OPINION — We asked Afghans to translate for our patrols, guard our bases and stand beside our troops under fire. In return, we made them a promise, in writing: Serve with us, and we will not leave you to be hunted.
For a while, we kept it, and most Americans never saw how. After Kabul fell, government and civil society did something rare in this country. They came together. The government stood up a program called Enduring Welcome, and Americans from every corner of the country and every part of our national life held the line alongside it.
Veterans and military families, churches and mosques and synagogues, people who agreed on almost nothing else, threw themselves at the problem. Together we brought tens of thousands of vetted allies to safety. It was bipartisan. It was careful. It worked.
