophe that we have seen over the last few days was completely avoidable,” she said. 

America does not take orders from the Taliban. We MUST work until every single American soldier and civilian is safely out of Afghanistan. Failure here is not an option.

— Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, M.D. (@RepMMM) August 25, 2021

It has been widely reported that 16,000 people have been evacuated from Afghanistan thus far. 

As for Americans getting back, it has been a challenge. 

“To the best of our knowledge, the Taliban checkpoints, they’re letting through people showing Americans passports-now, that’s a different question when they get into the rush and crowd all the folks just outside the wall near the airport,” said President Biden to White House Reporters earlier this week. 

When questioned by WH reporter Peter Doocy about Americans stranded in Afghanistan who cannot get past Taliban checkpoints, Press secretary Jen Psaki snapped back, claiming it ‘irresponsible’ to state Americans are ‘stranded.’

As it stands, Biden plans to pull remaining troops out of the country by August 31 but hinted at the possibility that he may extend the deadline. 

The Taliban called the deadline a “red line,” threatening a reaction.