By Jonathan Landay
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Practically 1,660 Afghans cleared by the U.S. authorities to resettle within the U.S., together with members of the family of active-duty U.S. navy personnel, are having their flights canceled underneath President Donald Trump’s order suspending U.S. refugee packages, a U.S. official and a number one refugee resettlement advocate mentioned on Monday.
The group contains unaccompanied minors awaiting reunification with their households within the U.S. in addition to Afghans liable to Taliban retribution as a result of they fought for the previous U.S.-backed Afghan authorities, mentioned Shawn VanDiver, head of the #AfghanEvac coalition of U.S. veterans and advocacy teams and the U.S. official, who spoke on situation of anonymity.
The U.S. resolution additionally leaves in limbo 1000’s of different Afghans who’ve been authorised for resettlement as refugees within the U.S. however haven’t but been assigned flights from Afghanistan or from neighboring Pakistan, they mentioned.
Trump made an immigration crackdown a significant promise of his victorious 2024 election marketing campaign, leaving the destiny of U.S. refugee packages up within the air.
The White Home and the State Division, which oversees U.S. refugee packages, didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark.
“Afghans and advocates are panicking,” mentioned VanDiver. “I’ve had to recharge my phone four times already today because so many are calling me.
“We warned them that this was going to occur, however they did it anyway. We hope they may rethink,” he said of contacts with Trump’s transition team.
VanDiver’s organization is the main coalition that has been working with the U.S. government to evacuate and resettle Afghans in the U.S. since the Taliban seized Kabul as the last U.S. forces left Afghanistan in August 2021 after two decades of war.
Nearly 200,000 Afghans have been brought to the U.S. by former President Joe Biden’s administration since the chaotic U.S. troop withdrawal from Kabul.
One of the dozens of executive orders Trump is expected to sign after being sworn in for a second term on Monday suspended U.S. refugee programs for at least four months.
The new White House website said that Trump “is suspending refugee resettlement, after communities had been compelled to accommodate giant and unsustainable populations of migrants, straining group security and assets.”
“We all know because of this unaccompanied kids, (Afghan) associate forces who skilled, fought and died or had been injured alongside our troops, and households of active-duty U.S. service members are going to be caught,” said VanDiver.
VanDiver and the U.S. official said that the Afghans approved to resettle as refugees in the U.S. were being removed from the manifests of flights they were due to take from Kabul between now and April.
Minority Democrats on the House Foreign Relations Committee blasted the move, saying in a post on X that “that is what abandonment appears like. Leaving vetted, verified Afghan Allies on the mercy of the Taliban is shameful.”
They embody practically 200 members of the family of Afghan-American active-duty U.S. service personnel born within the U.S. or of Afghans who got here to the U.S., joined the navy and have become naturalized residents, they mentioned.
These being faraway from flights additionally embody an unknown variety of Afghans who fought for the previous U.S.-backed Kabul authorities and a few 200 unaccompanied kids of Afghan refugees or Afghan dad and mom whose kids had been introduced alone to the USA throughout the U.S. withdrawal, mentioned VanDiver and the U.S. official.
An unknown variety of Afghans who certified for refugee standing as a result of they labored for U.S. contractors or U.S.-affiliated organizations are also within the group, they mentioned.
