After Trump halted funding for Afghans who helped the US, this group stepped in to help

After Trump halted funding for Afghans who helped the US, this group stepped in to help
After leaving Afghanistan two-months earlier, Mohammad Saboor Osmani, third from left, and his family are greeted by a representative of No One left Behind Organization after their arrival at the Sacramento International Airport in Sacramento, Calif., Tuesday, March 11, 2025. (AP)
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Updated 18 March 2025
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After Trump halted funding for Afghans who helped the US, this group stepped in to help

After Trump halted funding for Afghans who helped the US, this group stepped in to help
  • No One Left Behind helps Afghans and Iraqis who qualify for the special immigrant visa program, which was set up by Congress in 2009 to help people who are in danger because of their efforts to aid the US during the Afghanistan and Iraq Wars

WASHINGTON: When Andrew Sullivan thinks of the people his organization has helped resettle in America, one particular story comes to mind: an Afghan man in a wheelchair who was shot through the neck by a member of the Taliban for helping the US during its war in Afghanistan.
“I just think ... Could I live with myself if we send that guy back to Afghanistan?” said Sullivan, executive director of No One Left Behind. “And I thankfully don’t have to because he made it to northern Virginia.”
The charitable organization of US military veterans, Afghans who once fled their country and volunteers in the US is stepping in to help Afghans like that man in the wheelchair who are at risk of being stranded overseas. Their efforts come after the Trump administration took steps to hinder Afghans who helped America’s war effort in trying to resettle in the US
No One Left Behind helps Afghans and Iraqis who qualify for the special immigrant visa program, which was set up by Congress in 2009 to help people who are in danger because of their efforts to aid the US during the Afghanistan and Iraq Wars.
President Donald Trump in January suspended programs that buy flights for those refugees and cut off aid to the groups that help them resettle in the US Hundreds who were approved for travel to the US had visas but few ways to get here. If they managed to buy a flight, they had little help when they arrived.
The White House and State Department did not respond to requests for comment.
Meanwhile, the situation for Afghans has become more tenuous in some of the places where many have temporarily settled. Pakistan, having hosted millions of refugees, has in recent years removed Afghans from its country. increased deportations. An agreement that made Albania a waystation for Afghans expires in March, Sullivan said.
Hovering over all of this is the fear that the Trump administration may announce a travel ban that could cut off all access from Afghanistan. In an executive order signed on Inauguration Day, Trump told key Cabinet members to submit a report within 60 days that identifies countries with vetting so poor that it would “warrant a partial or full suspension” of travelers from those countries to the US.
US State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said Monday that the review was ongoing and no list had been finalized.
But groups that work with Afghans are worried.
When funding was suspended, No One Left Behind stepped in. Their goal is to make sure Afghans with State Department visas don’t get stuck overseas. Other organizations — many who got their start helping Afghans during the US military’s chaotic withdrawal from Kabul in 2021 — are doing the same.
To qualify for this visa, Afghans must prove they worked for the US for at least one year. That means tracking down documentation from former supervisors, who were often affiliated with companies no longer in business. They also undergo extensive vetting and medical checks.
“Our view was, OK, we’ve got to act immediately to try and help these people,” said Sullivan. “We’ve been in kind of an all-out sprint.”
The organization has raised money to buy flights and help Afghans when they land. Between February 1 and March 17, the group said it successfully booked flights for 659 Afghans.
It also launched a website where visa holders can share information, giving Sullivan’s group a starting point to figure out where they might live in the US.
Sullivan and the organization’s “ambassadors” — Afghans and Iraqis who already have emigrated to the US, many through the special immigrant visa program — have gone to Albania and Qatar to help stranded Afghans.
Aqila is one of those ambassadors who went to Albania. The Associated Press is identifying Aqila by her first name because her family in Afghanistan is still at risk.
Aqila said many of the families didn’t know what would happen when they arrived in America. Would they be homeless? Abandoned? One man feared he’d end up alone in the airport parking lot because his contact in America — a long-haul trucker — couldn’t come pick him up. She assured him that someone would be there.
They gave them cards with contact information for attorneys. They printed papers with information about their rights in English, Dari, and Pashto.
No One Left Behind reached out to family members and friends in the US to help with the transition when they landed in America.
Mohammad Saboor, a father of seven children, worked as an electrician and A/C technician with international and US forces for 17 years. Two months ago, he and his family boarded a plane to Albania in anticipation of soon being able to go to America. They landed in California on March 12, exhausted but safe
The next day he and his family explored their new apartment in the Sacramento suburb of Rancho Cordova.
Saboor said he hasn’t felt safe in Afghanistan since the Taliban took over the country in August 2021. He worried that he’d be killed as retribution for the nearly two decades he’d worked with the US and its allies. He wondered what kind of future his children would have in a Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.
The family picked the suburb in the hope that the large Afghan population in the Sacramento area would help them get settled and find work. He envisions a bright future in America, where his kids can go to school and eventually give back to the country that took his family in. Arriving in the US, he said, gave them a “great feeling.”
“I believe that now we can live in a 100 percent peaceful environment,” he said.
Sullivan said he hopes there will be exceptions for Afghans in the special immigrant visa program if a travel ban is imposed. They’ve been thoroughly vetted, he said, and earned the right to be here.
“These are folks that actually served shoulder-to-shoulder with American troops and diplomats for 20 years,” he said.
Aqila, the Afghan ambassador, said it’s stressful to hear stories of what people went through in Afghanistan. But the reward comes when she sees photos of those who have arrived in America.
“You can see the hope in their eyes,” she said. “It’s nice to be human. It’s nice be kind to each other.”


FACTBOX-Major militant attacks in Indian-controlled Kashmir

FACTBOX-Major militant attacks in Indian-controlled Kashmir
Updated 7 sec ago
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FACTBOX-Major militant attacks in Indian-controlled Kashmir

FACTBOX-Major militant attacks in Indian-controlled Kashmir
  • At least 20 people feared dead after suspected militants opened fire on them in Indian controlled Kashmir
  • India and Pakistan, who administer parts of Kashmir but claim it in entirety, have fought two wars over Kashmir 

NEW DELHI, April 22 : At least 20 people were feared dead after suspected militants opened fire on them in India’s Himalayan territory of Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday, with officials saying it was one of the deadliest such attacks in recent times.

Here is a look at major attacks over the years in India’s only Muslim-majority region, where militants have fought security forces for decades.

NOVEMBER 2024

At least 11 people were injured when militants threw a grenade at security personnel in a crowded flea market in the main city of Srinagar.

OCTOBER 2024

Six migrant workers and a doctor were shot dead by militants who opened fire near a tunnel construction site. The Resistance Front (TRF) claimed responsibility.

JUNE 2024

At least nine people died and 33 were injured when a bus carrying Hindu pilgrims plunged into a deep gorge after a suspected militant attack.

MAY 2024

Suspected militants opened fire on a tourist couple from the northwestern city of Jaipur, injuring them both.

FEBRUARY 2019

At least 44 security personnel were killed after a suicide bomber rammed a car into a bus carrying Indian paramilitary police in Kashmir. The militant group Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) claimed responsibility.

JULY 2017

At least seven Hindu pilgrims, on their way back from the revered Amarnath shrine deep in the Himalayas, died when their bus got caught in crossfire after two militant attacks on police in the area.

SEPTEMBER 2016

At least 17 soldiers were killed as separatists armed with AK-47 assault rifles and grenades stormed an army base in Uri near the disputed border with Pakistan.


Pentagon says leak probe may lead to US prosecutions

Pentagon says leak probe may lead to US prosecutions
Updated 27 min 16 sec ago
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Pentagon says leak probe may lead to US prosecutions

Pentagon says leak probe may lead to US prosecutions
  • Hegseth left open the possibility that individuals could be exonerated
  • “We said enough is enough. We’re going to launch a leak investigation,” he said

WASHINGTON: US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth warned on Tuesday of possible prosecutions of former senior advisers who were fired during a probe into leaks of Pentagon information to the media, saying evidence would be handed over to the Department of Justice once the investigation is completed.
Dan Caldwell, who was one of Hegseth’s top advisers, and two other senior officials were fired on Friday after being escorted out of the Pentagon. But they have denied any wrongdoing and said they have been told nothing about any alleged crimes.
Hegseth, who has come under fire for using unclassified messaging system Signal to discuss plans to attack Yemen’s Houthi group, left open the possibility that individuals could be exonerated during the investigation but played down those chances.
“If those people are exonerated, fantastic. We don’t think — based on what we understand — that it’s going to be a good day for a number of those individuals because of what was found in the investigation,” Hegseth told Fox News.
Hegseth said there had been a number of leaks that triggered the investigation, including about military options to ensure US access to the Panama Canal and Elon Musk’s visit to the Pentagon.
“We said enough is enough. We’re going to launch a leak investigation,” Hegseth said.
“We took it seriously. It led to some unfortunate places, people I have known for quite some time. But it’s not my job to protect them. It’s my job to protect national security.”
He said evidence would eventually be handed over to the Department of Justice.
“When that evidence is gathered sufficiently — and this has all happened very quickly — it will be handed over to the DOJ and those people will be prosecuted if necessary,” Hegseth said.
Caldwell had played a critical role as an adviser to Hegseth and his importance was underscored in a leaked text chain on Signal disclosed by The Atlantic last month.
In it, Hegseth named Caldwell as the best staff point of contact for the National Security Council as it prepared for the launch of strikes against the Houthis in Yemen.
On Sunday, news emerged of a second Signal chat, a disclosure that Hegseth and other officials have blamed on former Pentagon employees.
Despite growing calls from Democrats for Hegseth to resign, President Donald Trump has stood firmly by his defense secretary.
John Ullyot, who was ousted from his job as a Pentagon spokesperson after two months, said on Sunday that Hegseth’s Defense Department was in “total chaos.”
“The dysfunction is now a major distraction for the president — who deserves better from his senior leadership,” Ullyot wrote in an opinion piece in Politico.
Asked about Ullyot’s remarks, Hegseth said: “He’s misrepresented a lot of things in the press. It’s unfortunate.”


Ghana in fresh drive to woo back Sahel states to West African bloc

Ghana in fresh drive to woo back Sahel states to West African bloc
Updated 33 min 54 sec ago
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Ghana in fresh drive to woo back Sahel states to West African bloc

Ghana in fresh drive to woo back Sahel states to West African bloc
  • John Mahama: ‘The recent decision by Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger to withdraw from ECOWAS is a regrettable development’
  • Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger are led by juntas that seized power in coups between 2020 and 2023

ACCRA: Ghana’s new leader said Tuesday he initiated a fresh bid to woo back Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger to the west African bloc ECOWAS after the junta-led countries quit earlier this year.
President John Mahama said his government had appointed a special envoy to “initiate high-level conversations” with the three countries after their withdrawal from the political and economic group.
“The recent decision by Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger to withdraw from ECOWAS is a regrettable development,” said Mahama at the launch of the bloc’s 50th anniversary celebrations in Accra, Ghana’s capital.
“We must respond not with isolation or recrimination, but with understanding, dialogue and a willingness to listen and to engage,” he said.
Before him, Senegalese President Bassirou Diomaye Faye had initiated similar efforts but said earlier this month he had “done everything possible” to bring the three countries back into the bloc, to no avail.
ECOWAS earlier said it had extended invitations to the junta leaders to attend the event at Accra’s International Conference Center.
Officials acknowledged the presence of representatives of the three countries at the event, but did not specify who they were, with the junta leaders apparently having declined to attend.
Mahama, who took office in January, said he has “prioritized diplomatic re-engagement with our Sahelian neighbors.”
Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger are led by juntas that seized power in coups between 2020 and 2023 and have since turned away from former colonial power France and moved closer to Russia.
They lie in the region known as the Sahel, which stretches between the dry Sahara desert in the north and the more humid savannas to the south.
They quit ECOWAS at the beginning of the year, accusing the regional bloc of being subservient to France.
They have joined together in a bloc called the Alliance of Sahel States (AES), which was originally set up as a defense pact in 2023 but now seeks closer integration.
Each has been wracked by attacks by extremists allied with either Al-Qaeda or Daesh for a decade — violence that governments have not been able to eradicate despite previous help from French forces.
Together the three countries sprawl over an area of some 2.8 million square kilometers (1.1 million square miles) — roughly four times the size of France — in Africa’s northwest.


Vietnam urges stricter controls on origin of goods after tariff shock

Vietnam urges stricter controls on origin of goods after tariff shock
Updated 22 April 2025
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Vietnam urges stricter controls on origin of goods after tariff shock

Vietnam urges stricter controls on origin of goods after tariff shock
  • The ministry called for stricter controls to avoid “sanctions that countries may apply on goods imported to their countries“
  • “Uniform and determined measures are required... to stop and prevent fraud in the origin of goods”

HANOI: Vietnam’s trade ministry has ordered authorities to tighten control over the origin of goods to avoid sanctions by trading partners in the wake of threatened US tariffs, according to a document seen by AFP on Tuesday.
A document by the ministry dated April 15 said escalating trade tension meant Vietnam was increasingly exposed to trans-shipment fraud.
Less than two weeks earlier, US President Donald Trump had threatened massive 46 percent levies on Vietnam, with Washington accusing the country of facilitating Chinese exports to the United States and allowing Beijing to get around tariffs.
In the document, the ministry called for stricter controls to avoid “sanctions that countries may apply on goods imported to their countries.”
“Uniform and determined measures are required... to stop and prevent fraud in the origin of goods... especially illegal imported raw materials and goods without origin for the production of goods for export,” it added, without naming China.
Hanoi is now trying to negotiate with Trump over the so-called reciprocal tariffs, which have been paused until July.
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh urged for “negotiations to promote balanced, stable, sustainable, and effective trade relations with the United States.”
He warned however that the talks were “not to affect another market.”
China on Monday said it “firmly opposes” other countries making trade deals with the United States at Beijing’s expense, warning it would take “countermeasures” against them.
During his visit to Vietnam last week, China’s President Xi Jinping urged the communist neighbor to join forces in upholding free trade.
Trump, however, said the trip was aiming to “screw” the United States.
Vietnam was Southeast Asia’s biggest buyer of Chinese goods in 2024, with a bill of $161.9 billion.
In the first three months of this year, the United States was Hanoi’s biggest export market.
Vietnam has long pursued a “bamboo diplomacy” approach — striving to stay on good terms with both China and the United States.


Many feared dead in gun attack on tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir

Many feared dead in gun attack on tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir
Updated 22 April 2025
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Many feared dead in gun attack on tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir

Many feared dead in gun attack on tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir
  • Initial reports say shots fired at mostly Indian tourists visiting Baisaran meadow
  • Attack much larger than anything directed at civilians in recent years, says official

SRINAGAR, India: Many people are feared to have died after gunmen indiscriminately fired at tourists in Indian-controlled Kashmir on Tuesday, officials said.

Police have described the incident as a “terror attack” and blamed militants fighting against Indian rule.

“This attack is much larger than anything we’ve seen directed at civilians in recent years,” Omar Abdullah, the region’s top elected official, wrote on social media.

“The death toll is still being ascertained so I don’t want to get into those details,” he said.

Initial reports said shots were fired at mostly Indian tourists visiting Baisaran meadow, some 5 kilometers (3 miles) from the disputed region’s resort town of Pahalgam.

Police and officials said tourists with gunshot wounds were evacuated to local hospitals.

The scene of the attack was cordoned off as police launched an operation to track down the attackers.

India’s home minister, Amit Shah, is heading to Srinagar, the main city in Indian-controlled Kashmir, where he said he would review the situation. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is on an official visit in Saudi Arabia, has been briefed about the incident, Shah said.

“We will come down heavily on the perpetrators with the harshest consequences,” Shah wrote in a post on the X social media platform.

Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, a key Kashmiri resistance leader, condemned what he described as a “cowardly attack on tourists.”

“Such violence is unacceptable and against the ethos of Kashmir which welcomes visitors with love and warmth. Condemn it strongly,” he wrote on X.

The attack coincided with the visit to India of US Vice President JD Vance, who is on a largely personal four-day visit.

The meadow in Pahalgam is a popular sightseeing destination, surrounded by snow-capped mountains and dotted with pine forests. It is visited by hundreds of tourists every day.

Nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan each administer part of Kashmir, but both claim the territory in its entirety.

Tuesday’s attack seems to be a major shift in the regional conflict where tourists for many years have largely been spared from violence despite a spate of targeted killings of Hindus, including immigrant workers from Indian states, after New Delhi ended the region’s semi-autonomy in 2019 and drastically curbed dissent, civil liberties and media freedoms.

Tensions have been simmering ever since as India has intensified its counterinsurgency operations.

The region, known for rolling Himalayan foothills, exquisitely decorated houseboats and pristine meadows, has also become a major domestic tourist destination, with hotels booked out for months. Kashmir has also drawn millions of visitors, who enjoy a strange peace kept by ubiquitous security checkpoints, armored vehicles and patrolling soldiers.

Although violence has ebbed in recent times in Kashmir Valley, the heart of anti-India rebellion, fighting between government forces and rebels has largely shifted to remote areas of Jammu region including Rajouri, Poonch and Kathua, where Indian troops have faced deadly attacks.

Militants in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir have been fighting New Delhi’s rule since 1989. Many Muslim Kashmiris support the rebels’ goal of uniting the territory, either under Pakistani rule or as an independent country.

India insists the Kashmir militancy is Pakistan-sponsored “terrorism.” Pakistan denies the charge, and many Kashmiris consider it a legitimate freedom struggle. Tens of thousands of civilians, rebels and government forces have been killed in the conflict.