Thousands of Afghans who helped the U.S. military blocked from reaching American soil

In August 2021, Tamim Satari raced to the Kabul International Airport to evacuate Afghanistan after working with the American military as an intelligence officer, helping U.S. forces coordinate aerial bomb campaigns against the Taliban. But in the chaos
of the U.S. withdrawal, his wife and newborn son were left behind. 

“It was so hard, and we didn’t want to lose our small son,” Satari said.

He was not alone. Thousands of Aghan families were separated in the rushed withdrawal
of U.S. troops from Afghanistan. Babies were passed
across throngs of people and over fences, and families scrambled to get through the gates to the airport.

Three years later, more than 10,000 families remain separated, according to Shawn VanDiver, the founder of #AfghanEvac, a nonprofit that worked with the State Department to create a path to reunite separated Afghan families. 

“There’s all these moms or dads or young children who are stuck here without their family,” said VanDiver. “These people are in danger because of us. And the least we can do is help them reunite.” 

He says the number of children separated from their parents includes 2,800 unaccompanied refugee minors — children who made it to the U.S. but whose parents did not, or who were left behind as their parents fled. 

VanDiver works with the Office of the Coordinator for Afghan Relocation Efforts, known as CARE, a State Department program that was established to assist wartime Afghan allies
immigrate to the U.S. 

Since 2021, the CARE program has facilitated travel for nearly 200,000 Afghans, according to documents reviewed by CBS News. 

This includes those with special immigrant visas who were wartime allies
typically paid by the U.S. government. It also includes Afghan refugees who assisted the U.S. mission in military roles, as civil society members, or those who are family members of those who served.  

“The truth is, is that every single person in the refugee pipeline and every single person in the [special immigrant visa] pipeline are somebody who took action in our name and are now in danger,” said VanDiver.

“And these Afghans deserve everything that we can give to them because they protected us.”

After trying unsuccessfully to bring his wife and son over on his own, Satari connected with CARE in 2023 to get help facilitating their visa process. His wife, Shiba, and their son had escaped to Pakistan after she was threatened by the Taliban for continuing her work as a midwife while her husband was in the U.S.

On Jan. 18, the weekend before President Trump’s inauguration, Shiba and her son were flown to JFK airport in New York and then driven to Newark, New Jersey, for an emotional reunion with her husband. Tamim had not seen his son, now nearly 4 years old, since he was a newborn.  

The Sataris’ family reunion at Newark Liberty International Airport was one of the last refugee reunions to take place.

Three days later, Mr. Trump signed an executive order
suspending the U.S. refugee program, stating “the United States lacks the ability to absorb large numbers of migrants, and in particular, refugees, into its communities in a manner that does not compromise the availability of resources for Americans that protects their safety and security, and that ensures the appropriate assimilation of refugees.” 

A federal judge ordered the administration to stop the ban, but since then normal refugee processing has not continued. In a recent court filing, lawyers for the administration said it would  take time to restart refugee programs, since agencies have already cut contracts, reduced the workforce and frozen funding. 

In addition to Mr. Trump’s executive order, Secretary of State Marco Rubio froze all federal funding for the programs that were providing travel for Afghans who had already been approved to resettle in the U.S. This means that anyone vetted and approved for travel — including those already holding special immigrant visas — cannot leave Afghanistan unless they are able to pay for the trip themselves.

According to government documents reviewed by CBS, more than 40,000 Afghans who have been vetted and approved to leave Afghanistan are now in limbo, with their lives at stake.

“I’ve heard countless horror stories of torture and murder of these allies of the United States,” said Republican Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas, who voted for the CARE program.

“I would urge the administration to take a look at this and to honor the commitment that we made to [our allies], and not break our promise, but let them know that we are going to protect them.”

But Mr. Trump and other Republican lawmakers have expressed concern that allowing Afghans into the U.S. makes the country more vulnerable to terrorism. 

McCaul and others who advocate for the program say the vetting is already extremely effective. 

“You want to vet them again? Go ahead. But they’ve already been vetted, and probably the most thorough vetting in American history,” McCaul told CBS News. 

Afghans who come to the U.S are reviewed by the State Department, Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. They go through several in-person interviews and their biometrics are checked against government databases, in addition to extensive medical screening. 

“Afghans who come to this country via the CARE program are the most vetted immigrant population in our county’s history,” said a former State Department official. 

Satari remains hopeful he will not be one of the last to be reunited with his family. He has settled in New Jersey and is employed in a mechanical job while he studies for his real estate license.

“I have a lot of hope in the future. I would like to have a great life,” Satari said. “I am responsible for taking care of my son, to enroll in school and start lessons over there. I have a big hope.”