Afghanistan Peace CampaignThe White House and the State Department, which oversees US refugee programs, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
According to Reuters, this group includes unaccompanied minors awaiting reunification with their families in the US, said Shawn VanDiver, head of the AfghanEvac coalition of US veterans and advocacy groups and the US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
“Afghans and advocates are panicking,” said VanDiver. “I’ve had to recharge my phone four times already today because so many are calling me.”
The US decision also leaves in limbo thousands of other Afghans who have been approved for resettlement as refugees in the US but have not yet been assigned flights from Afghanistan or from neighboring Pakistan.
“We warned them that this was going to happen, but they did it anyway. We hope they will reconsider,” he said of contacts with Trump’s transition team.
The White House and the State Department, which oversees US refugee programs, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Nearly 200,000 Afghans have been brought to the US by former President Joe Biden’s administration since the chaotic US troop withdrawal from Kabul.
One of the dozens of executive orders Trump was expected to sign after being sworn in suspended US refugee programs for at least four months.