Trump’s order: The future of thousands of Afghan refugees who supported the US against Taliban is also in the dark.
Islamabad:
US President Donald Trump has issued an executive order to suspend the refugee program. His move has put a big question mark on the fate of thousands of Afghans living in Pakistan. Under the US refugee program, more than 25,000 Afghan citizens fleeing Afghanistan and living in Pakistan were to eventually be resettled in America. These were the people who had fled from Taliban-ruled Afghanistan to Pakistan and were waiting for rehabilitation in America for years.
What was the whole matter?
According to the agreement between the Pakistan government and the Biden administration, it was agreed between the two countries that more than 25,000 Afghans would later be resettled in the US. Most of them had worked with the US military and its contractors before the Taliban took power in Kabul in August 2021
Senior strategic analyst Kamran Yusuf said, “The Biden administration had assured Pakistan that Afghans would be resettled through initiatives like Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) and the US Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP). But now, Trump’s executive After the order, the entire process has been disrupted.”
America’s response
It is also reported that the US government has suspended the visas of at least 1,660 Afghans for resettlement in the US along with their families. “This is happening on the heels of Trump’s order to suspend the US refugee program,” an official said. This decision of Washington has now put the fate of these Afghan citizens in Pakistan in danger.
Syed Liaqat Banori, president of the Society for Human Rights and Prisoners Aid (SHARP), said, “These unfortunate Afghans are now facing many problems and serious issues. They are in Pakistan, a country that expels illegal Afghans from their country. “In Afghanistan, these people are at risk of being arrested and killed because the Afghan Taliban is against all people who served with the US military before August 2021.”
Pakistan government sources have also expressed serious concern over the latest developments. An official said, “We knew that this refugee program could come under scrutiny after President Trump took office, but the way the new administration has handled it is surprising.”
(This news has not been edited by NDTV team. It is published directly from the syndicate feed.)