In a significant development, US President Donald Trump’s new travel ban could prohibit people from Afghanistan and Pakistan from entering the United States as soon as next week.
Reuters reported that under Trump’s new travel ban, the US government is introducing a review of foreign countries’ security assessments and risks which could ban some nationals from entering the US.
It should be emphasised that President Donald Trump during his first tenure introduced a travel ban from seven Muslim-majority nations. President Biden later repealed the ban calling it a “stain on our national conscience.”
Meanwhile, the Trump’s new travel ban could affect thousands of Afghans who were cleared by US authorities to resettle in the States as refugees because they cooperated with the US during its 20-year occupation in Afghanistan.
President Trump enacted an executive order on January 20 that instructed intensified security vetting of foreigners trying to travel to the US.
The executive order instructed cabinet members to submit a list of countries that should be banned for travel to US due to their poor vetting and screening process.
According to Reuters, Afghanistan will be included in the recommended list of countries for a “complete travel ban” while Pakistan may also be included in the list.
It merits a mention that those Afghans who have been vetted and cleared for resettling into the US as refugees remain the most highly vetted group of people by the United States.
Trump’s travel ban harkens back to his popular right-wing anti-immigrant views that he campaigned to get a second term in the powerful office.
During his campaign speech in 2023, Trump vowed to stop people from the “Gaza Strip, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Yemen, and anywhere else that threatens our security” from entering America.
