Afghans Left in Limbo by Trump’s Travel Ban \ Newslooks \ Washington DC \ Mary Sidiqi \ Evening Edition \ The Trump administration’s new travel ban includes Afghanistan, shutting out most Afghan refugees and students. While special visa holders are exempt, many families are left stranded or hopeless. Afghans in Qatar and Pakistan express fear and frustration over broken promises from the U.S.
Quick Looks
- Trump administration’s travel ban includes Afghanistan, halting resettlement efforts.
- Only Special Immigrant Visa holders are clearly exempt.
- Refugees and students face indefinite delays and rejections.
- Afghan families stranded in Qatar, fearing forced return.
- Afghans in Pakistan fear arrest and deportation.
- Critics say U.S. is abandoning wartime allies.
- Refugee programs suspended, relocation support dwindling.
- Emotional toll mounting for stranded Afghan families.
Deep Look
The Trump administration’s latest executive order instituting a travel ban has cast a long shadow over Afghans seeking refuge or opportunity in the United States. When Negina Khalili learned that Afghanistan was now on the list of restricted countries, her phone buzzed with anxious messages from loved ones. Family members in Afghanistan and at a U.S. military base in Qatar flooded her with questions about what this would mean for their future and whether the long-held hope of resettlement in America was vanishing.
The policy, announced on Wednesday evening, largely prevents Afghans from entering the U.S., whether for resettlement as refugees or temporary visits such as university studies. While there are limited exceptions—particularly for Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) holders who worked alongside U.S. forces—many others find themselves locked out. The move comes amid a broader rollback of aid and support programs for Afghan allies initiated by the Trump administration.
“It feels like every path forward is being blocked,” said Khalili, a former Afghan prosecutor who escaped to the U.S. during the 2021 withdrawal. Several members of her family were relying on the refugee program, including her sister, a journalist who remains in Afghanistan and is now unemployed. Her father, brother, and stepmother, stuck at a U.S. base in Qatar, had been progressing through the refugee admissions process—until it was suspended on January 20.
When the news of the travel ban hit, despair set in.
“They sent me the headline last night and said, ‘This is hopeless,’” said Khalili. Her brother in Qatar voiced a chilling sentiment: “I prefer to die here and not go back to Afghanistan.”
There are exemptions in the travel ban, such as for immediate family members of U.S. citizens, and a vague “national interest” clause that allows for discretionary admittance. But confusion reigns. Naomi Steinberg, a policy leader at the refugee resettlement group HIAS, explained that while the language on refugees in the ban is murky, the program itself had already been frozen by a separate Trump executive order signed right after the inauguration.
Compounding the crisis, the State Department office created under Biden to oversee Afghan relocation is now being dismantled. The refugee program remains suspended, and even though SIV holders can technically still enter, funding cuts mean there’s no longer financial support for travel or resettlement.
The announcement has sent ripples of fear throughout the Afghan diaspora. In Qatar, Saliha, a lawyer who once thrived in post-invasion Afghanistan, said the timing was especially painful as her family prepared for Eid. Now stuck in a refugee camp, she finds herself in limbo. “We were so hopeful,” she said. “Now we’re more depressed and confused.”
Saliha still clings to the hope that her family may be granted an exemption, but the emotional burden is heavy. “It’s hard to be far from home, waiting for a new life, and hearing bad news constantly.”
Advocacy group No One Left Behind welcomed the exception for SIV holders but pointed out a glaring gap: many Afghans who fought beside the U.S. don’t meet the technical qualifications. These include those wounded before completing a full year of service and Afghan National Army members who worked with U.S. Special Forces.
“They risked everything alongside us,” the group stated. “To abandon them now is a betrayal.”
Afghans living in Pakistan were hit equally hard. One man, speaking anonymously out of fear, had worked for the U.S. Embassy for three years but couldn’t secure an SIV. “This news is devastating,” he said. “I worry the Pakistani government will start deporting us.”
Khalid Khan, another Afghan refugee in Pakistan, echoed these fears. Having served the U.S. military for eight years, he now finds himself at the mercy of changing immigration policies. “My daughter’s education will be destroyed if we return,” he said, referencing the Taliban’s ban on girls’ schooling past sixth grade.
After the fall of Kabul in August 2021, thousands of Afghans fled the country, hoping for safe passage via the U.S. airlift. Many found temporary refuge in Pakistan or Qatar, with expectations of eventual relocation to the United States. Those hopes are now fading fast.
Pakistan, which once pledged to help resettle Afghan refugees, has remained silent on the recent executive order. The Taliban-led Afghan government also issued no immediate response, though it continues to seek improved relations with the U.S.
As the implications of the travel ban continue to unfold, Afghan families around the world are left to grapple with uncertainty, disillusionment, and fear. For many who stood beside America during its longest war, the sense of abandonment cuts deepest of all.
Afghans Left in
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