A resolution referencing the withdrawal of United States soldiers from Afghanistan died for a lack of a second motion at the Hutchinson City Council meeting this past week.
Council Member Dave Sebesta brought forward the resolution, which he said had been written by a local group. He said it was, "to support the troops in Afghanistan, and support their wellbeing, and their mutual living in Hutchinson and McLeod County."
"We do need to support those that were helpful to our nation and to our service people over there," he said. "They haven't all gotten to the United States yet."
The resolution cites as rationale the Taliban's refusal to allow Osama Bin Laden's extradition following the 9/11 terrorist attacks. It also cites the service of veterans in Afghanistan for nearly 20 years, 2,300 deaths and 23,000 wounded that affected many local families.
"Afghanistan was stopped from being a staging ground for future terrorist attacks against our troops and the United States," it reads. "The world did not become a safe place immune to terrorism by the departure of U.S. military forces."
In response it calls for three items:
- That Hutchinson thank service members by proclaiming September to be "Troop Appreciation Month."
- That Hutchinson support efforts for safe passage for remaining U.S. citizens and green card holders to leave Afghanistan.
- That Hutchinson support rigorous federal government verification of an estimated 125,000 Afghan refugees "who truly were allies or have Special Immigrant Vistas" to ensure that ISIS terrorists are not among them.
“I fully support the troops and what they did," said Council Member Patrick May. "I personally have a problem with us … doing something that I think is more of a federal government issue than a local Hutchinson government issue.”
“That’s exactly my issue," said Council Member Mary Christensen. “I support our troops. My father served, my brother served, my brother died from something in Vietnam. If we do this, I’m just not comfortable with this. This is a federal issue. We are not going to change what our government is going to be doing.”
Council Member Chad Czmowski said he was OK with the first bullet point.
"It's completely out of our lane to address the rest of it," he added.
“Everyone should know how I feel about the veterans. I totally support them all the time," said Mayor Gary Forcier. "But the rest of it I don’t think belongs.”
Sebesta said he believes the entire council supports veterans and the need to verify the backgrounds of Afghanistan refugees.
"The people, we the people, are the federal government," he said. "I think, basically, we need to, maybe not as a council ... individually, if we feel that way, we need to support those people that want to ensure safety for those coming over here."
He made a motion to approve the resolution, but no second was made and so no vote was taken.
