KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – The U.S. Department of State has dismissed reports of a travel ban on Afghanistan, stressing that efforts to resettle those who assisted the U.S. mission in the country will continue.
Earlier, Reuters and several U.S. media outlets reported that the new U.S. administration had compiled a list of countries facing potential travel restrictions, with Afghanistan among those set to face full suspension of visa issuance.
Speaking at a briefing on Monday, State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce clarified that no such list exists and that the administration is conducting a broader security review of visa policies.
“First of all, there is no list. What people are looking at over these last several days is not a list that exists here that is being acted on,” Bruce said.
“There is a review, as we know, through the President’s executive order, for us to look at the nature of what’s going to help keep America safer in dealing with the issue of visas and who’s allowed into the country,” she added.
Regarding Afghanistan, Bruce emphasized that the resettlement of those who aided the U.S. during its two-decade conflict in the country remains in place. The new administration, she noted, is committed to maintaining the arrangements made under previous policies.
“The arrangements we have made already in the past, getting as many people from that conflict here, certainly those who have assisted us and worked with us, that’s been a policy and a dynamic that we’ve worked on from certainly even the previous administration, working to try to get that happening,” she stressed.
Although the U.S. evacuated thousands of its “Afghan allies” during a round-the-clock airlift from Kabul in August 2021 and over the past years, many remain stranded in Pakistan, Qatar, and other countries.
Thousands in the resettlement process, including many already approved, saw their plans disrupted by an executive order signed by President Donald Trump in January, suspending all refugee programs for at least three months.
The ongoing uncertainty has heightened concerns among Afghans awaiting resettlement, advocacy groups, and U.S. veterans, many of whom fear for the safety of those who supported the U.S. mission and now face potential deportation from Pakistan and the threat of Taliban retaliation.
