RASC News Agency: According to reports from international media, U.S. officials have ordered the closure of the office responsible for the transfer and resettlement of eligible Afghanistani refugees, instructing it to prepare for shutdown by April of this year. Reuters, citing its sources, reported this development on Tuesday, February 18. If enacted, this decision will deny at least 200,000 qualified Afghanistani refugees the opportunity to relocate to the United States. The report underscores that many families of former Afghanistani military personnel remain in limbo, anxiously awaiting relocation.
Reuters further noted that this directive places the lives of tens of thousands of Afghanistani nationals who once collaborated with U.S. forces now living under Taliban rule at severe risk. Notably, former U.S. President Donald Trump, upon assuming office, swiftly halted the Afghanistani refugee resettlement program. Concerns are now escalating that, should Trump lack a concrete strategy for reengagement with or counteraction against the Taliban, the suspension of this resettlement process will leave thousands of eligible Afghanistani citizens trapped under Taliban rule, facing imminent peril.
When the Biden administration facilitated Afghanistan’s transfer to Taliban control, it urged thousands of Afghanistani citizens to flee and prepare for resettlement in the United States. Many spent years in uncertainty across various nations, only for the Trump administration to later terminate the program, abandoning thousands of Afghanistani nationals to an uncertain and precarious fate.
