Press Release

Representative Ami Bera, M.D. (D-CA) Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific, Central Asia, and Nonproliferation, released the following statement on President Biden's decision to continue with the August 31 U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.

"While I commend the Biden Administration and our brave men and women in uniform for safely evacuating over 70,000 individuals from Afghanistan thus far, there's still more work to be done, and more evacuations to take place.

In just the past week, my office has received and forwarded to the State Department for immediate action over 7,000 requests from individuals seeking to leave Afghanistan. These heartbreaking pleas have come from Americans, our Afghan partners, and family members with loved ones who are unsafe in Afghanistan. Sadly, many of these individuals have not yet been safely evacuated out of Afghanistan, and time is running out.

We must not let a self-imposed August 31 deadline get in the way of completing our mission of protecting our citizens and our allies. That's why I strongly urge President Biden to extend the withdrawal deadline as necessary to complete U.S. evacuation operations."

Representative Bera represents Sacramento County, home to the largest population of Afghan immigrants in the entire country. He wrote to President Biden on August 17 urging him to extend the August 31 deadline. Bera has long called on the Biden Administration to expedite the Afghan SIV process and evacuate our allies out of the country before the withdrawal of U.S. troops.