Afghanistan's Taliban authorities marked the fourth anniversary of their takeover on Friday. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/08/16/world/politics/taliban-fourth-year-in-power/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #worldnews #politics #afghanistan #taliban #terrorism
Taliban denials of a U.S. citizen's detention present a conundrum for the FBI, which is leading the U.S. government effort to secure his release. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/08/11/world/politics/cia-al-qaeda-us-citizen-afghanistan/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #worldnews #politics #cia #alqaeda #us #afghanistan #taliban
Matt Zeller, an #Army veteran whose #Afghan interpreter saved his life in a 2008 firefight, co-founded the nonprofit No One Left Behind to help resettle #Afghans. He said he fears the #immigration crackdown will unwind that effort.
“The #Trump administration knows what’s going to happen to these folks. They’re not stupid. They understand that the #Taliban is going to kill them when they get back to #Afghanistan,” Zeller said. “They just don’t care.”
They point to the arrests of Zia, 36, and Sayed Naser, 33, whose attorneys argue they followed proper #immigration processes. The Post agreed to withhold the last names of both men because of the ongoing threats to their lives from the #Taliban.
“Zia is not an outlier,” his attorney Lauren Cundick Petersen said during a news conference last month. “We’re witnessing the deliberate redefinition of legal entry as illegal for the purpose of meeting enforcement quotas.”
But the #Trump admin is rolling back programs created to assist >250k #Afghans — including the #allies who worked for #US forces & other #refugees who fled after the #Taliban takeover. And while admin officials say #SIV processing will continue, advocates for Afghans who served with US troops fear the curtailment of programs they depend on, along with Trump’s ambitious #deportation plan, jeopardizes those still vying for SIV protection.
After #Kabul fell to the #Taliban in August 2021, President Joe #Biden’s admin moved to resettle #Afghans who had worked for the #US government through the Special Immigrant #Visa (#SIV) program, which grants lawful permanent resident status & a pathway to US #citizenship. As of April, about 25k Afghans had received an SIV, & another 160k had pending applications, said Adam Bates, an attorney with the International #Refugee Assistance Program who analyzed #State Dept data.
As the admin seeks to fulfill #Trump’s pledge to carry out the largest #deportation op in #US history, attys for the men say their clients — #Afghans who fear retribution from the #Taliban for their work assisting the US in its 20-yr war in #Afghanistan — have found themselves in the crosshairs of #ICE. The attys provided WaPo with #military #contracts & certificates, #asylum & #visa applications, recommendation letters & other records that described both men’s work on behalf of #USmilitary….
They point to the arrests of Zia, 36, and Sayed Naser, 33, whose attorneys argue they followed proper #immigration processes. The Post agreed to withhold the last names of both men because of the ongoing threats to their lives from the #Taliban.
“Zia is not an outlier,” his attorney Lauren Cundick Petersen said during a news conference last month. “We’re witnessing the deliberate redefinition of legal entry as illegal for the purpose of meeting enforcement quotas.”
Matt Zeller, an #Army veteran whose #Afghan interpreter saved his life in a 2008 firefight, co-founded the nonprofit No One Left Behind to help resettle #Afghans. He said he fears the #immigration crackdown will unwind that effort.
“The #Trump administration knows what’s going to happen to these folks. They’re not stupid. They understand that the #Taliban is going to kill them when they get back to #Afghanistan,” Zeller said. “They just don’t care.”
But the #Trump admin is rolling back programs created to assist >250k #Afghans — including the #allies who worked for #US forces & other #refugees who fled after the #Taliban takeover. And while admin officials say #SIV processing will continue, advocates for Afghans who served with US troops fear the curtailment of programs they depend on, along with Trump’s ambitious #deportation plan, jeopardizes those still vying for SIV protection.
They point to the arrests of Zia, 36, and Sayed Naser, 33, whose attorneys argue they followed proper #immigration processes. The Post agreed to withhold the last names of both men because of the ongoing threats to their lives from the #Taliban.
“Zia is not an outlier,” his attorney Lauren Cundick Petersen said during a news conference last month. “We’re witnessing the deliberate redefinition of legal entry as illegal for the purpose of meeting enforcement quotas.”
After #Kabul fell to the #Taliban in August 2021, President Joe #Biden’s admin moved to resettle #Afghans who had worked for the #US government through the Special Immigrant #Visa (#SIV) program, which grants lawful permanent resident status & a pathway to US #citizenship. As of April, about 25k Afghans had received an SIV, & another 160k had pending applications, said Adam Bates, an attorney with the International #Refugee Assistance Program who analyzed #State Dept data.
But the #Trump admin is rolling back programs created to assist >250k #Afghans — including the #allies who worked for #US forces & other #refugees who fled after the #Taliban takeover. And while admin officials say #SIV processing will continue, advocates for Afghans who served with US troops fear the curtailment of programs they depend on, along with Trump’s ambitious #deportation plan, jeopardizes those still vying for SIV protection.
As the admin seeks to fulfill #Trump’s pledge to carry out the largest #deportation op in #US history, attys for the men say their clients — #Afghans who fear retribution from the #Taliban for their work assisting the US in its 20-yr war in #Afghanistan — have found themselves in the crosshairs of #ICE. The attys provided WaPo with #military #contracts & certificates, #asylum & #visa applications, recommendation letters & other records that described both men’s work on behalf of #USmilitary….
After #Kabul fell to the #Taliban in August 2021, President Joe #Biden’s admin moved to resettle #Afghans who had worked for the #US government through the Special Immigrant #Visa (#SIV) program, which grants lawful permanent resident status & a pathway to US #citizenship. As of April, about 25k Afghans had received an SIV, & another 160k had pending applications, said Adam Bates, an attorney with the International #Refugee Assistance Program who analyzed #State Dept data.
One former interpreter for US forces in #Afghanistan was detained by ICE agents in Connecticut last month after he showed up for a routine green card appointment. A second was arrested in June, just minutes after attending his first #asylum hearing in San Diego.
#law#Trump
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2025/08/03/afghanistan-immigrants-trump-deportations/
As the admin seeks to fulfill #Trump’s pledge to carry out the largest #deportation op in #US history, attys for the men say their clients — #Afghans who fear retribution from the #Taliban for their work assisting the US in its 20-yr war in #Afghanistan — have found themselves in the crosshairs of #ICE. The attys provided WaPo with #military #contracts & certificates, #asylum & #visa applications, recommendation letters & other records that described both men’s work on behalf of #USmilitary….
Iran has embarked on a massive deportation drive of the country’s 3 million-plus population of Afghan refugees, some of whom authorities say aided Israel’s airstrikes on the country last month. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/07/28/world/politics/iran-afghans-israel-spying/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #worldnews #politics #iran #afghanistan #israel #espionage #middleeast #taliban
Days before U.S. President Donald Trump said he would help Afghan evacuees who fled their country and were stuck in the United Arab Emirates, the Emirati government had already begun returning them to Afghanistan. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/07/22/world/politics/trump-afghans-uae-evacuees/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #worldnews #politics #uae #afghanistan #refugees #taliban #us #donaldtrump #middleeast
Britain set up a secret plan to bring thousands of Afghans to the U.K. after their details were disclosed in one of the country's worst-ever data breaches, putting them at risk of reprisals from the Taliban. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/07/16/world/afghans-britain-data-leak/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #worldnews #uk #afghanistan #taliban
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