WHEREAS, On August 24, 1973, King Mohammad Zahir Shah abdicated the throne after 40 years of a peaceful monarch rule in Afghanistan due to a coup d’état by his cousin, Mohammed Daoud Khan; and

WHEREAS, On April 28, 1978, Prime Minister Mohammed Daoud Khan was assassinated during the Saur Revolution led by the communist People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan, which propelled Afghanistan into decades of conflict; and

WHEREAS, President Ronald Reagan supported the mujahedeen’s fight against the Soviet Union during the Cold War, which led Islamic militants like Saudi Arabian Osama bin Laden to become involved in Afghanistan’s conflict; and

WHEREAS, On September 11, 2001, the United States suffered four coordinated attacks, conducted by 19 members of the terrorist group Al-Qaeda under the direction of Osama bin Laden, precipitating a United States and coalition military invasion and occupation of Afghanistan that would last nearly 20 years; and

WHEREAS, The United States and coalition missions in Afghanistan were overseen by four presidential administrations and multiple shifts in the majority party of both chambers of Congress before the final withdrawal of United States and coalition military forces, making the Afghanistan conflict and its aftermath the responsibility of our total political system; and

WHEREAS, The Taliban, a hardline Islamist force lacking regard for civil and human rights, will achieve a swift, full, and violent restoration of its control over the institutions and people of Afghanistan upon the withdrawal of the United States and the coalition; and

WHEREAS, Thousands of Afghan citizens supported United States and allied forces, standing side-by-side with the United States’ service members, diplomats, and aid workers while serving as interpreters, engineers, logistical service providers, and more; and

WHEREAS, Afghan citizens who supported United States and allied forces, along with their families, have been targeted for execution by the Taliban for their support of the United States and coalition missions; and

WHEREAS, More than 300 Afghan interpreters are known to have been murdered by the Taliban for supporting United States and allied forces; and

WHEREAS, The United States began withdrawing its military forces from Afghanistan on May 1, 2021, and completed its military withdrawal by September 2021; and

WHEREAS, The Taliban has regained significant territory in Afghanistan since the beginning of the United States withdrawal; and

WHEREAS, The United States has conducted battlefield vetting of those Afghans who supported the United States and coalition missions, and has an established Special Immigrant Visa program to support the evacuation and relocation of our Afghan partners; and

WHEREAS, Sixteen thousand visas under the Special Immigrant Visa program have been issued since the program began, and more than 18,000 applications to the Special Immigrant Visa program remain pending; and

WHEREAS, Failing to protect the United States’ Afghan partners would leave thousands of individuals and their families in peril; and

WHEREAS, The State of California stands ready to support the evacuation, case management screening, and resettlement of Afghan refugees traveling with a Special Immigrant Visa, and to coordinate that response with county, state, and federal government departments and agencies in accordance with previously established and proven best practices for emergency resettlement; and

WHEREAS, Local agencies in the bay area have established a model of emergency refugee, asylum, and migrant care and resettlement services, and that model can be tailored for specific language and cultural competency; now, therefore, be it