The George W. Bush Institute has pushed back against the Trump administration’s decision to pause and review immigration applications from Afghanistan and 18 other countries, arguing that entire populations should not be penalized for the alleged crimes of one individual.

The policy review followed the November shooting of two National Guard members in Washington, D.C., allegedly carried out by an Afghan national who had previously worked with the CIA in Afghanistan and was granted asylum in the United States earlier this year.

In a statement posted on social media on Friday, the George W. Bush Presidential Center said the alleged actions of one man had “derailed the lawful U.S. immigration applications of people from 18 countries so far, including Afghanistan.” The Center added that Afghans are facing growing uncertainty both inside Afghanistan and in the United States, urging Americans to consider “why we can’t turn our back on Afghans and other immigrants due to one man’s crime.”

The Bush Institute argued that elected officials should focus on examining whether the attack could have been prevented, rather than imposing sweeping measures on Afghans who are lawfully living in or seeking entry to the U.S. It emphasized that many Afghans had “risked their lives over the last two decades” by working alongside the United States in pursuit of stability and prosperity, and said they “shouldn’t bear the burden of one man’s heinous crimes.”

The statement drew sharp responses from figures aligned with Trump. Mike Davis, a prominent Trump loyalist and legal adviser in the administration, criticized the Bush Institute’s intervention by citing past remarks from former President George W. Bush about avoiding public criticism of sitting presidents. Davis suggested the former president and his affiliated institutions should refrain from weighing in on current policy debates unless directly asked.

Davis, who previously worked in the Office of Political Affairs during the Bush administration and later assisted Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch in securing a position at the Department of Justice, framed his response as a defense of presidential discretion.

Trump’s White House Deputy Chief of Staff and Homeland Security Adviser Stephen Miller responded more bluntly. In a separate post, Miller accused the Bush Institute of advocating “unfettered migration from the most dangerous nations on planet earth,” and suggested the Institute was minimizing security risks posed by some migrants.

The exchange highlights deep divisions within the Republican Party over immigration policy, particularly concerning Afghanistan, as the Trump administration continues its review of asylum and immigration applications from countries deemed high risk.

U.S. negotiators met Russian officials in Florida on Saturday for the latest talks aimed at ending Russia’s war in Ukraine, as President Donald Trump’s administration tries to coax an agreement out of both sides to end the conflict, Reuters reported.

The Miami meeting followed U.S. talks on Friday with Ukrainian and European officials, the latest discussions of a peace plan that has sparked some hope of a resolution to the conflict that began when Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s special envoy Kirill Dmitriev told reporters after meeting U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner that the talks were constructive and would continue on Sunday. A White House official said the talks had concluded for the day.

“The discussions are proceeding constructively. They began earlier and will continue today, and will also continue tomorrow,” Dmitriev said.

Marco Rubio, Trump’s top diplomat and national security advisor, had said he might also join the talks.

U.S., Ukrainian and European officials earlier this week reported progress on security guarantees for Kyiv as part of the talks to end the war, but it remains unclear if those terms will be acceptable to Moscow.

A Russian source told Reuters that any meeting between Dmitriev and the Ukrainian negotiators had been ruled out.

In Kyiv, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Saturday that Ukraine would back a U.S. proposal for three-sided talks with the United States and Russia if it facilitated more exchanges of prisoners and paved the way for meetings of national leaders.

“America is now proposing a trilateral meeting with national security advisers — America Ukraine, Russia,” Zelenskiy told local journalists in Kyiv.

U.S. intelligence reports continue to warn that Putin intends to capture all of Ukraine, sources familiar with the intelligence said, contradicting some U.S. officials’ assertions that Moscow is ready for peace.

Putin offered no compromise during his annual press conference in Moscow, insisting that Russia’s terms for ending the war had not changed since June 2024, when he demanded Ukraine abandon its ambition to join NATO and withdraw entirely from four Ukrainian regions Russia claims as its own territory, Reuters reported.

Kyiv says it will not cede land that Moscow’s forces have failed to capture in nearly four years of war.

Ukraine’s top negotiator Rustem Umerov said U.S. and European teams on Friday held talks and agreed to pursue their joint efforts.

“We agreed with our American partners on further steps and on continuing our joint work in the near future,” Umerov wrote on Telegram of the discussions in the United States, adding that he had informed Zelenskiy of the outcome of the talks.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Rubio told reporters on Friday that progress has been made in discussions to end the war but there is still a way to go.

“The role we’re trying to play is a role of figuring out whether there’s any overlap here that they can agree to, and that’s what we’ve invested a lot of time and energy and continue to do so. That may not be possible. I hope it is. I hope it can get done this month before the end of the year.”

Three Afghan migrants have died from exposure while attempting to cross illegally into Iran amid freezing temperatures in Afghanistan’s western province of Herat, an Afghan army official said on Saturday.

The victims were part of a group that tried to cross the Iran–Afghanistan border earlier this week but was stopped by Afghan border forces. “Three people who wanted to illegally cross the border died due to the severe cold,” the official told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.

He added that the body of a shepherd was also discovered in the mountainous Kohsan district, apparently after succumbing to the extreme weather. Search operations were carried out on Wednesday night, but the bodies were recovered the following day.

The incident comes as Afghanistan faces a sharp rise in returnees from neighboring countries. According to the UN refugee agency (UNHCR), more than 1.8 million Afghans were forced to return from Iran between January and the end of November 2025, with most cases described as “forced and coerced returns.”

UNHCR has warned that the large-scale returns, often carried out under harsh conditions, are placing enormous strain on Afghanistan’s already fragile services and resources, increasing the risk of renewed displacement, including further migration back to Iran and Pakistan.

Amnesty International this week urged countries to halt forced returns to Afghanistan, citing a “real risk of serious harm” to those sent back.

Afghanistan is grappling with overlapping crises, including the aftermath of two major earthquakes in recent months, heightened vulnerability to climate change, and ongoing international sanctions.

The United Nations has condemned restrictions on women and girls—excluding them from many jobs and public spaces—as “gender apartheid.”

Meanwhile, the UN World Food Programme says more than 17 million people across the country are currently facing acute food insecurity.