Exclusive: Nearly 1,660 Afghans cleared by the US government to resettle in the US, including family of active duty US military personnel, are having their flights canceled under President Trump's order suspending US refugee programs reut.rs/3PIJRyc
— Reuters (@reuters.com) January 20, 2025 at 5:36 PM
Nearly 1,660 Afghans cleared by the U.S. government to resettle in the U.S., including family members of active-duty U.S. military personnel, are having their flights canceled under President Donald Trump’s order suspending U.S. refugee programs, a U.S. official and a leading refugee resettlement advocate said on Monday.
The group includes unaccompanied minors awaiting reunification with their families in the U.S. as well as Afghans at risk of Taliban retribution because they fought for the former U.S.-backed Afghan government, said Shawn VanDiver, head of the #AfghanEvac coalition of U.S. veterans and advocacy groups and the U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The U.S. decision also leaves in limbo thousands of other Afghans who have been approved for resettlement as refugees in the U.S. but have not yet been assigned flights from Afghanistan or from neighboring Pakistan, they said.
Trump made an immigration crackdown a major promise of his victorious 2024 election campaign, leaving the fate of U.S. refugee programs up in the air…
“Afghans and advocates are panicking,” said 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 happen, but they did it anyway. We hope they will reconsider,” 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…
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 “this is what abandonment looks like. Leaving vetted, verified Afghan Allies at the mercy of the Taliban is shameful.”
They include nearly 200 family members of Afghan-American active-duty U.S. service personnel born in the U.S. or of Afghans who came to the U.S., joined the military and became naturalized citizens, they said.
Those being removed from flights also include an unknown number of Afghans who fought for the former U.S.-backed Kabul government and some 200 unaccompanied children of Afghan refugees or Afghan parents whose children were brought alone to the United States during the U.S. withdrawal, said VanDiver and the U.S. official.
An unknown number of Afghans who qualified for refugee status because they worked for U.S. contractors or U.S.-affiliated organizations also are in the group, they said.
This is disastrous.
I’ve heard countless stories over the last 24 hours of Afghan #allies who had risked their lives for the joint US MISSION, have done everything right, dotted every i, and had waited years to come to the US legally only to have the rug pulled out like this. https://t.co/OEqxODnWFb
— Joseph M. Azam (@josephazam) January 22, 2025
1,660 cleared Afghan refugees – including unaccompanied minors waiting for family reunification and folks at risk of Taliban retribution – have their flights canceled because of Trump’s actions.
This is an inexcusable betrayal of families who risked everything for our military.
— Mark Warner (@MarkWarner) January 21, 2025
Per the Washington Post, “Afghan refugees feel abandoned after Trump executive order halts flights” [gift link]:
… Under President Joe Biden, nearly 200,000 Afghans were resettled in the United States, according to the State Department — most of them evacuated during or soon after the chaotic U.S. military withdrawal in 2021, when the Taliban seized control of the country. Tens of thousands of men and women who had worked for the U.S. military, American diplomats or government-funded organizations were left behind.
Between 40,000 and 60,000 Afghans around the world are actively seeking resettlement in the United States, and thousands had already received U.S. government approval, estimated Shawn VanDiver, the president of AfghanEvac, a volunteer organization formed during the U.S. withdrawal that has helped Afghans flee the country. About 1,700 people were expected to be moved out of Afghanistan over the next four months, he added.
“These are folks who for one reason or another are at risk because of their association with the United States — and they’re hiding because they’re scared,” VanDiver said. They include family members of Afghans serving in the U.S. military, as well as women and minorities who fear persecution under the Taliban.
The U.S. president has broad authority to decide how many refugees are admitted to the country in a given year, and to allocate funding for resettlement. During his first term, Trump dramatically reduced refugee admissions, particularly from Muslim-majority countries. Biden swiftly raised the admissions ceiling when he took office in 2021, but it took years to build up the country’s resettlement capabilities. In the last fiscal year of Biden’s presidency, the United States took in just over 100,000 refugees from around the world.
Trump’s executive order, which suspends the refugee admissions program in its entirety, did not mention specific nationalities, and did not explicitly target Special Immigrant Visas, or SIVs — reserved for Afghans who directly supported the 20-year U.S. war effort, including as military interpreters. VanDiver said he was optimistic that families would continue to arrive under the SIV program, which brought in more than 30,000 Afghans in fiscal 2024…
A key question now will be how the Pakistani government responds to Trump’s executive order. Pakistan has forced about 800,000 Afghans to return to their country since fall 2023. So far, Afghans awaiting resettlement in the United States and other countries have largely been spared, but authorities in Islamabad have indicated repeatedly that they are running out of patience.
A Pakistani Foreign Ministry official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment, said the government is still waiting for clarity from Washington.
The suspension of the refugee admission program takes effect Monday. While it does not have a set end date, it is expected to be reviewed after 90 days…
I don’t want to be cynical and this is horrendous, but everyone can bet their ass the media isn’t going to have a field day over this the way they did when Biden finally ended the war (after Trump gave over the country to the Taliban on his way out the door, mind you). https://t.co/jn5FCfiIiI
— Opie ?? (@showmeopie) January 21, 2025
This is grim. And what happens when you slap half-assed policy together without thinking it through just to do a MAGA Action Man Day One PR stunt…
Trump order puts thousands of Afghan allies waiting for US resettlement in limbo https://t.co/6W5nnbtwD8
— Mike Murphy (@murphymike) January 22, 2025
Short but critical thread…
~1,660 Afghans cleared by the U.S. Govt to resettle in the U.S. are having their flights canceled because Trump suspended the refugee program. Let me repeat—these are people already cleared through all security clearances.
1/4
— Qasim Rashid, Esq. (@QasimRashid) January 22, 2025
Trump's message to all our allies is DO NOT SUPPORT the USA because Trump will abandon you and ensure you are murdered. This makes us all less safe. There is zero justification for this stupidity.
One day in & Trump is already separating children & abandoning our allies.
3/4
— Qasim Rashid, Esq. (@QasimRashid) January 22, 2025
Do I detect… sarcasm?
If I remember correctly about the US withdrawal, a lot of Republican politicians complained vehemently about leaving our Afghani allies behind. I expect them to scream bloody murder about this latest betrayal.
— Slampjak (@slampjak) January 22, 2025
Trump prefers terrorists and monsters to ordinary decent people, part n+infinity…
Reminder that Donald Trump invited the Taliban to Camp David.
Donald Trump cut off peace talks with the Afghan government choosing to NEGOTIATE WITH THE TALIBAN DIRECTLY.
Do not let Donald Trump gaslight the truth away.
Truth doesn't change; people do.https://t.co/BHosKDPdtI
— Doeseydotes (@doeseydotes) January 22, 2025
In one of its final acts, the Biden admin secured the release of two Americans held in Afghanistan in a prisoner swap for a Taliban member imprisoned in the U.S. on narcotics charges.
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1.bsky.social) January 21, 2025 at 8:00 PM
And the Taliban feels just as warmly towards Trump. Per CNN:
In the very last hours of President Joe Biden’s time in office, a prisoner exchange years in the making was finally struck: the Taliban agreed to swap two Americans being held in Afghanistan for one Taliban member serving a life sentence in a US prison.
But there was an unexpected delay (at least in part due to bad weather in Washington and Kabul) and Donald Trump was officially back in the White House when Americans Ryan Corbett and William McKenty were handed over and on their way home early Tuesday, exchanged for Afghan Taliban member Khan Mohammed who was convicted in 2008 on narco-terrorism charges…
The outgoing administration’s plan for the trade with the Taliban was communicated to Trump’s national security adviser Mike Waltz by Biden’s adviser Jake Sullivan.
“They are on board with this deal,” the Biden official said. “They have acknowledged it, and they have not objected.”
A senior Trump administration official pushed back on their approval of the swap.
“While we would not do the deal that the Biden administration did at the end, we are always happy to have two Americans home,” the Trump official said…
On top of the bad weather delaying things, one person briefed on the trade said the Taliban preferred to let Trump take the win for the deal.
“They [the Taliban] didn’t want the news to die during the inauguration and they want the Trump administration to have the credit,” the source said…
(Much more at the link.)
KatKapCC
It’s okay, nothing bad has ever happened to this country because we treated other countries poorly. Everything is fine!!!!!!!
Miki
Again. He abandons them again.
tam1MI
I am sure our crack press corps will be all over this abandonment of our allies for an entire month, the same Way they were with the Afghan withdrawal… Oh, who am I kidding, this isn’t going to last more than a 24-hour cycle.
Baud
If they’re not useful for beating up on Dems, they’re not useful.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
Why did the Taliban want to give Trump the credit?
lowtechcyclist
This is just plain evil.
KatKapCC
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): You really can’t figure that out?
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@lowtechcyclist:
According to esteemed commenter Bupalos, that’s “moralized purity politics” to call something or someone evil and it’s “why we lose”:
D
Steve LaBonne
@Miki: You’re better off having almost anyone as an enemy than Trump as an “ally”.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@KatKapCC:
Well, yes, but that was 4 years ago. The Taliban is supposed to hate the United States
Viva BrisVegas
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
Gratitude. Trump gave Afghanistan to the Taliban.
Baud
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
I agree we lose because of our morals.
JMG
I;m old, so I remember the Sunni tribes in the Euphrates Delta in Operation Desert Storm. I’m really old, so I remember the Montagnards in Laos in the early ’60s. The US history of abandoning native allies in our foreign wars is as old as it is shameful, No one should trust us. And now, nobody does.
Jay
The ruZZian’s paid the Talib’s and other Islamists, $200,000 per dead American.
The US did nothing in response.
Seems like a much better deal and a more reliable partner, any place US troops are than empty US “promises”.
Bill Arnold
I suggest using the words used by the US right wing to describe the withdrawal from Afghanistan under Biden.
Disgraceful
Disasterous
Dishonorable
Disaster
Shameful
“the most embarrassing day” (Trump)
“horrible” (Trump)
left the U.S. “showered with shame.” (Mitt Romney)
And to the current point,
The Shame of Leaving Afghan Allies Behind (WSJ)
MagdaInBlack
@Baud: You mean because we have some?
Baud
@MagdaInBlack:
Yes.
Johnnybuck
Nobody cares, Daddy’s home.
zhena gogolia
@lowtechcyclist: I am choking on the evil.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Baud:
Bupalos pissed me off on a thread from yesterday, where they gladly took a giant dump on Harris and Biden’s economic record to fluff Sanders, who is a demonstrated backstabber. I even gave a glaring example of Bernie’s hypocrisy when he slammed the administration and Dems for supposedly neglecting the working class while praising Trump for proposing a cap on credit card interest, when the Biden admin had already issued that rule but was blocked in court by a GOP judge. Right after the election
Didn’t matter one bit to Bupalos. Like I’m even pretty sure Bupalos praised Biden’s economic record in the past, but maybe I’m misremembering
I’ve criticized Biden in the past on here, but I hate hypocrisy and the kind of opportunism that is Sanders’ brand at this point. Biden was very friendly with Sanders and helped him get a lot of privileges in the Senate while in the WH
Sister Golden Bear
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Just remember you don’t have to join every argument you’re invited to. Pie and move on.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@JMG:
@Jay:
Why should anybody trust a fascist in the first place?
NaijaGal
This is terrible and not the first time he’s done something like this.
I’ve been away from BJ for a while, but a whole world of hurt just opened up for people I know in biomedical research (early career scientists, postdocs, and PhD’s dependent on NIH grant funding). I serve on an NIH committee subject to the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) that was supposed to meet tomorrow. Received an email today saying “We have received instructions that all FACA meetings, including working groups, have been paused until 1/31/2025.”
Later found out that all NIH study section meetings (the peer review meetings in which scientists discuss the merits of scientific grant proposals and score them) and council meetings (the meetings after peer review where grant proposals get a second review of approval for funding disbursement to universities, research institutes, etc.) have been paused via an executive order from the new administration.
I shouldn’t be this surprised but I didn’t think they’d try to kneecap biomedical research on day 3! We’ll see how long this lasts. Usually scientific research, especially biomedical research, has bipartisan support because every single US state benefits from it.
Mai Naem mobile ¹
tfg would call these Afghans suckers. I’m sure Jake Tapper will write a book about these people which he’ll hawk on every talk show. Oh, wait he won’t because they’ll all be dead, killed by the taliban.
gene108
I wish the media could add 2+2 together, because the claims Republicans only cared about illegal immigration was a ruse for anyone paying attention. They have shown signs of wanting to end legal immigration, as well.
Republicans successfully equating asylum seekers as illegal immigrants got no pushback.
This is part of Republicans goal of making America as white as possible, and to roll back gains by minorities and women, so mediocre white men will no longer feel threatened.
eclare
@JMG:
Also Kurds.
Jay
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
The ruZZians promised $200,000 and paid.
The US promised asylum and hung them out to dry and be killed along with their families, even the wives and children of US Servicemen. Pakistan will send them into the “kind mercies” of the Taliban in a few weeks.
Remember the public executions in stadiums they used to do?
US “promises” and “treaties” are worthless.
gene108
@Bill Arnold:
The WSJ article is from August 18, 2021.
Old Man Shadow
Every person out there in the world should know: don’t trust the Americans.
Doesn’t matter if you fight for us. Doesn’t matter if you bleed for us. Don’t matter if you sacrifice your loved ones and your home.
In the end, you’ll always be expendable. You’ll always be a (racial slur) to this country.
Mai Naem mobile ¹
@NaijaGal: get the NIH to approve a Warp Speed research program for male pattern baldness and tfg will approve a lot of other stuff at the same time. Even Jeff Bozos will
bribemake a campaign donation to tfg to make this happenGoku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Jay:
I’m ashamed too, but let’s not act like the US is the only actor in the world that has done this. Other countries have broken treaties before. There’s a lot of EU countries right now that want to send their Syrian refugees back to Syria with like 1000 Euros to their name now that civil war has ended and a new government has taken control, even the ones who settled into their new lives and communities very well. I think that’s pretty damn shameful
Baud
@gene108:
That’s the point. The article was talking about the Afghan withdrawal, and should use the same rhetoric now with respect to Trump’s actions.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Sister Golden Bear:
Funny thing is, I already had them pied. Silly me for wanting to see what they wrote
Bill Arnold
@NaijaGal:
The HHS changes are scary. Seriously sorry to hear about the NIH changes.
I’ll be checking this CDC page to see if it gets updated. (change the cl03 to cl03; that is the week number). It looks automatically generated from a database.
Influenza Positive Tests Reported to CDC by U.S. Clinical Laboratories – 2024-2025 Season
Baud
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
Sanders has never been in charge of any economy. It’s apples and oranges. Don’t sweat it.
Mai Naem mobile ¹
Oh, look election denier new Maricopa County recorder Justin Heap just struck 242000 ‘inactive’ voters from the rolls. He’s been in office since Jan 1st. https://www.azfamily.com/2025/01/21/maricopa-county-recorder-authorizes-removal-242k-inactive-voters/
Bill Arnold
@gene108:
Yes, that is the rhetoric used by GOP to describe the withdrawal from Afghanistan. WSJ is a GOP propagandist.
I’m suggesting using similar words to describe Trump’s shameful betrayal.
Chris
@JMG:
Shi’a.
Chris
@gene108:
The media can add 2 + 2 together. They want Republicans to win.
NaijaGal
@Mai Naem mobile ¹:
I shouldn’t have laughed out loud at that, but I did.
Back to the original topic – does anyone think there will be a change of heart, since the Afghans vetted include family members of US citizens, including active duty military?
Gloria DryGarden
@Jay: I remember the stories and images of the stadiums in Argentina in the 70s. And people I met and chatted with, only 2 degrees of separation away.
BellyCat
This is so awful that I can’t even read this thread.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Baud:
And I’m not saying people can’t criticize the Biden admin for not going as far as they think they should have or would’ve liked. But you can’t just ignore the good that was done either and then try to use Bernie Sanders as a role model when that fucker is a self-serving opportunist of the highest order. I like many of Sanders’ political positions. I don’t like him as a politician or frankly as a person.
Elizabelle
I wonder if France or Canada could take the Afghans, since they are already vetted. Then, once FOTUS is out of office, the Afghans can decide whether they will stay where they are, or come to the US of Uncertainty.
With special handling for any children being reunited.
What we have not done for our Afghan allies is shameful.
This is on those who could not vote for Harris. They would be in the pipeline still, and arriving soon.
Geminid
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Someone else may have already pointed this out, but one reason the Taliban might want to give Trump the credit for this prisoner swap is that they want to ingratiate themselves with him.
A lot of governments are trying to get on Trump’s good side, and he’s not that hard for them to figure out. Trump wants credit, and he wants affirmation.
Steve in the ATl
@Elizabelle: the same France that has taken a hard right turn of late, apparently forgetting how many times their country has been invaded by fascists? Unlikely!
Elizabelle
@Steve in the ATl: They did better in their elections than we did. (And did not even suggest the UK!)
Is it snowing where you are?
ETA: The video from last week, with French celebrating loudly that Jean-Marie Le Pen has been called home to Satan. “Il est mort!”
May we have a moment like that, and soon. (ETA: I realize we have JD Vance, for whom Peter Thiel purchased the Vice Presidency, waiting in the wings. Le sigh.)
mrmoshpotato
What a miserable, orange shitstain.
mrmoshpotato
@Miki:
Yup – again. Gotta hand it to everyone who used their vote to “send a message.”
Gretchen
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): He’s one of my perennial inhabitants of the pie safe.
Chris
@Elizabelle:
I’m still happy about that. Man, I haven’t been that happy about a death in a long time.
He really was in a category with Saddam Hussein or Osama Bin Laden in terms of being someone I knew was a fucking monster long before I had any complex and sophisticated idea of politics. I remember hearing and repeating off-color jokes about him dying in school all the way back in the late nineties, and I imagine there were kids doing the same as far back as the seventies.
If I’m ever feeling depressed about something, please feel free to remind me “hey, it could be worse. Jean-Marie Le Pen is still dead!”
KatKapCC
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): That toggle button is too tempting sometimes, isn’t it? :P
Villago Delenda Est
More criminal activity from an already convicted felon. Why should anyone trust the United States in the future?
Lily
What a bad day. I lost my perspective on the way I had planned to keep some mental stability. That skill needs practice apparently. At home, we had agreed we’d limit talking about the bad guys to a few days a week. … As of tonight we’ve already used up all the days. OK, that needs practice too.
Steve in the ATl
@Elizabelle: 1. Only flurries, sadly
2. Enfin!
TBone
The Right Reverend Mariann Edgar Budde read Donold for filth right to his face in church. Women’s work, a palate cleanser for anyone who hasn’t seen it
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xwwaEuDeqM8
Good night.
Ohio Mom
@NaijaGal: I’ve seen this mentioned elsewhere in Blogtopia this evening. Though “mentioned” is too mild a word. Screamed in panic is more like it.
Putting aside all the reasons scientific research is valuable in and of itself — savings lives, for one — science research is a huge economic engine for our country.
They really are going to bankrupt us in every way possible.
2liberal
.i hope better days are ahead.
Ohio Mom
@2liberal: Not for a while, I am sorry to say.
Elizabelle
@Chris: Dead, dead, dead.
Down there with Scalia and Rush Limbaugh and … what other shitshows have shuffled off this mortal coil to our great pleasure? More, please.
Anyway. Let us savor.
Somehow, I heard of the late and unlamented M. Le Pen 30 or 40 years ago. C’est dommage.
Geminid
@Chris: There was an article published recently in New Lines Magazine that gets into Le Pen’s participation in the Algerian War of Independence. It’s pretty detailed, both about the events and the political aftermath.
Steve LaBonne
@NaijaGal: My sister the Northwestern life science professor gave up on dry January over this. It’s bad.
Steve LaBonne
@Ohio Mom: That’s what Putin hired Asshole to do.
Shalimar
@Baud: What’s the point of winning if the margin of victory is measured in how many people you hurt?
Jay
@Geminid:
Thank you for that article.
Geminid
@Jay: New Lines Magazine is published by a Syrian American, Hassan I. Hassan. I learned of it when Oz Katerji recommended Hassan as a good source for reporting on Syria. It features articles on a wide range of subjects, with a lot of depth. New Lines is quite a resource.
Jay
@Geminid:
Added to my list, thank you.
tobie
@Elizabelle: Amen to this. I’ve slowly grown angrier at leftists who didn’t vote to punish Dems than MAGAts who are immune to reason or decency.
rikyrah
I hate to heap blame on the Biden-Harris Administration, but they should have gotten these people in the country. Once she lost…they needed to speed up the plans to get the those people over here. It’s like they forgot what he did in his previous run. 😡
NotMax
Brrr. Rainy and very chilly night. Highest daytime temp for this elevation on Thursday is 64.
NotMax
#71 – wrong thread.
Citizen Alan
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): I hate Bernie Sanders more than any living American who is not a member of the GOP. And I don’t give a fuck who knows it,
AM in NC
And THIS abandonment of our fighting allies and their families is my FOX talking point for today.
Day before yesterday I went there and dropped comments about Trump pardoning cop bludgeoners and Proud Boys, and is this that “Good Old MAGOP LawnOrder” you voted for? If not, vote differently next time.
Yesterday was dropping comments about Trump stripping the ability to negotiate prescription drug costs with BIG PhRMA. Did you vote for increased prescription costs and increased Medicare taxes for everyone so BIG PhRMA execs can buy yet ANOTHER yacht? If that’s not what you wanted, next time vote differently.
Today, it’s “I thought USA didn’t cut and run – Trump is abandoning our brothers in arms and their families. If harming USNatSec and being morally bankrupt isn’t what you wanted, next time vote differently. ”
EVERY day I intend to drop comments on various FOX articles, not taking a liberal tack where I lay out evidence of a superior position to try to sway them (that’s a fool’s game), but taking the “See how Trump is betraying us today?!?!?!?!” and getting them to poke at each other.
I am playing the role of Russian bots sowing confusion and conflict within their sphere.
Ruckus
@NaijaGal:
shitforbrains only cares if HE benefits from something. He’s a whinny 10 yr old in a old fart body. He NEVER grew up, NEVER learned about or gives a rats ass about anyone but himself and of course he is a fuckup supreme with a useless and crappy ego the size of Montana. Why anyone thinks this far worse than useless thing should be in charge of even a chock board eraser is beyond me. And because he didn’t get crowned king for life and didn’t have 300 million people kissing his ass, he’s pissed off. It wouldn’t actually amaze me if he destroys this country (or at least attempts to) because his concept is that if he can’t have it all no one else can have anything. And yes that makes no sense and does not add up rationally, realistically or in any positive way whatsoever. It’s shitforbrains.