They helped US order airstrikes against Taliban. Now Trump’s moves have left those Afghans in limbo

TIRANA, Albania (AP) — 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 The Associated Press 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.

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“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.

Alam, who remains hopeful that the pause will be lifted, told the AP that he risked the lives of his family to assist the U.S. mission in Afghanistan during the war, landing him on the Taliban watchlist. He had hoped after three years to be repaid for that sacrifice with a fresh start in America where his children can grow up and receive an education.

“Also we help our families back home,” Alam said. “They are living in Afghanistan, our mothers, our fathers, and brothers.”

In Pakistan, Khalid, who worked alongside the U.S. Air Force, had been waiting by the phone to confirm his flight to America when the Afghan students he teaches notified him about Trump’s order.

“Let me tell you that my students cried after hearing that Trump has suspended the refugee program for us,” he said.

After arriving in Islamabad in March 2023, Khalid, who also asked to be identified by first name only, completed the security clearance, medical tests, and interviews over the next year. But as he waited to be approved to travel, he ran out of money to support his wife and children and began to teach children from other Afghan families who had come to Pakistan as part of the visa program.

He was reluctant to discuss how he helped America’s effort in Afghanistan, but said his contribution was “so important that if I go back, the Taliban will kill me.”

“We appeal to President Donald Trump to reverse his decision because we have lost whatever we had in Afghanistan, and he should know that we are waiting here for a bright future in America,” he said. “He should evacuate us from here and take us to America, we were promised that we would be taken to America, and please honor that promise.”

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Amiri reported from Washington and Munir from Islamabad, Pakistan.