Nobody is much talking or writing about who the Americans left in Afghanistan are, exactly. More particularly, are many or indeed all of them ethnic Afghans who were there visiting family, working for NGOs, or in one way or another transferring technology there?
It turns out that for different reasons, members of both parties don't want to talk about this issue. Republicans, of which I am considered one, don't wish to reduce the impact of American citizens left behind on President Biden's demonstrated fecklessness.
Democrats don't want to suggest that they care less about fellow Americans who happen to be ethnic Afghans and Islamic. And more to the point, Democrats want the whole subject to simply go away, to "turn the page."
After all it is one thing to feel sympathy for some left-behind blond woman or blue-eyed kid who speaks only English and wears a crucifix. Quite another to feel the same for a Pashtun man or woman who speaks a local language, has local relatives, and shares the nation's Islamic faith. Either could be in exactly the same danger, but with which would most Americans identify?
Looking back, don't be surprised if it turns out most of the left-behind were either an ethnic Afghan or married to one. Also don't be surprised if it takes years for that information to surface.
