RASC News Agency: In a sweeping executive order signed on Wednesday, former U.S. President Donald J. Trump has formally suspended the entry of nationals from twelve countries, including Afghanistan, into the United States. The decision, framed as a national security measure, comes amid mounting U.S. concerns about the growing instability and extremist control in states deemed “unreliable” or “unsafe” with Taliban-occupied Afghanistan at the top of the list. The travel ban affects a wide array of nations, including Iran, Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Myanmar, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen, alongside Afghanistan. These countries were singled out for either harboring or being overrun by groups tied to terrorism, lacking effective governance, or failing to meet international standards for identity verification and cooperation with U.S. security protocols.
However, the order includes limited exemptions, most notably for Afghanistani nationals who possess Special Immigrant Visas (SIVs) a classification granted to individuals who provided crucial support to the U.S. military or diplomatic efforts during its two-decade involvement in Afghanistan. Holders of lawful permanent residency (Green Cards) and dual nationals traveling on passports from other countries are also exempt from the ban. Immediate family members of U.S. citizens, such as spouses and minor children, may still be eligible for travel, as are athletes and coaches participating in global sporting events like the Olympics or World Cup suggesting that security measures, while stringent, allow for narrowly tailored humanitarian or professional exceptions.
The executive order offers a sobering justification: Afghanistan, now under the authoritarian control of the Taliban, is no longer recognized as a state with a functioning or trustworthy central authority. The ruling regime has been designated under the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) list signifying its alignment with transnational terror networks and rendering its representatives subject to economic sanctions and travel restrictions. Citing the Taliban’s refusal to engage in credible governance, the order states that Afghanistan is “incapable of issuing reliable travel documents, verifying identity, or sharing intelligence for security screenings” a claim backed by numerous international agencies who have documented the collapse of civil registration and documentation services under Taliban rule.
As a result, both immigrant and non-immigrant visa categories for Afghanistani citizens are now suspended, effectively shutting the door on all lawful travel from Afghanistan to the United States. The ban will remain in effect indefinitely, pending reassessment of Afghanistan’s political and security landscape. This sweeping measure underscores a broader recalibration of U.S. immigration and foreign policy a shift that prioritizes domestic security and controlled borders over open asylum channels, particularly when the country of origin is governed by a regime hostile to democratic values and international law. While the Trump administration maintains that the ban is essential for public safety, human rights advocates argue that the true cost will be borne by ordinary Afghanistani citizens especially women, ethnic minorities, and civil society leaders who now live under Taliban tyranny with no clear exit route.
Since the group’s violent return to power in 2021, the Taliban have enforced a brutal system of gender apartheid, crushed dissent, dismantled independent media, and silenced political opposition. Women are barred from education, employment, and basic public life. Journalists face constant intimidation, and those with past affiliations to Western institutions are being hunted, detained, or disappeared. For many at-risk individuals, resettlement in the West especially in the United States represented a final lifeline. That option has now been eliminated.
A Kabul-based university professor, speaking to local sources under conditions of anonymity, described the emotional toll:
“The Taliban have taken our voices, our futures, and now the world is taking away the very possibility of escape. We are trapped in a living grave.” International analysts also warn that shutting down legal pathways for migration only fuels desperation and irregular migration, as people increasingly turn to smugglers and dangerous land routes in a bid to escape Taliban persecution.
Although the executive order carves out exceptions for some categories of Afghanistani nationals, the reality remains that millions who live under one of the most repressive regimes in the modern world have been stripped of hope for safe passage or humanitarian relief. This action raises urgent questions about the ethical obligations of Western democracies toward those who supported them during wartime, and the moral cost of abandoning vulnerable populations to violent extremist rule. The move also risks playing directly into the hands of the Taliban. By isolating Afghanistani citizens internationally and cutting off access to resettlement programs, the regime’s stranglehold on civil society tightens, as fewer dissidents have options to flee or speak out without fear of reprisal.
As one former Afghanistani journalist, now living in hiding, lamented:
“Every ban, every closure, every rejection it strengthens the Taliban and weakens those of us still fighting for a free Afghanistan.”
