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JD Vance defends Trump’s order to suspend refugee program
Vance previously told CBS in August that he did not think Washington should abandon people who have “been properly vetted and actually helped us.”

In his first interview since taking office, US Vice President JD Vance on Saturday defended President Donald Trump’s flurry of executive orders, and his suspension of the refugee program.
Speaking to CBS on Sunday night, Vance dismissed concerns that the White House was not prioritizing US economic fears, and argued that suspending the nation’s refugee admissions program was justified.
Hours after taking office on Jan. 20, Trump suspended the US Refugee Admissions Program, leaving thousands of Afghans stranded at airports, some of whom had worked with the US prior to its withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Vance previously told CBS in August that he did not think Washington should abandon people who have “been properly vetted and actually helped us.”
The refugee program is an 18- to 24-month process that involves interviews, medical screenings and security vetting.
Refugee applicants must prove they are fleeing persecution before being allowed into the US.
Vance on Saturday seemed to reverse course, questioning whether the program had “properly vetted” the refugees.
“Now that we know that we have vetting problems with a lot of these refugee programs, we absolutely cannot unleash thousands of unvetted people into our country,” Vance declared, without detailing how the refugee program’s vetting process may be faulty.
He provided the example of an Afghan national who came to the US immediately after the withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.
The man was arrested in Oklahoma in October on federal charges of planning an election day terrorist attack in support of the Islamic State (Daesh).
“He was allegedly properly vetted, and many people in the media and the Democratic Party said that he was properly vetted,” Vance claimed of the suspect. “Clearly, he wasn’t.”
However, CBS News reported at the time that the suspect did not arrive via the refugee process. Instead, he was paroled into the country, like most Afghan evacuees, and allowed to live in the country temporarily under that immigration authority while he applied for a Special Immigrant Visa.
Afghans pulled from flights
Over 1,500 Afghans cleared by the US government to resettle in the US, including family members of active-duty US military personnel, have had their flights canceled under Trump’s order.
The group includes unaccompanied minors awaiting reunification with their families in the US as well as Afghans who fought for the former US-backed Afghan government, said Shawn VanDiver, head of the #AfghanEvac coalition of US veterans and advocacy groups and a US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
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, they said.
“Afghans and advocates are panicking,” said VanDiver.
VanDiver’s organization is the main coalition that has been working with the US government to evacuate and resettle Afghans in America.
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Pakistan urges global community to block arms flow to militant groups in Afghanistan

A Pakistani diplomat on Saturday called on the international community to block the flow of modern and sophisticated weapons to militant groups in Afghanistan.
“Terrorist armed groups are in possession of billions worth of illicit arms abandoned in Afghanistan,” Syed Atif Raza, a counsellor at the Pakistan Mission to the UN, told an Arria-Formua meeting of the UN Security Council, convened by Sierra Leone.
“We call upon our international partners to recover the vast stockpile of abandoned weapons, prevent their access to armed terrorist groups and take measures to close this thriving black market of illicit arms,” he said.
Pakistani officials have repeatedly claimed that attacks in the country are planned in Afghanistan and that militants use weapons left behind by foreign forces.
The Islamic Emirate, however, has denied the claim, saying Afghanistan is not responsible for Pakistan’s “security failure”.
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Gandapur says no Afghan refugee will be ‘forcefully’ expelled from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

Amid rising tensions over Pakistan’s repatriation plans for illegal Afghan nationals, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapour said on Friday that no refugees will be forcibly deported from the province.
“We will not allow any Afghan refugee to be expelled by force from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. We stand firmly against such inhumane deportations,” Gandapur said at a press conference.
The remarks came as the Pakistani government ramps up efforts to repatriate undocumented Afghan refugees and Afghan Citizen Card (ACC) holders, following the expiration of the voluntary return deadline on March 31, 2025.
“The past situation, where Afghan refugees, including women and children, were stranded at the border, tarnished Pakistan’s image,” Gandapur said, reaffirming the provincial government’s commitment to a dignified repatriation process.
“We are setting up camps for voluntary repatriation, and anyone wishing to return will be helped. However, we will not forcibly expel any Afghan refugee,” he stated.
Afghans holding Afghan Citizen Cards (ACC) — issued by Pakistan authorities and held by 800,000 people, according to the United Nations — face deportation to Afghanistan after the deadline.
More than 1.3 million Afghans who hold Proof of Registration (PoR) cards from the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, are also to be moved outside the capital Islamabad and neighbouring city Rawalpindi.
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IEA has 46 township plans for returnees, minister tells visiting Iranian official

The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) has 46 township plans for returning refugees, Acting Minister of Refugees and Repatriation Mawlawi Abdul Kabir told a visiting Iranian diplomat in Kabul, calling on Tehran to give refugees time to return.
According to a statement issued by the ministry on Saturday, Abdul Kabir said during the meeting that Afghanistan and Iran are friendly neighbors that have many commonalities.
He stressed the need to further develop and strengthen relations between the two countries and said that the frequent visits of high-ranking Iranian officials show that Tehran wants positive and friendly relations with Afghanistan.
Abdul Kabir thanked Iran for its assistance and hosting of Afghan refugees, saying that Iran and Pakistan have been hosting Afghan refugees for the past few decades. He called for more leniency in the treatment of migrants.
He said that the Islamic Emirate is preparing a mechanism to provide legal documents for those migrants whose legal residence in Iran has expired.
In the meeting, Mohammad Reza Bahrami, Iran’s new Assistant Minister and Director General for South Asian Affairs at the Foreign Ministry, invited Abdul Kabir to visit Tehran, and called for repatriation plan to be shared before the trip.
He stressed on the humane treatment of Afghan refugees and appreciated the Islamic Emirate’s initiative to build 46 townships, calling it an important step forward for the return of refugees.
Bahrami noted that there are currently eight million Afghan reguees living in Iran, of whom four million are undocumented or have their residence expired.
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