Opinion: A Lesson for America from the Fall of Saigon in 1975

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His accented English was understandable; my car repair skills were bad. I just knew how to start quickly and when that didn’t work out, we gave up.

Then he asked me where I was from. Vietnam, I said. He stood up, touched his chest twice, and said, “Afghanistan!”

He added, “We have the same problem!” I turned on it and said, “Yes. Same problem.”

Since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan, many comparisons have been made between the fall of Kabul in 2021 and the fall of Saigon in 1975. But the parallels are deeper than the images of people trying desperately to flee. of their countries. The tide of refugees from Afghanistan cries out for the same generous welcome that the United States gave to those who fled Vietnam 46 years ago.

What the gentleman meant by the same problem at the time, of course, was communism.

We must fulfill our promises for the girl taken up in a refugee camp. That girl was me

The Afghans solved their problem by fighting bravely against the forces of the Soviet Union that invaded their country, and the Vietnamese benefited from the eventual dissolution of the USSR. Little or nothing of the economic reform that made Vietnam’s economy vibrate would probably have happened if the Soviet Union still existed.

The preceptive words of the old man now haunt me. Afghanistan and Vietnam once again have “the same problem.” He used to think that Afghanistan deserved to be invaded because they hosted Osama bin Laden. But as I watched the same Taliban host bin Laden fall city after city, my heart broke.

The chaotic scenes at Kabul airport are very reminiscent of Saigon in 1975.

After that evacuation, what President Gerald Ford did was nothing like Moses: let the people in!

Ford could have said, “Performers only.” Or, “Stay in Southeast Asia.” But he never did.

We left my little brother and a world behind us when we escaped from Vietnam by boat

All Vietnamese who had arrived on a ship, helicopter, plane, or American base were admitted. They all met in Guam and, once the paperwork was done, were sent to destinations in the United States.

Much of the American public did not like this. The United States was suffering from double-digit inflation and unemployment and negative GDP growth, so critics wondered: Why attract more people? According to the New York Times, the White House reported 2,809 telegrams and letters in opposition and a minority, 2,451, of support. But the president went ahead anyway. The Justice Department, headed by Attorney General Edward Levi, granted a waiver of immigration restrictions across the lot. More than 130,000 people: my aunt, uncle and cousin among them.
This time, in Afghanistan, we have 34,500 special immigration visa (SIV) slots and only for people who have worked with U.S. forces. Guess what? The International Rescue Commission estimates that more than 300,000 Afghans have been affiliated with the US mission. What will happen to those who are still trying to get to the United States or even just leave Afghanistan?
This is not 1975 Saigon

We have not even looked forward to what might happen when tyranny is established. The Taliban have already shown what they are capable of. The Vietnamese communists had not been better. Once the war was over, they brutally sealed their authority.

There was a continuous flood of Vietnamese towards the camps of the neighboring countries. Presidents of both U.S. parties helped. Between 1978 and 1982, under Presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan, some 280,500 Vietnamese refugees were admitted from the camps.

That was how my brother came to America after seven repeated attempts, six nights and five days at sea in a small boat and more than four months in camp.

President Carter instituted an additional method, called the Orderly Exit Program (ODP), to receive Vietnamese refugees directly from Vietnam, in part to relieve pressure on the region’s refugee camps. That’s how, seven years after communism took over Vietnam, my parents and I joined the rest of the family here. We considered ourselves lucky, because we were refugees with suitcases.
President Reagan’s State Department began negotiations with the Vietnamese for the release of all prisoners from the “re-education” camp with the promise of welcoming them all, negotiations that would be concluded with President George HW Bush. Some 200,000 arrived via ODP, including much of my extended family, who landed at airports and expressed hope for a new future after decades of oppression.

They were not people who had worked for the United States. They had worked and fought for the sovereign nation of the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam), which the United States supported in the war against North Vietnam. But it doesn’t matter. This was a distinction without differences. We knew the value of the allies.

Hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese admitted to the United States have formed, in later years, a thriving group of American Vietnamese who have driven economic growth in many areas of the country.

Should we do the same for the people of Afghanistan? Yes. They have been our allies. Even among those who did not work for the United States, many worked and fought alongside us, and all will suffer under the Taliban: women, girls, soldiers, educators, doctors, activists.

Can we do that? Yes. As provocative as our present moment may be, the United States is economically and socially stronger now than it was in the 1970s.

The question is: will we?

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