A new travel ban by President Donald Trump could bar people from Afghanistan and Pakistan from entering the Unites States as soon as next week, news agency Reuters reported citing three sources. This is based an executive order directing the government to submit a list of countries from which travel should be partially or fully suspended.
Other countries could also be on the list but the anonymous sources did not know which ones.
The move is similar to the travel restrictions placed during US President Donald Trump’s first term on several Muslim-majority countries in 2017, which was upheld by the Supreme Court in 2018 but later revoked in 2021 by the Joe Biden administration.
Trump previewed his plan in a speech in October 2023, pledging to restrict people from the Gaza Strip, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen, among other countries.
The ban could affect tens of thousands of Afghans who are in the US as refugees or on Special Immigrant Visas following the Taliban takeover because they are at the risk of persecution for working with the US during the war.
Trump’s order issued on January 20 made vetting of every foreign nation for security check mandatory and directed several cabinet members to submit by March 21 the of countries from which travel should be suspended owing to deficiencies in “screening information”.
The sources sources said that Afghanistan will be included in the list of countries with complete travel ban and Pakistan will be recommended for inclusion. On the other hand, the US Department of State is reportedly seeking exempt Special Immigrant Visa holders from the travel ban.
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Afghanistan, under the Taliban regime, has been confronting an insurgency by the Islamic State (IS) Khorasan since the ouster of the US government and withdrawal of US troops in 2021, which left a power vacuum in the country.
Pakistan has also been clashing with militant groups including the IS, the Tehreek-e Taliban Pakistan (TPP) in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa along its border with Afghanistan.
Shawn VanDiver, the head of #AfghanEvac, a coalition of groups coordinating the resettlement of Afghans with the US government, urged those holding valid US visas to travel as soon as possible.
Predicting that the move may “significantly impact” Afghan visa holders awaiting relocation, he said, “While no official announcement has been made, multiple sources within the U.S. government suggest a new travel restriction could be implemented within the next week.”
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Since the January 20 order which froze refugee admissions and aid financing their flights, approximately 200,000 Afghans have been left stranded across 90 countries. These included those that have been approved for resettlement in the US or have approvals pending and under the Special Immigrant Visa program.
20,000 of these applicants are currently in Pakistan.
