On this file photograph from 2024, Taliban navy helicopters fly to have a good time the third anniversary of Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan, on the Bagram Air Base, in Bagram, Parwan province on August 14, 2024. President Trump banned the arrival of Afghan nationals to the U.S. with exceptions for individuals who have particular immigrant visas.
Ahmad Sahel Arman/AFP through Getty Photos
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Ahmad Sahel Arman/AFP through Getty Photos
President Trump enacted a journey ban on residents from a dozen nations Wednesday, together with Afghanistan, the place U.S. troops have been stationed for almost twenty years.
Despite the fact that the president’s journey ban applies to Afghanistan, it does embody an exception.
Afghans who served with the U.S. through the battle can nonetheless pursue what’s generally known as a Particular Immigrant Visa. For the reason that chaotic navy withdrawal of U.S. troops in August of 2021, round 200,000 Afghans have resettled within the U.S., many beneath that visa program.
As well as, greater than 200,000 Afghans stay outdoors the U.S. whereas awaiting numerous phases of the applying course of, together with many who labored with the Individuals.
These figures are from U.S. officers and personal teams aiding Afghans who wish to transfer to the U.S., together with AfghanEvac, an advocacy group which maintains statistics on the variety of Afghan nationals trying resettlement.
The president’s proclamation additionally carves out exceptions for people already within the U.S. looking for asylum. Whereas it doesn’t tackle refugee resettlement, the U.S. has paused nearly all refugee packages beneath one other govt order.
Many Afghans looking for SIVs and refugee standing say they worry for his or her security beneath Taliban rule within the nation.
Trump cited the necessity to tackle the specter of terrorism because the catalyst for the journey ban, with the White Home truth sheet noting particularly about Afghanistan: “The Taliban, a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) group, controls Afghanistan. Afghanistan lacks a competent or cooperative central authority for issuing passports or civil documents and it does not have appropriate screening and vetting measures.”
The administration additionally cited visa overstay statistics in its reasoning for Afghanistan’s inclusion.
A separate program giving Afghan nationals short-term protected standing within the U.S. expired in Might, with remaining termination scheduled for July 14. In a information launch on the time the tip of that standing was introduced, Secretary of Homeland Safety Kristi Noem said: “Afghanistan has had an improved security situation, and its stabilizing economy no longer prevent [Afghans] from returning to their home country.”
The discharge additional defined that Noem “determined that permitting Afghan nationals to remain temporarily in the United States is contrary to the national interest of the United States.”
The top of AfghanEvac, Navy veteran Shawn VanDiver, known as the journey ban a “betrayal.”
“This ban does nothing to protect Americans. It punishes Afghan allies, family members, students, professionals, and humanitarian parolees—many of whom were already promised a pathway to safety,” he mentioned in an announcement.
