• DHS movement exposes Afghas to deportation
• The PMA unable to meet the food needs of Afghanistan in the middle of the help cuts
Washington: The Trump administration will not renew the protected state of thousands of Afghans who legally reside in the United States, a measure that could expose them to deportation next month.
The United States National Security Department (DHS) confirmed on Friday that the temporary protected state (TPS) will end for Afghans, a designation that allowed them to live and work legally in the country.
The decision would affect almost 14,600 Afghan.
TPS is a legal protection granted to nationals from countries that experience armed conflicts, natural disasters or other extraordinary conditions.
It protects them from deportation and allows legal employment in the United States.
The Biden administration first appointed TPS for Afghan in 2022. The State extended in 2023.
However, DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said Friday that Secretary Kristi Noem, after reviewing updated evaluations of immigration authorities and consulting with the State Department, had determined that Afghanistan “no longer meets the legal requirements” for TPS.
The decision caused rapid criticisms of defense groups and veterans organizations that have supported the Afghan allies of the US army.
Destination
It was not clear where these Afghan would be sent in case of deportation, since the United States does not recognize the government led by the Taliban in Kabul and does not have direct flights to Afghanistan.
In such a scenario, deportees are often returned to the country from where they left for the last time.
For many Afghans, that would be Pakistan, who currently deportes undocumented Afghans.
Tens of thousands of Afghan had supported US forces during the war, even as interpreters and contractors. Many were resettled under the special program of immigrant visas (SIV) or through the United States refugee admission program, but a significant number is still waiting for their immigration cases to be processed.
For them, TPS served as temporary legal protection.
WFP cuts assistance
Afghan now run the risk of being sent back to Afghanistan, which is already dealing with humanitarian and economic crises.
Help organizations that work to mitigate human catastrophe are under tension due to fund cutters.
The World Food Program has warned that it can only support half of the people in need, since US clippings. Fresh to food assistance, the risk of worsening hunger already extended in Afghanistan.
In an interview with AFPThe interim director of the WFP country, Mutinta Chimuka, urged donors to take a step forward to support Afghanistan, who faces the second largest humanitarian crisis in the world.
A third of the population of 45 million people needs food assistance, with 3.1 million people on the edge of the famine, says the UN.
“What resources do we now have just eight million people will receive help throughout the year and that is only if we get everything we expect from other donors,” said Chimuka.
The agency has already been “giving a half ration to stretch the resources we have,” he added.
The PMA, like other aid agencies, has been caught in the sights of fund cuts by the president of the United States, Donald Trump, who signed an executive order that frozen all foreign aid for three months shortly after its inauguration in January.
Emergency food aid was destined to be exempt, but this week, the WFP said that the United States had announced that it was reducing emergency food aid for 14 countries, including Afghanistan, which is equivalent to “a death sentence for millions of people” if it was implemented.
Washington quickly went back in the cuts for six countries, but Afghanistan, led by the Taliban authorities who fought against the troops led by the United States for decades, was not one of them.
The UN assistance mission in Afghanistan, UNAMA, urged international donors to continue supporting Afghanistan, saying that 22.9M needed assistance this year.
“If we want to help people Afghan to escape the vicious circle of poverty and suffering, we must continue to have the means to address urgent needs and at the same time establish the bases for long -term resistance and stability,” said Indrika Matwatte, a Humanitarian and resident coordinator of the UN in Afghanistan.
Posted in Dawn, April 13, 2025
