Trump clashed with US military veterans over the abolition of Afghan moving | News Donald Trump

Washington, DC – When Ruqia Balkhi arrived in the United States in September 2023, she was greeted by the relocation agency that funded the federal that helped her start a new life.

Balki, a 55-year-old engineer, was one of the thousands of Afghans who worked with the US army during his two decades of intervention in his home country.

But after the fall of the US government in 2021, it became uncertain to stay in Afghanistan under the Taliban leadership.

So she went to the US. During his first 90 days in the country, Balkhi received temporary housing, linguistic lessons, primary goods, support for mental health and guidelines on enrolling his 15-year-old son to a local school in Virginia.

However, when her husband Mohammed Aref Mangal arrived under the same visa program in January, these services were stopped abruptly. President Donald Trump is just open, and now they have tightened the limits of federal financing and immigration.

“There was completely the opposite to my husband,” Balkhi said of the circumstances he faced.

Proponents say the story of her family illustrates how Trump wide executive commands They could have consequences even for areas of double -sided support.

Veterans’ organizations have mainly supported the efforts for Afghan citizens to bring safety in the US, especially if they have worked with US forces or government supported by the US.

But in the first days of Trump’s second term, the Government stopped an American refugee reception program (USRAP), leaving some of the already approved Afghan applicants on the foreign abroad.

The second executive order stopped a foreign assistance. This in turn caused interruptions Special immigrant visa (Gray) program for Afghanists who worked with American military, such as Balkhi and her husband.

Balkhi explained that her husband was happier than most, since he had already established a family in the US. But she expressed anxiety for those entering the country without the same support system she received.

“Without the help of a relocation agency, I don’t think we would be able to survive,” she told Al Jazeera in Dara, speaking through a translator provided by Lutheran Social Services of the National Main City.

Some critics see this question as a test of how permanent Trump’s stubborn politics will be when their full impact becomes clear.

“My new government’s request is that they do not forget their obligations to Afghan allies and Afghan immigrants,” Balkhi said.

Early ‘mistake’?

Trump’s promise campaign did not equalize his desire to rewlex the US immigration system to refuse what he declared as a migrant “invasion”.

But his criticism for chaotic withdrawal in Afghanistan in 2021 caused hope among those who are committed to the services for Afghanistans involved in the US army.

“President Trump raised himself for a crowd of things related to Afghanistan, especially how bad the withdrawal was,” Shawn Vandiver, founder of #afghanevac, an organization supporting Afghan moving.

“So, I just don’t believe you would do it, and then I’m not trying to help our allies. I hope just this is a mistake.”

In his latest offer for a re -choice, Trump repeatedly expressed his compassion for those who were caught with the withdrawal of the trunk in August 2021, during which suicide bombing took away the lives of 13 members of the US service and 170 Afghanists.

Trump also exploded former US President Joe Biden for monitoring an incident, who called the “Afghan accident.” The day before his inauguration, on January 19, Trump prominently visited the tomb of three soldiers who died during the effort to withdraw.

Vandiver said Trump’s actions would be critical from here. If his administration changes the course at Afghan moving, Vandiver sees it as a sign of hope.

“But if they don’t change anything, well, then you can leave you to conclude that they might have been thinking of doing it.”

Although Trump’s commands did not directly stop processing the gray, they inserted a pipeline for those seeking relief within the program, for which federal funding is required.

Earlier this month, 10 national organizations that rely on federal support to provide “receipt and accommodation services” have received a command to stop work immediately – and there are no further costs.

State Department Freezing on foreign aid He also dropped services for those waiting abroad in places such as Qatar and Albania, including medical care, food and legal support, Vandiver explained.

The most important thing is that Trump’s commands have reduced funds for moving flights Runs an international migration organization (IOM). Most of the recipients of the gray rely on that transportation of the US.

“The exclusion of these services is not just an inconvenience,” Vandiver said, pointing to the sensitive living situations of many Afghans who seek security. “It could be a death penalty for some of the most vulnerable evacuated persons.”

Refugee suspension

The SIV program is not the only one who interfered with Trump’s new orders.

The relocation of refugees also stops. According to the previous US administration, Afghanists are facing the persecution of Taliban could apply for relocation in special categories of refugees.

The P1 category was reserved for the Afghanistans sent by the US Embassy, ​​while the P2 was available to those who worked with the US military, programs related to the government or non-profit organizations based in the US. The third category also made it possible to unite the family, for those with relatives who are already in the US.

All these paths are closed due to a broader suspension of the US refugee program.

Kim Staffieri, Executive Director of the Association of Allies of War Times, said that individuals who seek refuge through these programs should attract the same emergency attention as the recipients of SIV.

“There are many people who helped us, who worked there for the same goals that are in great danger, but they simply do not qualify for gray because they have such solid demands,” Staffieri said.

She added that she expects Trump’s administration more to consider Afghan refugees, given the double -sided support for them.

“We expected some challenges. What we did not expect were these wide, clear moves of pausing and suspending the necessary programs, “she told Al Jazeera.

“He feels like or have not had knowledge or have not taken time to really think what they will be like.”

Veterans support

Surveyors have repeatedly shown a broad support for the relocation of Afghanists who supported US forces during the Afghanistan war.

In September 2021, for example, an IPSOS research survey suggested that two-thirds of the US respondents supported the relocation, far outweighed with support for other groups seeking refuge.

This high level of approval continued in years since then. A survey from October 2023 from the Honor Temployment group found that 80 percent of respondents had hinted in the constant support of Afghan relocation.

American military veterans were at the helm of the relocation effort. This demographic, though diverse, usually distorts conservative. About 61 percent supported Trump in the 2024 elections, according to the Pew Research Center.

Andrew Sullivan, the head of the advocacy and the Government’s affairs, nobody leaves, a group of advocacy of gray, described support as “a matter of national honor and national security.”

“It’s a safe question of veterans. And so it was a two -sided question, “Sullivan said.

The veteran of the Afghan war, Sullivan cooperated closely with the Afghan interpreter when he was a military pedestrian officer. This interpreter – whom Sullivan identified only by name, Ahmadi – has since moved to the US through the SIV program.

Sullivan said he was optimistic that Trump would eventually create a “carving” for Afghanists, pointing to a large number of veterans from a conflict in Afghanistan in a Republican administration.

One of those veterans, former Congressmen Mike Waltz, has Since he has become Trump’s White House National Security Advisor. Waltz had previously pressured the former President of Biden to “bring our Afghan allies.”

Sullivan explained that he had repeatedly hired with Waltz in this regard, and he left hope.

“He understands on that personal, visceral level, how many people mean these people mean [veterans]”Sullivan said.” So I know he gets it. “

‘Screaming stop’

Other advocates, however, are less hoped. James Powers, a wide organizer from Ohija, who focuses on veteran questions, pointed to the role of immigration hard role of Stephen Miller in a new administration.

Miller served in Trump’s first administration when gray processing slowed down for difficulties.

“It just makes sense [the programme] He would stop as soon as he returned to power to influence the current president, “Powers said.

Proponents also worried that years of working on growth were in danger of growth.

Last year alone, the Congress passed a law with a double -sided support that created a special office for the coordination and simplification of SIV’s relocation.

In the last four years, the Biden Administration has also expanded the processing of other Afghan refugee categories. The Bidana Government issued 33,341 gray in the fiscal year in 2024, which was three times published number 2022, the first full fiscal year after withdrawal.

The Afghan Refugee Reception also increased from 1,618 in the fiscal year 2022. At 14,708 in 2024.

All in all, over 200,000 Afghans were moved to the US from withdrawal, including tens of thousands who flew on the evacuation flights in the immediate evacuation.

“They have to do a better job,” Powers said about Trump’s administration. “There are fair experts on either side of the aisle, at all ideological spectrums, who will tell them that there are better ways.”