{"id":72059,"date":"2025-02-19T17:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-02-19T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/uncategorized\/2025\/02\/19\/us-troops-afghan-allies-say-executive-orders-endanger-their-families\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T16:29:22","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T16:29:22","slug":"us-troops-afghan-allies-say-executive-orders-endanger-their-families","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/news\/2025\/02\/19\/us-troops-afghan-allies-say-executive-orders-endanger-their-families\/","title":{"rendered":"US troops, Afghan allies say executive orders endanger their families"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Editor\u2019s note: For this story, Military Times spoke to multiple U.S. service members, as well as Afghans who assisted the U.S. during the war in Afghanistan. Those interviewed were granted the use of aliases or first names due to fear of jeopardizing the safety of their Afghanistan-based family members.<\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A paratrooper infantryman for the 82nd Airborne Division was preparing to welcome his sister from Afghanistan to the United States at some point over the next few months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The paratrooper, who goes by Mojo, said his sister had been granted admission to the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program, or USRAP, as part of a special exemption issued by former President Joe Biden in 2022 that allowed family members of U.S. service members to immigrate to the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mojo is from Afghanistan and began working as an interpreter for the U.S. military in 2019 before eventually immigrating to the U.S. and joining the Army.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rest of his family \u2014 his mother, father, younger sister and two brothers, both of whom helped the U.S. military during the war in Afghanistan, Mojo said \u2014 had already safely moved to the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mojo\u2019s sister was supposed to be the last one to make the pilgrimage, and she and her husband had completed the extensive security vetting and medical screening necessary to evacuate Afghanistan and enter the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Jan. 20, 2025, those plans collapsed with the stroke of a pen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That day, President Donald Trump signed an executive order<\/a> that suspended the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program beginning Jan. 27, in what the decree described as an effort to ease the undue stress that immigration had placed on states\u2019 infrastructures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Within 90 days, per the order, the secretary of Homeland Security will submit a report on whether the program should resume. After that, a new report will be submitted every 90 days thereafter, until Trump deems the program fit to begin again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, Mojo\u2019s sister must wait to learn whether she\u2019ll be able to immigrate to the United States, all while being threatened because of her brother\u2019s involvement with the U.S. military, Mojo said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cShe\u2019s been hunted by the Taliban for a pretty long time \u2014 since the fall of Afghanistan,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her story is a common one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Military Times spoke with multiple U.S. service members and Afghans located in the United States who said recent executive orders suspended their families\u2019 relocation efforts, further exacerbating an already perilous situation in which family members fear for their lives due to their affiliation with the U.S. government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the same day Trump suspended USRAP, he also issued an executive order<\/a> entitled \u201cReevaluating and Realigning United States Foreign Aid\u201d that stopped funding for the travel of individuals with Special Immigrant Visas, which are awarded to Afghans who were employed by the U.S. government as a way to immigrate to the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Together, both of the executive orders completely stopped the relocation of Afghan wartime allies, said Shawn VanDiver, president of AfghanEvac, an organization that helps Afghan allies relocate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

AfghanEvac estimates that 200 family members of U.S. troops are in Afghanistan and attempting to flee the Taliban, along with another 150,000 to 250,000 Afghans who are trying to immigrate to the U.S.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A member of the 1st Battalion, 5th Marines, walks in a joint patrol with the Afghan National Civil Order Police in southern Afghanistan in 2009. (Brennan Linsley\/AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Salt in the wound\u2019<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Zahra, another U.S. soldier who enlisted in 2021 before the collapse of the Afghan government, said her mother, father and three siblings \u2014 all under age 15 \u2014 are currently stuck in Afghanistan. The executive order halting USRAP <\/b>is just another in a series of complications for getting her family stateside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s \u201csalt in the wound,\u201d said Zahra, who requested Military Times not reveal her last name to protect her family members\u2019 identities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The entire immigration process through USRAP \u2014 which she\u2019s been navigating for three years with little success \u2014 is what frustrates her the most.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat we were told is that our families are priorities three years ago,\u201d she said. \u201cIf they did prioritize our families, they would\u2019ve been out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zahra said her family underwent extensive interviews, some that lasted eight hours, in 2024. They were told their next step would be to evacuate to a third location for processing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That day has yet to come, and the new executive order has provided yet another obstacle. While she waits, Zahra said she constantly fears for her family\u2019s safety.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zahra can only communicate with her family through the encrypted messaging platform Signal because of safety concerns, she told Military Times. She can\u2019t send them pictures. Calling them in public is too risky. She\u2019s worried the Taliban will inspect their phones at a random checkpoint and see something that endangers their lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her fear is furthered by grim stories she\u2019s heard from fellow troops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zahra is part of a group chat with other U.S. service members whose families are stuck in Afghanistan. They don\u2019t reveal their identities for the sake of safety, but she said members have shared stories of individuals being hunted \u2014 and in some cases murdered \u2014 prior to evacuating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe safety in that country is never fine,\u201d she said. \u201cYou\u2019re just counting your luck … how <\/b>long you can be lucky before you get caught.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fighting for an exemption<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In addition to U.S. troops, Afghan partner forces and allies who assisted the U.S. military during the war in Afghanistan \u2014 and who are now safely in the United States \u2014 said they\u2019re also experiencing significant roadblocks to getting their families into the U.S.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Atiqullah, a former Afghan interpreter for the U.S. Army from 2009 to 2014, said he came to the United States in 2021 under asylum but is still struggling to help his family escape the dangers of the Taliban. He asked that Military Times only refer to him by his first name to protect his family members\u2019 identities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRight now, they\u2019re hunting everybody,\u201d Atiqullah said of the Taliban.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His brother, who also served as an interpreter for the U.S. military and now lives in the United States, has a wife and children stuck in Afghanistan. They were approved for Special Immigrant Visas and were readying themselves to be transferred to another location before coming to the United States. The executive order has delayed that process, Atiqullah said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Atiqullah visited the U.S. Capitol on Feb. 6 with several other Afghans in similar situations \u2013 a visit that was facilitated by Central Virginia Afghan Advocates<\/a>, a grassroots organization that advocates for Afghan evacuation and family reunification.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group met with the offices of several representatives, including staff of Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., and Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va. They shared their individual stories with hope that it would lead to an exemption to the executive order for those stuck in Afghanistan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the meetings, Atiqullah was optimistic, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey gave us lots of hope,\u201d he said. \u201cWe will see.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t