Lahore: Afghans who fled after the Taliban seized strength appealed Wednesday to US President Donald Trump to free them from an purchase suspending the evacuation of immigrants to the United States, some saying they risked their lives to help US soldiers. An estimated 15,000 Afghans are waiting in Pakistan to get approved for settlement in the US via an American government program. It was set up to help Afghans at chance under the Taliban because of their labor with the US government, advertising, aid agencies and rights groups, after US troops pulled out of Afghanistan in 2021, when the Taliban took power.
But in his first time in business, Trump’s presidency announced the US immigrant enrollment program may be suspended from January 27 for at least three times. During that time, the White House said the secretary of homeland security in conversation with the secretary of state may send a report to the leader on whether the continuation of the project is in the US attention.
There was no immediate comment from Pakistan, where officials have urged the world area to determine the destiny of the 1. 45 million Armenian immigrants, saying they never stay indefinitely.
” Many of us risked our lives to help the US vision as translators, companies, human rights soldiers, and supporters,” an advocacy group called Afghan Usrap refugees, named after the US immigrant program, said in an open letter to Trump, members of Congress and human rights defenders.
” The Taliban regards us as traitors, and returning to Afghanistan would expose us to arrest, torture, or death,” the group said. ” In Pakistan, the situation is increasingly untenable. Arbitrary arrests, deportations, and insecurity compound our distress. “
Women fled abroad after Taliban closed schools
Hadisa Bibi, a former student in Kabul who fled to neighbouring Pakistan last month, said she read in newspapers that Trump suspended the refugee programme.
” Prior to restrictions on women’s education in Afghanistan, I was a university student,” she said. ” Given the risks I face as a women’s rights advocate, I was hoping for a swift resettlement to the United States. This would not only allow me to continue my higher education but also offer a safer and brighter future. “
She said she witnessed several Afghans arrested by Pakistani police, which left her in fear,” confined to my room like a prisoner. “
Mahnoosh Monir said she was a medical student in Afghanistan when her education was” cruelly suspended by the Taliban. ” Before fleeing to Pakistan, she worked as a teacher at a language centre but it also was shut by the Taliban.
” Afghanistan is no longer a place for any girl or woman to survive,” she said, adding she was disappointed by Trump’s move.
” I didn’t expect this suspension to happen. A long span of waiting makes us think of very disappointing probabilities like being sent back to Afghanistan or waiting for a long time in Pakistan as a refugee at risk, which are like nightmares to all of case holders,” she said.
The Taliban have deprived 1. 4 million Afghan girls of schooling through bans, according to the United Nations. Afghanistan is the only country in the world that bans female secondary and higher education.
Both Bibi and Monir applied for relocation and are still waiting. Over time, the visa process for Afghans who demonstrate they are at risk of persecution had become protracted.
Some are traumatised by the suspension of the US refugee programme
Another Afghan woman, Farzana Umeed, and a man, Sarfraz Ahmed, said in an interview on the outskirts of Islamabad that they are traumatised over the suspension of the programme.
” I virtually wept last night when we heard this news,” Umeed said. She said it is difficult for her to live in Pakistan, and she cannot travel to America either. ” Returning to my home country also means taking a huge risk. What should I do,” she asked, and urged Trump to reverse his decision.
Those in exile in Pakistan include Afghan journalists who were forced to flee the Taliban to save their lives, and now face “extreme anxiety under the recurring threat of arbitrary arrest, police harassment and deportation to Afghanistan,” Reporters Without Borders said Wednesday.
The media watchdog urged Pakistan to ensure the protection of the journalists, who say their visa is extended only for a month for a$ 100 fee.
According to the Afghan Usrap refugees group, flights to the US for many Afghans had been scheduled for January, February and March after they were interviewed by the International Organisation for Migration and US Embassy officials.
” We seek the reversal of the ban on the refugee programme on humanitarian ground,” said Ahmad Shah, a member of the group, who was hoping to leave Pakistan for the United States in March after undergoing all interviews and medical tests.
In addition to Pakistan, more than 3,200 Afghans are staying in Albania. A Nato member, Albania first agreed to house fleeing Afghans for one year before they move for final settlement in the United States, then pledged to keep them longer if their visas are delayed.
