President Donald Trump’s decision to pause foreign aid has led to the suspension of flights for over 40,000 Afghans who were approved for Special Immigrant Visas (SIVs) and face the threat of Taliban retaliation, according to a leading advocate and a US official on Saturday.
The majority of those stranded are still in Afghanistan, with the remainder in Pakistan, Qatar, and Albania, said Shawn VanDiver, head of #AfghanEvac, a coalition of veterans and advocacy groups collaborating with the US government to evacuate and resettle Afghans who supported the United States during its 20-year war.
The flight suspension stems from Trump’s executive order halting foreign development assistance for 90 days to review its alignment with his “America First” foreign policy.
Advocacy groups and experts have criticized the aid freeze for causing widespread disruption in US and international aid operations, halting programs for nutrition, healthcare, and vaccinations. The order also halted State Department funding for organizations assisting SIV recipients with housing, education, and employment in the US.
Trump’s move aligns with his immigration crackdown pledge during his 2024 reelection campaign. However, VanDiver expressed hope that the suspension of flights for SIV recipients was unintentional.
“We think it was a mistake,” he stated, urging the administration to exempt Afghans approved for SIVs from the order. “They fought alongside us. They bled alongside us,” VanDiver emphasized, noting that tens of thousands of other Afghans are still awaiting SIV application processing.
Neither the White House nor the State Department provided immediate comments.
Reports from the UN mission in Afghanistan accuse the Taliban of detaining, torturing, and killing former soldiers and officials of the US-backed government, despite the Taliban’s claims of issuing a general amnesty and denying these allegations.
VanDiver and the US official, who spoke anonymously, revealed that the suspension has stranded SIV holders waiting for flights to the US from processing centers in Qatar and Albania. The suspension also affects Afghans approved for SIVs still waiting in Afghanistan and Pakistan to board US-funded flights to these processing centers for final visa issuance.
Since the US’s chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021, nearly 200,000 Afghans have been resettled in the United States as SIV holders or refugees.
In a separate executive order signed shortly after his inauguration, Trump suspended all US refugee resettlement programs. This order caused hundreds of Afghan refugees to lose their seats on flights, including family members of active-duty Afghan American military personnel, former Afghan soldiers, and unaccompanied children.
