Washington, DC – When Ruqia Balkhi arrived in the United States in September 2023, she was received by a resettlement agency financed by the federal government that helped her launch a new life.
Balkhi, a 55 -year -old engineer, was one of the thousands of Afghans who worked alongside the US army during his two decades intervention in his country of origin.
But after the fall of the government backed by the United States in 2021, it became insecure for it to remain in Afghanistan under Taliban leadership.
Then she went to the United States. During his first 90 days in the country, Balkhi received temporary homes, language lessons, basic goods, mental health support and guidance to register his 15 -year -old son at a local school in Virginia.
However, when her husband, Mohammed Aref Mangal, arrived under the same visa program in January, those services had stopped abruptly. President Donald Trump had just inaugurated, and the United States had pressed the restrictions on federal financing and immigration.
“I was completely opposite to my husband,” Balkhi said about the circumstances he faced.
The defenders say that the history of their family illustrates how Trump’s broad executive orders could have repercussions even for bipartisan support areas.
Veteran organizations have greatly supported efforts to bring Afghan citizens to security in the United States, particularly if they worked with US forces or the government backed by the United States.
But in the first days of Trump’s second term, the Government arrested the United States refugee admission program (USRAP), leaving some Afghan applicants already approved on the foreigner.
Another executive order arrested foreign aid. That, in turn, has caused interruptions to the Special Immigrant Visas Program (SIV) for Afghans who worked with the US army, such as Balkhi and her husband.
Balkhi explained that her husband was more fortunate than most, since she had a family already established in the United States. But she expressed the anguish for those who enter the country without the same support system she received.
“Without the help of the resettlement agency, I do not think we could survive,” Al Jazeera told Dari, speaking through a translator provided by the Lutheran social services in the area of the national capital.
Some critics see the problem as a durable test will be Trump’s hard line policies when their total impact is clear.
“My request from the new government is that they do not forget their commitments to Afghan allies and Afghan immigrants,” said Balkhi.
An early ‘error’?
The promises of Trump’s campaign did not hide their desire to review the United States immigration system, to defend what he denounced as a migrant “invasion.”
But his criticism of the American chaotic withdrawal of Afghanistan in 2021 had caused hope among those who advocate for Afghan services involved with the United States army.
“President Trump campaigned in a lot of things related to Afghanistan, particularly how bad the withdrawal was,” Shawn Vandiver, founder of #Afghanevac, an organization that supports Afghan resettlement.
“So I don’t think he does that and then he wouldn’t try to help our allies. I just hope this is a mistake. “
In his latest commitment to re -election, Trump repeatedly expressed sympathy for those trapped in the withdrawal of August 2021, during which a suicide bombardment claimed the lives of 13 members of the US service and 170 Afghan.
Trump also criticized the former president of the United States, Joe Biden, for supervising the incident, which he called the “Calamity of Afghanistan.” The day before its inauguration, on January 19, Trump promptly visited the tomb of three soldiers who died during the retirement effort.
Vandiver said Trump’s actions from here will be critical. If your administration changes the course in Afghan resettlement, Vandiver sees it as a hopeful sign.
“But if they don’t change anything, well, then it can be concluded that maybe they meant doing it.”
While Trump’s orders have not stopped being processed directly under SIV, a pipe for those who seek relief under the program, which requires federal funds to work.
Earlier this month, 10 national organizations that depend on federal support to provide “reception and placement services” received an order to stop work immediately, and not incurred additional costs.
The freezing of the State Department on foreign aid has also deterpted services for those who expect abroad in places such as Qatar and Albania, including medical care, food and legal support, Vandiver explained.
The most significant thing is that Trump’s orders have reduced funds for relocation flights administered by the International Migration Organization (IIM). Most SIV recipients trusted that transport to reach the United States.
“The closure of these services is not just an inconvenience,” said Vandiver, pointing out the delicate life situations of many Afghans looking for security. “It could be a death sentence for some of the most vulnerable evacuees.”
Refugee suspension
However, the SIV program is not the only one hindered by Trump’s new orders.
Refugee resettlement has also stopped. According to the previous administration of the United States, Afghans who face the persecution of the Taliban could request a relocation under special categories of refugees.
The P1 category was reserved for Afghans referred to by the United States Embassy, while P2 was available for those who worked with the US army, programs affiliated with the United States government or non -profit organizations based in states in the states Joined. A third category also allowed family unification, for those with relatives who are already in the United States.
These roads have been closed in the midst of the largest suspension of the United States refugee program.
Kim Staffieri, executive director of the War Allies Association, said that people seeking refuge through these programs should receive the same urgent attention as SIV recipients.
“There are many people who helped us, who worked for the same objectives that are in danger, but simply do not qualify for the SIV because it has such tight requirements,” Staffieri said.
He added that he expected Trump’s administration to have considered Afghan refugees more, given the bipartisan support for them.
“We expected some challenges. What we did not expect were these broad and broad blows of pauses and suspending the necessary programs, ”he told Al Jazeera.
“It seems that they had no knowledge or did not take the time to really think what the effects were down in their entirety.”
Veteran support
The surveys have repeatedly shown broad support for the resettlement of Afghans who supported US forces during the war in Afghanistan.
In September 2021, for example, an NPR survey and the Ipsos research firm suggested that two thirds of American respondents supported relocations, far exceeding support for other groups that seek refuge.
That high level of approval has continued in the subsequent years. An October 2023 survey of the Honor Defense Group found that 80 percent of respondents indicated continuous support for Afghan resettlement.
American military veterans have been at the forefront of relocation effort. That demographic group, although diverse, typically disgusts conservative. About 61 percent supported Trump in the 2024 elections, according to the PEW Research Center.
Andrew Sullivan, Head of Defense and Government Affairs of anyone left behind, a SIV defense group, described support as “a matter of national honor and national security.”
“It is certainly a veteran problem. And so it has been a bipartisan problem, “said Sullivan.
A veteran of the Afghanistan war, Sullivan worked closely with an Afghan interpreter when he was an army infantry officer. That interpreter, whom Sullivan identified only by a first name name, Ahmadi, has moved to the United States through the SIV program.
Sullivan said it was optimistic that Trump would eventually create “talas” for Afghans, pointing out the large number of veterans of the Afghanistan conflict in the administration of Republicans.
Since then, one of those veterans, former congressman Mike Waltz, has become the National Security Advisor of Trump’s White House. Waltz previously exerted pressure on former President Biden to “bring home to our Afghan allies.”
Sullivan explained that he has repeatedly committed to Waltz on the subject, and he felt hopeful.
“He understands at that personal and visceral level, how much these people (veterans) mean,” said Sullivan. “Then I know what he understands.”
‘A squeak stop’
Other defenders, however, have less hope. James Powers, an Ohio -based organizer who focuses on veterans’ problems, pointed out the Hardliner Stephen Miller immigration role in the new administration.
Miller had served in Trump’s first administration when SIV processing had slowed down.
“It only makes sense that (the program) stops as soon as it would return to power to influence the current president,” Powers said.
The defenders also worried that the years of work to grow the current system were at risk.
Last year, Congress approved a law with bipartisan support that created a special office to coordinate and rationalize SIV relocations.
In the last four years, the Biden administration also expanded the processing of SIV and other categories of Afghan refugees. The Biden government issued 33,341 SIVS in fiscal year 2024, on triple the number issued in 2022, the first full fiscal year after retirement.
Admissions of Afghan refugees also increased from 1,618 in fiscal year 2022 to 14,708 in 2024.
In total, more than 200,000 Afghas have been relocated to the USA. Since the withdrawal, including tens of thousands flying on evacuation flights after immediately.
“They have to do a better job,” Powers said about the Trump administration. “There are fair experts on both sides of the hall, in all ideological spectra, which will tell them that there are better ways.”
