By Jonathan Landay
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A group representing U.S. veterans, service members and others is warning the Trump administration of severe impacts on U.S. security unless it exempts tens of thousands of Afghans – many at risk of Taliban retribution – from the president’s foreign aid and refugee freeze that has stranded them worldwide.
Possible consequences include a loss of trust that could impair local support for U.S. troops in future wars, said a letter sent on Saturday to Secretary of State Marco Rubio by Shawn VanDiver, the head of #AfghanEvac, the main coalition working on the resettlement of Afghans with the U.S. government.
Denying the exceptions, it added, also will show foes like Islamic State that “the U.S. abandons its allies,” and endanger active-duty Afghan-American U.S. military members’ wives, children and parents who are stuck in Afghanistan.
The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Among President Donald Trump’s first acts upon taking office were to order a temporary halt to foreign aid and refugee programs, pending 90-day reviews. Rubio issued waivers for what he called “life-saving humanitarian assistance,” but aid workers have said those waivers sparked widespread confusion.
“We are asking for relief in the form of exemptions,” said the letter, reviewed by Reuters, which also went to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who served in Afghanistan during the 20-year U.S. war.
The U.S. Department of State did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Republican president ordered the refugee freeze as part of an immigration crackdown that he said is needed because of high levels of illegal immigration, but from which he exempted white South Africans on Friday.
The foreign aid freeze has stalled flights from Afghanistan for some 40,000 Afghans approved as refugees or for Special Immigration Visas.
SIVs are granted to Afghans at risk of Taliban retribution because they worked for the U.S. government during the war that ended with the pullout of the last U.S. troops in August 2021.
UN reports say that the Taliban have jailed, tortured and killed Afghans who fought or worked for the former Western-backed government. The Taliban deny the allegations, pointing to a general amnesty approved for former government soldiers and officials.
The flight freeze also has stranded some 3,000 vetted Afghans approved for travel to the United States in processing facilities in Qatar and Albania, said VanDiver and a U.S. official, who requested anonymity.
Some 50,000 others are marooned in nearly 90 other countries – about half of them in Pakistan – approved for U.S. resettlement or awaiting SIV or refugee processing, they said.
(Reporting by Jonathan Landay; Editing by Don Durfee and Mark Porter)
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