| Welcome to The Daily 202 newsletter! Tell your friends to sign up here. We're going to be a little light for a few days, as the mighty Mariana Alfaro is out. And we go dark all next week, but look forward to our return. President Biden has something of a Goldilocks problem when it comes to the politics of Afghan refugees, the first thousands of whom have arrived on U.S. soil this week thanks to an unprecedented U.S. operation from the Kabul airport. Some Republicans say he's doing too much. A bipartisan chorus of domestic critics says he's doing too little. And scenes of desperate Afghans risking Taliban violence to pass small children to strangers in U.S. military uniforms make it harder to say he's doing just right, even if polls suggest many Americans think so. Still, the official numbers the administration released yesterday show an overwhelming proportion of the 82,300 people who have flown out of Kabul were Afghans. Americans accounted for just 4,500 of that total, which also included an undisclosed number of third-country citizens. It's enough to wonder whether the realization they were losing large numbers of educated Afghans drove the Taliban to declare on Tuesday that doctors and academics "should not go to other countries, to those Western countries."  People evacuated from Kabul walk through a terminal at Washington Dulles International Airport before boarding a bus on Aug. 25. (Jose Luis Magana/AP) | The latest figures provided by the White House on Thursday showed another 13,400 people got out between Wednesday and Thursday, meaning the operation looks on track to pass 100,000 days before it is due to end on Aug. 31. For perspective, the Pentagon predicted Aug. 17 its "best effort" would get 5,000-9,000 out per day. And Biden forecast in an ABC News interview Aug. 19 the total number of Afghans eligible to be evacuated would total 50,000-65,000. The refugees' first stops are military bases. Fort McCoy in Wisconsin, Fort Lee in Virginia, Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in New Jersey, and Fort Bliss inTexas were the first announced. Marine Corps Base Quantico has been added. Biden and top aides have insisted all of the arrivals undergo rigorous vetting before arriving on U.S. soil — a concern, since France took in five Afghans with suspected Taliban ties, while Britain flagged six as posing a "direct threat," according to British media. As for the politics, polls show an overwhelming number of Americans support taking in Afghans who helped the 20-year war effort, many as interpreters. But former president Donald Trump has accused Biden, without evidence, of taking in countless terrorists. And right-wing media have fanned racist fears of unchecked immigration, which helped propel the entrepreneur to the White House in 2016. My colleagues Matt Viser and Paul Kane reported yesterday: "White House officials and Biden's political advisers have been closely tracking some of the rhetoric of Republican lawmakers, including some who voted just weeks ago against allocating $1.5 billion to help the resettlement of Afghans but are now criticizing Biden for not doing more." "Democrats remain hopeful that the issue will be different from the divisive border politics of the last decade, particularly because of the different nature of the two groups." "'I don't think we're going to see the electoral backlash,' said Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), who served in combat with a Marine Corps infantry unit in Iraq and has been deeply involved in the debate over immigration at the Southern border." Indeed, the political problem may be greater for Republicans, who seem sharply divided, the New York Times's Annie Karni reported yesterday, noting some have accused Biden of not doing enough to save Afghan partners. "But others — including former President Donald J. Trump and Representative Kevin McCarthy, the minority leader — have sought to fold the issue of Afghan refugees into the anti-immigrant stance of the party's far right. They are criticizing Mr. Biden not simply for leaving the Afghans behind, but for opening the United States up to what they characterized as dangerous foreigners." " 'We'll have terrorists coming across the border,' Mr. McCarthy said last week on a call with a group of bipartisan House members, according to two people who were on the call, where he railed against the Biden administration's handling of the withdrawal. He also brought up the issue of migrants entering the country along the U.S.-Mexico border in his discussion of Afghans being evacuated." "On the issue of Afghan refugees, Mr. McCarthy has walked the same tightrope that he has on other issues, trying to appease the two sides of the party. He has stated publicly that 'we owe it to these people, who are our friends and who worked with us, to get them out safely if we can.' But he has also leaned into the nativist, Trumpian side, giving voice to the generalized, inchoate fears about foreigners entering the country." Republicans who toured Fort McCoy this week raised supposed security concerns while saying most of the refugees simply seek a better life. "The vast majority of them are here for the right reason, but all it takes is one and we've got to make sure we do our due diligence," said Republican state Rep. Tony Kurtz of Wisconsin. "We need to take time, one they get out of harm's way to make sure we're getting the right people and doing the proper vetting." Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) also raised vetting concerns but said "It sounds like the first group of people that arrived are just relieved to have been able to escape Afghanistan. They won the lottery, they're here in America." "The vast majority are here wanting what we want, the opportunity to raise their families in safety and security, with opportunity," Johnson said, according to Laura Schulte of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. The military bases are only a way-point on the road to final resettlement. It's not clear where the Afghans coming to America will end up. California, Virginia, and New York have the largest extant Afghan populations in the United States. At the Associated Press, Sarah Rankin had a nice, detailed piece yesterday on what happens after the Afghans arrive at military bases in Virginia, citing Grant Neely, a communications adviser to Gov. Ralph Northam (D). "Neely wrote in an email that military flights and buses were providing transportation to take evacuees who are not U.S. citizens or green card holders to military installations for further processing toward their final destination. …." "Virginia agencies and local governments were helping with the logistical efforts." "The Virginia Department of Health was testing everyone arriving without documentation of a negative COVID test in the last 72 hours, Neely said." "Of the more than 900 tests done Tuesday, 11 people tested positive, he said. Fairfax and Loudoun counties were providing isolation and quarantine space for U.S. citizens who test positive as needed, according to Neely. The state and defense departments were handling those accommodations for noncitizens." "They [the Northams] said the refugees were being provided adequate, culturally sensitive accommodations with access to medical care and space for recreation and worship." | 
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