State Department Plan Shuts Afghan Relocation Office

A proposal to restructure the State Department would dismantle the office specifically designed to help Afghan allies escape the country that the Biden administration left behind, The Hill reported Friday.

The State Department is proposing the elimination of the Coordinator for Afghan Relocation Efforts office and assigning the duties to the Afghanistan Affairs Office, according to the notification to Congress on Thursday.

Under the proposal, CARE would be shuttered on July 1.

"This is not streamlining. This is deliberate dismantling. The CARE Office was established to fix the failures of the U.S. withdrawal. Eliminating it — without public explanation, transition planning, or reaffirmation of mission — is a profound betrayal of American values and promises," Shawn VanDiver, president of #AfghanEvac, said in a statement.

In the aftermath of President Joe Biden's decision to withdraw from Afghanistan, which led to the deaths of 13 U.S. service members in the Abbey Gate bombing in August 2021, CARE was established that same month to facilitate the relocation and resettlement of at-risk Afghans, primarily those who had worked with the U.S. government. The office was made permanent within the State Department in October 2022.

"We welcome reforms where needed, but they must be done with a scalpel, not a chain saw. This proposal hands over Afghan allies who fought side-by-side with our military to the Taliban. It guts programs meant to protect brave democracy defenders living in fear," wrote Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Rep. Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, in a joint statement.

The State Department restructuring would also further gut the U.S. Agency for International Development.

"The proposed changes to the State Department — and effectively USAID — we received this morning will be carefully weighed against the real costs to American security and leadership," Shaheen and Meeks said.

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