Afghans in the United States mark the anniversary of withdrawal in the middle of the repression of immigration Trump | Donald Trump News

Four years have passed since Hanifa Girowal fled Afghanistan on an American evacuation flight. But every August, his mind returns to the same place.

Like many Afghans have evacuated in the middle of the August 15 Taliban Takeover From Kabul, Girowal, who worked in human rights under the former Afghan government, remains stuck in “legal limbo” in the United States. It firmly pursues a more stable status in the United States, even as a political landscape around it, and thousands of other Afghans in similar situationsexchange.

“I have the impression of being stuck in August 2021 and all other August between the two, I don’t remember anything about them,” Girowal told Al Jazeera.

She often remembers the mad race in the middle of a Crushing bodies At the crowded Kabul International Airport: people drew before her, a week of hiding place, a flight to Qatar, then Germany, then finally, the American state of Virginia.

Followed by the first days to try to start a new life from the old fragments.

“Everything comes back to the surface, and it is like reliving this trauma that we have gone through, and we are trying to heal since that day,” she said.

The struggle may have been familiar, but his concern has been strengthened since US President Donald Trump took office on January 20. His hard immigration policies have affected almost all immigrant communities in the United States, stressing vulnerabilities to anyone according to precarious legal status.

There is a feeling that everything could happen, from one day to the next.

“I have an approved case of asylum, which gives a certain level of protection, but we still do not know the future of certain immigration policies,” said Girowal. “I’m very afraid of being able to be subjected to deportation at any time.”

Warnings not heard

Four years after the removal of the United States, it remains clear how Trump’s policies will affect Afghans who are already in the United States, estimated at around 180,000.

They arrived through a tangle of different avenues, including 75,000 planes evacuation flights In the aftermath of the withdrawal, while the administration of the American president Joe Biden undertook what she nicknamed “Operation Allies Welcome“Thousands of others have since sought asylum by making treacherous trips around the world to cross the South American border.

Some have moved through what is called Special immigrant visas (SIVS), reserved for people who worked directly with the American army in Afghanistan, as part of a notoriously late program.

Others have been reinstalled through a special State Department program, known as Priority 1 (P1) and Priority 2 (P2), launched by the Administration of President Biden, intended for Afghans who are confronted with persecution for having worked on various titles on behalf of the American government or with an American organization in Afghanistan.

Adam Bates, a lawyer for the policy of supervision of the International Refugee Assistance Program, explained that some of these routes, including SIV and refugee programs, provide a clear course to the American residence and, possibly, to citizenship.

But, he said, others do not do so-a fact that defenders warned leave members of the population subject to perpetual uncertainty and political whims.

“A large part of the plea for officials of the Biden administration aimed to find more permanent legal paths for Afghans,” Bates told Al Jazeera. “It was in one eye on the potential to give the Trump administration this opportunity to really double and target this community.”

Pressure on Afghans in the United States

During Trump’s new mandate, his administration took several concrete – and sometimes contradictory – movements that affect Afghans living in the United States.

He finished The “temporary protected status” (TPS) for Afghans already in the country at the time of taking control of the Taliban, arguing that the country shows “an improved security situation” and “the stabilizing economy”, a complaint contradicted by several reports on human rights.

At the same time, the Trump administration added Afghanistan to a new Traveling prohibition Listed, restricting visas for Afghans, claiming that such admissions are globally going against “foreign policy, national security and counter-terrorism”.

These actions point out that “the situation in Afghanistan seems to be everything it should be, from the point of view of the Trump administration”, according to Bates.

Trump offered his contradictory mailbox, criticism The Biden administration on the campaign campaign for its withdrawal management and, also recently in July, committing to “save” evacuated Afghans subject to the deportation of the United Arab Emirates.

In the meantime, the administration has ended a special status for those who entered the United States via the CBP application A In April, potentially affecting thousands of Afghans who entered the southern border.

Defenders warn that many other Afghans could soon face another legal cliff. After being evacuated in 2021, tens of thousands of Afghans obtained a humanitarian parole, a temporary status which allowed them to live and work legally in the United States for two years, with an extension granted in 2023. This program should soon end.

While many have granted the status that has since requested other legal paths, most often by applying for asylum or SIV, an unknown number could be made undocumented and subject to the expulsion at the end of the extension. Legislation The creation of a clearer path to citizenship in Langui in Congress for years.

Citizenship and immigration services in the United States (USCIS) have not publicly published how many evacuated Afghans remain in the United States in humanitarian speech and has not responded to the request of Al Jazeera for data.

The discomfort of the evacuated Afghans was aggravated by the aggressive approach of Trump to the application of immigration, which has seen more and more Those without criminal history targeted for deportations and permanent residents targeted for their Political advocacy.

“It’s just an escalation at all levels and an aggravation of fear and instability in this community,” said Bates. “It is difficult to make life decisions if you are not sure what will happen tomorrow or next week or in a year.”

‘Pulls the carpet’

Meanwhile, for the thousands of Afghans who continue to seek security in the United States from abroad, the tracks have been seriously tightened or have become completely blocked.

The Trump administration has interrupted asylum claims on the South American border, citing a national emergency. He almost completely suspended the American refugee program (Usrape), allowing only a net of new refugees in the midst of a continuous legal challenge for rights defense groups.

The defenders say that the special P1 and P2 program created for Afghan refugees seems to have been completely interrupted under Trump. The administration has not published the refugee admission numbers since its entry into office and has not responded to the request of data from Al Jazeera.

“He has the impression that we have withdrawn the carpet from many of our Afghan allies thanks to these policy changes which deploy legal protection for many Afghans in the United States and limit the ways of Afghans who are still abroad to come to the United States safely,” said Al Jazeera Kristyn Peck.

She noted that the SIV pipeline continued to operate under Trump, although there have been certain limitations, in particular demanding that people approved for relocation have paid for their own trip.

Meanwhile, resettlement agencies like Lutheran were forced to seriously reduce their operations following an administration working order on January 24. In March, Peck said, the organization was forced to drop around 120 of its staff.

Susan Antolin, executive director of women for Afghan women, a non-profit organization that offers mental health, legal and social support to Afghans in the United States, said organizations like hers were also preparing for a sustained uncertainty.

“We diversify our funding and try very hard, like so many other organizations, to find other ways to bring to continue supporting our programs,” she told Al Jazeera. “As an organization that deal with this type of work, we must intensify. We have to do 10 times more or 100 times more, work. ”

“More a priority for the world”

The unstable situation in the United States reflects a broader global trend.

The Taliban government, despite promising reforms in pressure for international recognition, continued to be accused Generalized violations of human rights and murders of revenge. However, he has improved diplomatic ties with several governments in recent years, and in July, Russia has become the first country to officially recognize the group as the legitimate government of Afghanistan.

At the same time, the governments of Pakistan and Iran accelerated The expulsions of the Afghans return to Afghanistan, with more than 1.4 million Afghans expelled or leaving Iran alone from January to July 2025, according to UNHCR.

The reuters news agency also reported in July that the United Arab Emirates had informed Washington that he had started to return from the evacuated Afghans.

Germany also began to expel the Afghanists in Afghanistan, in July, it led its second flight of expulsion since coming to power, although it continues not to recognize or maintain diplomatic links with the group.

Collective movements send a clear message, Evacuee Girowal said: “We know that Afghanistan is no longer a priority for the world.”

However, she said that she had not abandoned the hope that the United States under the direction of Trump “will not forget her allies”.

“I know the resilience of our own Afghan community. We are trained to be resilient wherever we are and we retaliate as much as possible, ”she said.

“It’s something that gives me hope.”