Trump Snowled Afghan Relocation on obstacles with American military giants. Donald Trump News

Washington DC – When Ruqia Balaalkhi arrived in the United States in September 2023, she was congratulated by a federally funded rehabilitation agency that helped him start a new life.

Balki, a 55 -year -old engineer, was one of the thousands of Afghans who worked with the US Army during a long intervention of two decades in their country.

But after the collapse of the US -backed government in 2021, living in Afghanistan under the Taliban leadership became unsafe for him.

So she left for America. During its first 90 days in the country, Balki received temporary housing, language lessons, basic goods, mental health assistance and guidance to enroll his 15 -year -old son at a local school in Virginia.

However, when her husband, Mohammed Hey Mangal, arrived under the same visa program in January, those services were suddenly stopped. President Donald Trump was inaugurated, and the US had tightened sanctions on federal funds and immigration.

“This was completely opposite to my husband,” Balki said about the circumstances he faced.

Advocates say the story of his family explains how Trump’s comprehensive executive orders may also have results for the areas of bipartished support.

Experienced organizations have supported large -scale efforts to bring Afghan citizens to the US for security, especially if they work with American forces or US -backed government.

But in the first days of Trump’s second term, the government stopped the US refugee entrance program (Usrap), causing some already approved Afghan applicants abroad.

Another executive order stopped foreign aid. In turn, the special immigrant visa (SIV) for Afghans caused obstruction in the program that worked with the US Army, such as Balki and her husband.

Balki explained that her husband was the most lucky, given that one of his family was already established in America. But he expressed pain without the same support system for those entering the country, which he got.

“Without the help of the rehabilitation agency, I don’t think we would be able to survive,” he told Al Jazira in Dari, speaking through a translator provided by Lutheran Social Services of the National Capital Region.

Some critics look at the issue as a test of how durable Trump’s hardcore policies would be when their full impact would be clear.

“My request to the new government is that they do not forget their commitments for Afghan colleagues and Afghan immigrants,” Balki said.

An initial ‘mistake’?

Trump’s campaign promises did not make any secret to his desire to overhala the American immigration system, so that he left whatever he left as a migrant “attack”.

But his criticism of his return to American return to Afghanistan in 2021 expressed hope among those who advocated services for the Afghans involved with the US Army.

“President Trump campaigned on a group of goods belonging to Afghanistan, especially how bad the return was,” Sean Wandivar, the founder of #Afghanevac, an organization that supports Afghan rehabilitation.

“So I don’t believe that he will do this and then will not try to help our colleagues. I hope it’s a mistake.”

In his latest bid for the election again, Trump repeatedly expressed sympathy for those caught in the comeback of August 2021, during which a suicide bombing claimed the lives of 13 US service members and 170 Afghans.

Trump also exploded former US President Joe Biden to oversee the incident, which he called “Afghanistan Disaster”. A day before his inauguration, on January 19, Trump visited the tomb of three soldiers, who died during a comeback attempt.

Vandivar said that Trump’s action will be important from here. If his administration changes the syllabus on Afghan rehabilitation, Vandivar sees it as a sign of hope.

“But if they do not change anything, it’s okay, then you can be left to conclude that they probably meant to do it.”

While Trump’s orders have not stopped processing directly under the SIV, they have taken away a pipeline for relieving relief under the program, which requires federal funds to operate.

Earlier this month, 10 national organizations that rely on federal support to provide “reception and placement services”, they got an order to stop the work immediately – and there is no cost further.

The freeze of the State Department on foreign aid has also promoted services including medical care, food and legal support for those who wait abroad in places like Qatar and Albania, Vandivar explained.

The most important thing is that Trump’s orders have cut funds for rehabilitation flights run by the International Organization (IOM). Most SIV recipients rely on the transport that reaches the US.

Vandivar said, “The shutdown of these services is not just an inconvenience,” pointing to the delicate living situations of many Afghans seeking protection. “This may be a death sentence for some of the weakest clearance.”

Refugee suspension

The SIV program is not only interrupted by Trump’s new orders, though.

Refugee rehabilitation is likewise land for a stop. Under the previous US administration, Afghans facing harassment from the Taliban can apply for transfer under special refugee categories.

The P1 category was reserved for Afghans referred to by the US Embassy, ​​while P2 was available to those who worked with the US Army, US government-related programs or non-profit institutions in the United States. A third category has also been allowed for family integration, for those who are already relatives in the US.

All those routes have been closed amidst the wide suspension of the US refugee program.

Kim Staffieri, Executive Director of the Association of Wartime Elies, said that through those programs, individuals seeking refuge should pay immediate attention to SIV recipients.

“There are many people who helped us, who worked for the same goals there, which are in great danger, but they do not only qualify for SIV because it is on such tight requirements,” Staffieri Said.

He said that he hoped that Trump’s administration had given more views to Afghan refugees, in view of bilateral support for him.

“We expected some challenges. What we did not expect were the stroke of these broad, widespread stopping and suspending the necessary programs, ”he told Al Jazira.

“It seems that either they had no knowledge or they really did not take time to think what the downstream effect would be in their entirety.”

Experienced support

Pol has repeatedly shown widespread support to resume Afghans supporting American forces during the war in Afghanistan.

For example, in September 2021, a pole by NPR and research firm Ipsos suggested that two-thirds of the US responders supported transfer, very far away for other groups seeking asylum.

The high level of approval continues in later years. The Honor AdvocC Group pole with October 2023 found that 80 percent of the respondents indicated continuous support for Afghan rehabilitation.

American military giant has been at the forefront of rehabilitation attempt. This demographic, while diverse, usually slakes the conservative. According to the Pew Research Center, about 61 percent supported Trump in the 2024 election.

Andrew Sulivan, head of advocacy and head of government affairs, an SIV advocacy group, described the support as a “case of national honor and national security”.

“This is definitely a veteran issue. And so it has been a bilateral issue, ”said Sulivan.

Sulivan himself worked with an Afghan interpreter of the Afghanistan war when he was an army infantry officer. The interpreter – which Sulivan recognized by only one first name, has been transferred to the US through the SIV program since then.

Sulivan said he was optimistic that Trump would eventually make “carved” to the Afghans, pointing to a large number of veterans from the Afghanistan struggle in the administration of Republican.

One of those veterans, former Congress Mike Waltz, has since become the National Security Advisor of Trump’s White House. Waltz first pressurized former President Biden to “bring our Afghan colleagues home”.

Sulivan explained that he is repeatedly engaged with Waltz on the issue, and he felt hope.

Sulivan said, “He understands at the level of that personal, intestine, how much these people (veterans) mean.” “So I know he receives it.”

‘A scary stop’

Other advocates, however, are less hopeful. James Power, a ground -level organizer of Ohio, who focuses on the issues of veterans, pointed the role of Immigration Hardeline Stephen Miller in the new administration.

Miller served in Trump’s first administration when SIV processing slowed down in one trick.

“It only understands that (the program) would come to a scary stop as soon as he came to power to influence the current President,” said Power.

Advocates also worried that there was a danger of years of work to develop the current system.

Last year, the Congress passed a law with bilateral support, which created a special office to coordinate and streamline SIV transfer.

In the last four years, the Biden administration also expanded the processing of both SIVs and other Afghan refugee categories. Biden’s government released 33,341 SIVs in the financial year 2024, about the number released in 2022, the first full financial year after the return.

Afghan refugee entry also increased from 1,618 in the financial year 2022 to 14,708 in 2024.

All said that more than 200,000 Afghans have been shifted to the US since the withdrawal, in which tens of thousands of tens of exit flights have been flown immediately.

Regarding the Trump administration, Power said, “They have got a better job.” “On all conceptual spectrum, there are fair experts on both sides of the corridor, which will tell them that there are better ways.”