By The Associated Press’s MUNIR AHMED
ISLAMABAD (AP) Some Afghans who fled after the Taliban took control of the country pleaded with President Donald Trump on Wednesday to exempt them from an order that halted the resettlement of refugees to the United States, claiming that they put their lives in danger to aid American forces.
After U.S. troops left Afghanistan after 20 years due to the Taliban takeover in 2021, an estimated 15,000 Afghans are waiting to be transported to the United States. Because of their collaboration with the U.S. government, media, relief organizations, and rights groups, they wish to relocate to the United States under a program established by the American government to assist Afghans who are at risk under the Taliban.
However, Trump’s administration declared in his first days in office that the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program will be halted for a minimum of three months starting on January 27. According to the White House, the secretary of homeland security, working with the secretary of state, will report to the president during that time on whether the program’s restart is in the best interests of the United States.
FILE: On December 26, 2022, Taliban combatants stand watch in Kabul, Afghanistan. (File: Abraham Noroozi/AP Photo)AP
An advocacy organization called Afghan USRAP Refugees, named after the U.S. refugee program, wrote an open letter to Trump, members of Congress, and human rights defenders, saying, “Many of us risked our lives to support the U.S. mission as interpreters, contractors, human rights defenders, and allies.”
According to the Taliban, we are traitors and if we return to Afghanistan, we risk being arrested, tortured, or killed. The situation in Pakistan is becoming more and more intolerable. Our suffering is exacerbated by arbitrary deportations, arrests, and insecurity.
Former Kabul student Hadisa Bibi, who escaped to Pakistan last month, claimed to have read in the media that Trump had halted the refugee program.
“I was a university student before Afghanistan’s restrictions on women’s education,” she stated. I was hoped for a quick resettlement in the US because of the dangers I face as a women’s rights advocate. This would provide a safer and better future in addition to enabling me to pursue my further education.
She claimed that she was terrified and imprisoned in my room like a prisoner after seeing other Afghans detained by Pakistani police.
After being questioned by representatives of the U.S. Embassy and the International Organization for Migration, several Afghans were given flights to the United States in January, February, and March, according to the Afghan USRAP Refugees group.
A group member named Ahmad Shah, who hoped to depart Pakistan for the United States in March after completing all interviews and medical examinations, stated, “We seek the reversal of the ban on the refugee program on humanitarian grounds.”