Refugee suspension a brutal blow for Afghans who helped U.S.

When President Trump signed an executive order Monday suspending refugee admissions to the U.S., my thoughts immediately went to a man I will call “M” — an Afghan, a former employee in Kabul for the U.S. Agency for International Development, a Fulbright scholar, a husband, a father and a man — like so many others — trapped in an unconscionable purgatory created by the American government.

When Kabul fell more than three years ago, M had already boarded a plane for America with a J-1 student visa and a Fulbright scholarship, leaving behind a pregnant wife and a daughter. I first told his story in March 2022.

The dream was always to get his master’s degree — which he did at an elite university — and return to help rebuild his country. With the Taliban in power and reports of retribution against those who had worked for the Americans, that plan became untenable, as it was for tens of thousands of Afghans who had worked for the Americans and fled the country when the U.S.-backed government fell.

America pledged it would not forget those who had supported them, especially those who had worked with the American military. Some 80% of Americans supported that goal. Such efforts have a long history. America resettled hundreds of thousands of refugees from Cuba, Cambodia, Vietnam and Iraq. The Afghans were no less deserving.

A Special Immigrant Visa program was created in 2006 to provide Afghans who had worked for the Americans a pathway to permanent residence in the U.S. When Kabul fell, 77,000 Afghans had already been settled in the U.S., but due to bureaucratic inefficiencies exacerbated by the pandemic, another 18,000 at-risk applicants and 53,000 dependents had not been processed.

In the frantic evacuation after the Taliban took control, another 70,000 fled and half of those had worked for the Americans. They were given a temporary protected status by the Biden Administration that was just that — temporary — and provided no pathway to a permanent status, a good definition of purgatory. That status, which had been extended, expires this spring.

M is one of those under its protection. For three years he has wondered: Can I stay? What about my wife and daughters? Neither he nor they would have a future in Afghanistan.

There have been attempts to fix this situation. On the first anniversary of the fall of Kabul, Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota introduced the Afghanistan Adjustment Act (AAA), co-sponsored by a bipartisan group of 17 senators and 51 House members, as well as a coalition of some 250 veterans, human rights and immigration groups. Despite that support, it has failed to pass, with mainly GOP opposition. A stricter bill by Republican Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, an Army veteran who served in Afghanistan, also failed.

Now the Trump Administration has arrived with all its chaos, bluster and performance-art cruelty toward migrants. It would seem the only hope might be that the supporters of a bill such as the AAA might use what ever leverage they have to attach it into the larger immigration bill certain to be put forward early in the new administration.

Shawn VanDiver, who heads the coalition AfghanEvac that supports Afghan resettlement, reacted to the refugee program suspension: “Failing to protect our Afghan allies sends a dangerous message to the world that U.S. commitments are conditional and temporary. The decision undermines global trust in our leadership and jeopardizes future alliances.”

For M, the pain caused by continued uncertainty and separation from his family has driven him toward a once-unimaginable conclusion — that he might be compelled to take his chances and return to Afghanistan, despite the dangers. “ I cannot stay without my family any longer.”

America should be ashamed.

• Keith Peterson, of Lake Barrington, served 29 years as a press and cultural officer for the United States Information Agency and Department of State. He was chief editorial writer of the Daily Herald 1984-86. His new book “American Dreams: The Story of the Cyprus Fulbright Commission” is available from Amazon.com.