TIRANA, Albania (news agencies) — They helped the U.S. military order airstrikes against Taliban and Islamic State fighters and worked as drivers and translators during America’s longest war. They were set to start new lives in the United States.
Then President Donald Trump issued executive orders that put an end to programs used to help Afghans get to safety in America. Now those same Afghans, who underwent a yearslong background check, find themselves in a state of limbo.
“I was shocked. I am still in shock because I have already waited four years for this process, to get out of this hell and to get to a safe place and live in peace and have a new beginning,” said Roshangar, one of the Afghans whose life was upended by Trump’s action. Roshangar requested that media only use his first name because he was afraid of Taliban reprisals.
He spoke in an interview from Afghanistan where he, his wife and son live in hiding, fearing punishment or even execution by the Taliban for his more than a decade-long partnership with American forces.
Roshangar served as a legal adviser to the Afghan Air Force, helping U.S. officials review and eventually approve airstrike packages that were used against the Taliban and the Islamic State group from 2007 until the fall of Kabul, the Afghan capital, in 2021.
“This was an unexpected move from Mr. Trump and everything went wrong and against us and leave us in severe danger under the Taliban regime,” he said.
His family’s experience is just one aspect of the fallout from Trump’s orders, many of which were implemented without broad consultation with experts in the areas affected.
“It’s an absolute stain on our national honor that we’ve pulled the rug out from under people who have patiently been awaiting relocation and those here in the US who have recently arrived,” said Shawn VanDiver, a Navy veteran and head of #AfghanEvac, a coalition supporting Afghan resettlement efforts. “This is an imminently solvable issue and our national security demands we fix it.”
During the U.S. evacuation from Kabul in August 2021, American military planes airlifted tens of thousands of Afghans from the main airport. But many more Afghans did not make it onto the planes. Since then, the U.S. has had various ways to help Afghans emigrate to the U.S. depending on what their role was in helping the U.S.-led mission in Afghanistan. Those path have been halted at this point.
It is the latest in a series of setbacks for the group of American allies who, despite strong backing from Republican and Democratic lawmakers along with veterans groups, continue to face hurdles in relocating and rebuilding their lives after the abrupt U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Many are now stranded in Albania, Pakistan and Qatar where they were awaiting transfer to the U.S. Others are in hiding from the Taliban in Afghanistan.
Afghans who eventually make it to the U.S. have to undergo an extensive process that usually involves a referral from someone they worked with, background checks, a medical screening and an interview with U.S. officials.
Rashengar had his interview last August and was set to finish the final part of the process — a medical exam — this month when Trump announced he was halting all refugee resettlement.
One of the Americans he worked with, Lt. Col. Steve Loertscher, referred him to the refugee program in October 2021.
Loertscher describes Rashengar as a casualty of the Biden administration not prioritizing applicants like him who were at higher risk of retribution by the Taliban.
But he believes Rashengar could be exempt from the executive order, which states that the State Department could consider individual applicants on a “case-by-case” basis.
“Eventually, I’m hopeful that he’ll be able to become a refugee and come to the United States,” Loertscher said.
Many veterans of the conflict have tried for years to help Afghans they worked with find refuge in the U.S. Many were prepared for setbacks but had hoped for special consideration for the Afghans.
Hashmatullah Alam had a flight scheduled to take him, his wife and six children to the U.S. when Trump’s order went into effect, just a day after the Republican president took office. The 40-year-old and his family had arrived in Albania in December to be processed and granted special immigrant visas before leaving for the U.S.
He is among the at least 15,000 Afghans who were already cleared for travel before the pause took effect, according to AfghanEvac.
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