A Seattle veteran of the Afghanistan War has spent weeks trying to get allies and friends to safety. Now he said that mission should stay on track despite today’s tragedy.
In the aftermath of the terror bombings, more than a dozen American service members are dead. For veterans who served in Afghanistan, it hits especially hard.
Matt Griffin served four combat tours in Afghanistan as an Army Ranger. He said the U.S. should have started the evacuation much sooner and shouldn’t be deterred by today’s deadly bombing.
“As a former combat leader who has led men and women into combat, just like those Marines, like this is a tragic loss of life. There was a lot of broken hearts on the ground right now, and there’s a lot of families that are suffering,” said Griffin.
President Joe Biden vows retribution against the terrorist group ISIS-K, but Griffin is wary of more war.
“I think the war drums were beating again. I think that we are continuing to treat every problem as a nail. And the only tool we have is a hammer. The U.S. military is not the tool to be used at the hands of lazy foreign policy. It is to be used as a last resort or to save those that are being oppressed,” he said.
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Griffin and his colleague Army veteran Greg Adams have been working to get 20 families out of Afghanistan with limited success so far. They were able to get their translator Moneer to safety. They’ve started a GoFundMe account to get others out.
And all of them are at risk.
“One of our teams, you know, running to a checkpoint, got pulled out by the Taliban. Uh, the family was beaten, and a 10-year-old boy was executed in front of the family. The stories are absolutely horrific,” said Griffin.
He believes Biden should make finishing the evacuation his top priority.
“I think we really need to focus on getting all the Americans out of Afghanistan and then for all of the Afghan, military and interpreters that helped us. If they’re still alive, we should do our very best to help get them out,” he said.
Griffin and colleagues will continue their work to get Afghan allies to safety.
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