When United States military forces engage enemy in foreign lands, they always rely on local allies for support. Usually, that support comes from brave men and women who risk their lives to assist our military with logistics and translation. We absolutely need these courageous individuals. And we do everything we can to protect them because we know full well that they face persecution and death from our enemies and those locals who support our enemies.

One way we protect them is by allowing these local allies to receive an American visa quickly when their job is done. We initiated that protection for Afghan allies in 2009 when Congress passed the Afghan Allies Protection Act. The Act provided Special Immigrant Visas (SIV) to interpreters and others whose lives were clearly at risk because of their work on behalf of our military and other governmental organizations, such as the FBI and State Department.

So, when Afghans decided to help the U.S. upon hearing they will have an escape if need be, they did so knowing we had promised them something. And they put themselves and their families at risk to help our troops accomplish their missions and return home safely.

These brave allies endure genuine threats. The Taliban will do all they can to find them and kill them. Some interpreters have been killed and wounded while waiting for an American visa. Others don’t leave their houses, or refuse to go out in public. And even others have had family members murdered because of their association with our military. They are indeed heroes.

Yet now, we stand poised to break our promise to them, to essentially pull the rug out from under them.

The latest version of the 2017 National Defense Authorization Act would apply severe limitations to an Afghan’s eligibility for an SIV. There is really no good reason for the limitation; it just appears to be too much to manage for some.

If this bill passes, it will, for all intents and purposes, put an end the SIV program. And that means there are thousands of Afghans, especially those working for the FBI, DEA and State Department, that will be left to the Taliban. Matt Zeller, a former Army captain involved with interpreters, said, “We will be outright turning our backs on a group of people we have made a fundamental promise to.”

“As far as the Taliban are concerned, they (Afghan allies) worked for the U.S. military and they should all die,” Zeller added.

Betsy Fisher, policy director at the International Refugee Assistance Project, notes, “Thousands of Afghans have given sacrificial service to our country in Afghanistan, and our country has made a promise to them. When we fail to provide them with safe passage as we’ve promised to do, we leave them in danger.”

Not to mention the fact that we will never get anyone to help us again.

We currently have a backlog of 10,000 SIV applications from Afghans. None additional are allocated by this bill, though 4,000 SIVs are still available from last year’s congressional allocation. There is no clarity on what those 6,000 people should do.

If you’ve ever wondered how you can kill 6,000 Afghans, there you go.

But there is still time.

Soon, the Senate will consider a bill to extend the SIV program through the State Department. If we can come to our senses, live up to our promises, and protect our Afghan friends from harm, we will show them that the country they were supporting is worthy of their support. In fact, we are such a great country that we never abandon or forget those who risk their lives to serve us.