Trump refugee embargo cancels hope for Afghan migrants

Zahra, an Afghan refugee, faces uncertainty and danger as Trump's refugee admissions suspension leaves her stranded in Pakistan.

After working for years alongside the United States to combat the Taliban in Afghanistan, Zahra says she was just days from being evacuated to America when President Donald Trump suspended refugee admissions.

She sold her belongings as she awaited a flight out of Pakistan, where she has been embroiled in a three-year process applying for a refugee scheme Mr. Trump froze in one of his first acts back in office.

“We stood with them for the past 20 years, all I want is for them to stand up for the promise they made,” the 27-year-old former Afghanistan Defence Ministry worker said from Islamabad.

“The only wish we have is to be safe and live where we can have peace and an ordinary human life,” she said, speaking under a pseudonym.

The 2021 withdrawal of U.S.-led troops from Kabul ended two decades of war but began a new exodus, as Afghans clamoured to escape Taliban government curbs and fears of reprisal for working with Washington.

Mr. Trump’s executive order to pause admissions for at least 90 days starting from January 27 has blocked around 10,000 Afghans approved for entry from starting new lives in the United States, according to non-profit #AfghanEvac.

Tens of thousands more applications in process have also been frozen, the U.S.-based organisation said. “All sorts of people that stood up for the idea of America, now they’re in danger,” #AfghanEvac chief Shawn VanDiver said. “We owe it to them to get them out.”