Afghan families at the Kabul international airport fleeing the Taliban’s takeover of the city, Aug. 16.

Photo: wakil kohsar/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

‘Dear Sir/Madam,” the email begins, “Please relocate me soon before i die.” Sent on Tuesday to nonprofit officials, a U.S. House staffer and State Department addresses, the message at first reads like an internet scam. Yet this 31-year-old Afghan wants safe passage, not money. “Militant talibans looking for me to find me to slaughter me,” he writes. “Thank God I left Kandahar city and I am hiding myself in Kabul.”

The Afghan, whose name is withheld to protect his safety, had applied for a Special Immigrant Visa and attached his case number. The program was created in 2006 for Iraqis and Afghans who worked for the U.S. government, most notably as translators. After serving, they and their family become eligible for permanent U.S. residency. This is perhaps America’s most just and sensible immigration policy: English-speaking foreigners who follow the rules and risk everything—and sometimes save American lives—can earn a shot at the American Dream.

It isn’t clear exactly how many Afghans are eligible or currently winding through the process. The latter figure stood below 20,000 when President Biden announced the U.S. withdrawal in April, but it almost certainly has risen as the Taliban gained territory. In recent years the application process could take more than 500 days, and the pandemic didn’t help. The State Department approved 1,799 SIVs for Afghans in fiscal 2020, down from 9,741 the year before.

Thousands have made it to the U.S. through the program, but hundreds of translators and family members have been killed while waiting for approval. Now, with the extremist group in power, thousands could face a similar fate.

The problem didn’t begin with the Biden administration, but the White House has done almost nothing to resolve it. State instead maintained the delusion that the U.S. could keep a diplomatic presence in Afghanistan and continue processing visas well into the future.

In January 2020 the nonprofit No One Left Behind offered a plan to reduce the wait time for SIV applicants, primarily by streamlining the process and increasing staff. After the withdrawal announcement in April, the Truman Center published a white paper that called for “a mass evacuation plan similar to historical events in Vietnam, Iraq, and Kosovo.” The Journal’s editorial board offered similar advice this year.

Mr. Biden and his lieutenants also received plenty of warning from Congress. In a May 17 letter, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Gregory Meeks (D., N.Y.) and ranking Member Michael McCaul (R., Texas) urged Secretary of State Antony Blinken to address the SIV backlog and make better use of Defense Department resources to help. The following month, a bipartisan group of four congressmen held a press conference with veterans and former translators demanding quick action. Senators took a similar approach.

Mr. Blinken was more blasé. Although he and other administration officials said the right things about the SIV program, their actions betrayed a lack of urgency. The Pentagon drew up evacuation plans for interpreters, but those were squashed by an administration that wanted to project calm as the ship sank.

In June Mr. McCaul—who consistently warned about the coming disaster—asked Mr. Blinken about evacuating SIV applicants before the military withdrawal. “We are not withdrawing. We are staying. The embassy is staying. Our programs are staying,” the secretary answered. “If there is a significant deterioration in security,” well, “I do not think it is going to be something that happens from a Friday to a Monday.” He also mentioned that the administration had added 50 people to help work on a backlog of thousands of applicants. This accomplished little.

An emergency evacuation effort could have gotten thousands of people out of the country, even during the few months since Mr. Biden took office. Instead the world watches the Kabul airport as the president explains why the buck stops everywhere but with him. A Pentagon spokesman confirmed this week that the U.S. still planned to withdraw all U.S. troops by the end of the month. A humiliating deal with the Taliban may allow safe passage for Americans trying to reach the airport, but the Afghans may not be so lucky.

“We are getting reports of certain interpreters being evacuated. There is still no wider plan that we’ve heard of for how they’re going to move 50,000 people by the end of August,” said James Miervaldis of No One Left Behind, which has been helping facilitate the exit of Afghan families. “It’s just a lack of a plan. We’ve been asking the State Department for more transparency. We’re not getting it.” Around 2,000 Afghans whose cases were approved have been evacuated to the U.S., but Mr. Miervaldis says that no one knows exactly how many are eligible and stranded. Most of them are probably outside Kabul.

Unhappy with Donald Trump’s conduct in general and handling of Covid-19 in particular, millions of Americans convinced themselves that Mr. Biden is competent, compassionate, even wise. He showed otherwise at the beginning of his political career. During a discussion about aid to Cambodia in 1975, the then-freshman senator reportedly declared, “I’m getting sick and tired of hearing about morality, our moral obligation.” The same year he proclaimed that “the United States has no obligation to evacuate one, or 100,001, South Vietnamese.” Millions have been shocked by the president’s callous response to the consequences of his withdrawal from Afghanistan, but this is the politician he has always been.

Mr. O’Neal is a European-based editorial page writer for the Journal.

Journal Editorial Report: Paul Gigot interviews Gen. Jack Keane on the evacuation. Image: U.S. Army/Sgt. 1st Class Corey Vandiver/Handout via Reuters The Wall Street Journal Interactive Edition