Last October, a week before Donald Trump was elected, Azizgul Ahmadi was in her apartment in Blacksburg, waiting on a delivery for a new mattress she had just bought for her parents. They live in Afghanistan, and she hasn’t seen them since 2021, when she fled.
On this day, her father had just received a call from the U.S. State Department. They said her parents would soon be allowed to leave Afghanistan and come to Blacksburg.
“I see my family after three years,” Ahmadi said just after the news. “So, yeah, in the morning I was crying. Because I am so happy and excited they are coming here.”
But days stretched into months, and there was no further update on when they might get a flight.
“It’s very hard for me because just everyday I am waiting and waiting and waiting,” Ahmadi said.
Three-and-a-half years ago, the United States abruptly left Afghanistan, leaving thousands of Afghans who had served along the American military in limbo, and in danger. Some did get out, through refugee resettlement programs. Now that President Trump has suspended refugee resettlement programs, it’s left many of those still waiting to get out, and their families, with fewer options.
Before the U.S. left Afghanistan, Ahmadi served in the military alongside U.S. soldiers. She was part of a special unit, called the Female Tactical Platoon, or FTP. When the country fell to the Taliban, she left, worried for her safety. She brought her teenaged sister with her.
Over the past year, the two sisters have barely had a chance to do anything other than work and study. Ahmadi is hoping to get into nursing school, and is taking courses at a community college to prepare for the entrance exams. Her sister, Shah Pari, is a senior in high school, and they both work at Walmart. She recalled a conversation they had last fall.
“Last week I drove Shah Pari to work and she asked me, ‘oh, almost everything has died.’ You know, because the tree, and the grass outside and the weather is changing. So yeah, she told me, ‘life is very short. And I couldn’t see the summer and the spring.’ You know, because she is very busy. And I am busy,” Ahmadi said.
She keeps urging Shah Pari to focus on studying, so she can graduate.
“’You are young. You have so many time to see the summer and the spring. But right now you need to study,’” she told her sister. “’You need to be graduate. After you graduate from the high school, after you graduate from the college, And you have so many time to enjoy summer with the spring. But not right now.’”
I’ve talked with Ahmadi several times over the past year. Each time, she’s optimistic, despite these stresses. But she sounded very different when I talked with her recently, after President Trump suspended all resettlement programs. It means Ahmadi has no idea if or when her parents might be able to come here, and she doesn’t know how to explain this to her sister.
“Because my father told to her, ‘ok we have a flight soon.’ She [is] always asking me, ‘what time they are coming here?’ And I don’t have any answer for her.”
The former commander of the FTP, Mahnaz Akbari, said she believes there are about 25 women from their unit who are still hoping to get to the United States. Some are in Afghanistan, others are in Pakistan. Many of their situations are unsafe and unstable, and she isn’t sure what their future holds now. They are still waiting to hear from the U.S. Government for their asylum cases.
“Every single day they are waiting to a news, a call, an interview,” Akbari said. She’s also concerned for two FTPs who are now in the United States, who are also hoping to hear that their asylum cases have been approved. One, a mother, is anxious that her daughter could be taken from her by immigration officials while she’s at school.
Congress originally passed legislation in 1980 to create the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program, and it was signed by President Jimmy Carter. People facing threats or persecution because of religion, race or political affiliation can apply, and the process often takes years. Some people around the world have been waiting for asylum for ten years, said Brett Shadle, associate director for the Center for Refugee, Migrant and Displacement Studies at Virginia Tech.
“The people who have gone through any of the resettlement process, whether it’s FTPs or other refugees, have undergone some of the most extensive background checks,” Shadle said. “These people have been vetted over and over. So the idea that they are in any way dangerous, it’s not based in facts.”
“They fiercely want to be independent. They want to be safe and self-reliant. They just want to an opportunity to be safe and build their families and be together,” Shadle said.
Trump’s executive order claims the United States does not have the ability to absorb refugees into the country, and suspending the resettlement programs is necessary because these people pose a security risk. Shadle disagrees with that reasoning.
“They contribute so much to our communities and they make our communities better. And so the idea that others aren’t able to come and contribute in other ways, it’s a real loss for us as well,” Shadle said.
Ahmadi said she was lucky to get out and have her asylum case approved, when so many others around the world are stuck. But she’s also worried what new immigration policies under a Trump administration could mean for her own future, and her sister’s.
“Six months ago I applied for a green card. But I didn’t have my green card yet,” Ahmadi said. “So right now I’m worried about myself and my sister also. I am worried to go to work and I am worried about her. Because I’m at work and she is going to school.”
Trump’s executive order says after 90 days, some refugees could be admitted into the country on a case-by-case basis. Ahmadi says she’s remaining hopeful, but she’s tearful as she thinks about what might happen to her family in the months ahead.
“Sorry, I am very, very, very angry right now. And I can’t control myself,” Ahmadi said.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.