President Donald Trump said Sunday he will intervene on behalf of hundreds of Afghans stranded for years in the United Arab Emirates after fleeing the Taliban’s 2021 takeover.
“I will try to save them, starting right now,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, linking to a Just the News report that UAE authorities may repatriate some refugees to Taliban‑controlled Afghanistan. Reuters could not verify the claim, and the U.S. State Department declined to comment.
The UAE agreed in 2021 to shelter several thousand Afghans evacuated from Kabul during the last days of the U.S. troop withdrawal. While nearly 200,000 evacuees have been resettled in the United States under President Joe Biden, an unknown number remain in Emirates “humanitarian city” camps.
Canada accepted about 1,000 of those refugees in 2022 at Washington’s request. Meanwhile, Iran and Pakistan have forced almost 2 million Afghans back across the border in the past seven months, and Germany last week deported 81 Afghan men as Europe tightens asylum rules.
Trump—who froze U.S. refugee admissions after taking office and ended temporary deportation protections for Afghans in April—faces Democratic pressure to restore those safeguards. Advocates warn that women, children and former U.S. military allies risk persecution under Taliban rule.
