The Trump administration says Afghan refugees can safely return to Afghanistan despite warnings from rights groups and lawmakers that Afghans who worked for the U.S. military face the threat of persecution, imprisonment and even execution by the Taliban regime.
The Department of Homeland Security announced on Monday it had stripped legal protections for thousands of Afghans in the U.S., saying that the security and economic situation in Afghanistan no longer justified granting them temporary protected status, or TPS.
“We’ve reviewed the conditions in Afghanistan with our interagency partners, and they do not meet the requirements for a TPS designation,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in a statement.
“Afghanistan has had an improved security situation, and its stabilizing economy no longer” prevents Afghans from returning to their home country, she said.
DHS officials had previously signaled plans to cancel temporary protected status for Afghans but did not formally rescind it until Monday.
Lawmakers and rights groups said the Trump administration’s decision would put thousands of Afghans’ lives at risk and betray partners who had risked their lives to work for the U.S. military during America’s 20-year war against the Taliban in Afghanistan.
“It’s just absurd and divorced from reality to claim that Afghan refugees can safely return to Afghanistan,” said Eleanor Acer, senior director for global humanitarian protection for the nonprofit Human Rights First.
“Many Afghans would face dire risks of persecution if they are forced back into the hands of the Taliban,” Acer said. “Journalists, human rights advocates, religious minorities, women’s rights defenders and people who worked with the U.S. military and government are all in danger of Taliban persecution or retaliation if they are forced back to Afghanistan.”
Kim Staffieri of the Association of Wartime Allies, a nonprofit that helps Afghans who worked for the U.S. government, said it “is unfathomable that DHS can say the economy of Afghanistan has stabilized, that it’s much safer now and that Afghans don’t need TPS anymore.”
Apart from reports of the Taliban’s human rights abuses, aid groups say Afghanistan is plagued by rising poverty and hunger. According to the World Food Programme, 3.5 million young children are expected to suffer from malnutrition this year, the highest level ever recorded in the country.
Lawmakers, including some Republicans, said the administration was jeopardizing the lives of those who had stood by the United States.
“Afghanistan is not safe,” said Democratic Rep. Jason Crow of Colorado, an Army veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. “The Taliban continues to crack down on human rights and target Afghans who speak out against them, including those who aided American servicemembers like me during the war. It’s cruel and wrong that President Trump is turning his back on those fleeing violence and persecution.”
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, condemned the move as a betrayal and said it contradicted “overwhelming evidence” that Afghans with ties to the U.S. faced persecution and torture by the Taliban.
“Deporting our partners to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan is morally indefensible and recklessly endangers lives,” she said.
Republican Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas, a former chair of the House Foreign Relations Committee, praised President Donald Trump’s foreign policy overall but said he was concerned for the safety of Afghan partners.
The Taliban “have made their thirst for retribution against those who helped the United States clear,” McCaul said. “Until they demonstrate clear behavioral changes, I urge the administration to continue prioritizing the safety of the Afghan men and women who risked their lives to help our troops.”
