Irmo, SC – Mohammad Sharafoddin, his spouse and his little son, generally walked for 36 hours in a row for mountain passes after they left Afghanistan as refugees to finish lower than a decade later speaking about their journey in an expensive love seat within the American suburban home of three bedrooms of the household.
He and his spouse dreamed of taking their niece to america to share that reward. Possibly he may research to grow to be a physician after which resolve his personal means.
However that door closed on Monday when america established a prohibition of touring to individuals from Afghanistan and a dozen different international locations.
“It’s a bit stunning to us after we take heed to Afghanistan, particularly at the moment for affected ladies greater than others with the brand new authorities,” mentioned Mohammad Sharafoddin. “We do not take into consideration this prohibition of touring.”
President Donald Trump signed the ban on Wednesday. It’s much like one as a substitute throughout its first administration, but it surely covers extra international locations. Along with Afghanistan, the journey to america is prohibited from Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.
Trump mentioned guests who exceed the visas, corresponding to the person accused in an assault that injured dozens of protesters in Boulder, Colorado, earlier this month, are a hazard to the nation. The suspect within the assault is from Egypt, which isn’t included within the ban.
The international locations chosen for the ban have a poor detection of their residents, typically refuse to get better them and have a excessive proportion of people that stay in america after their visas expire, Trump mentioned.
The prohibition makes exceptions for Afghanistan individuals in particular immigrants visas that typically labored extra carefully with america authorities in the course of the 20 years battle there.
Afghanistan was additionally one of many largest sources of reappeared refugees, with roughly 14,000 arrivals in a interval of 12 months till September 2024. Trump suspended the resettlement of refugees on his first day in workplace.
It’s a path that Sharafoddin took along with his spouse and son of Afghanistan strolling alongside these mountain roads at nighttime that via Pakistan, Iran and Türkiye. He labored in a manufacturing facility for years in Türkiye, listening to YouTube headphones to study English earlier than being resettled in Irmo, South Carolina, a suburb of Columbia.
His son is now 11 years outdated, and he and his spouse had a daughter in america who’s now three years outdated. There’s a job in a jewel producer that lets you pay a two -story home and three rooms. The meals was introduced at two tables on Saturday for a celebration of the Muslim holidays Eid al-Adha.
Sharafoddin’s spouse, Nuriya, mentioned she is studying English and driving, two issues she couldn’t do in Afghanistan beneath the Taliban authorities.
“I’m very blissful to be right here now, as a result of my son is superb at college and my daughter too. I feel after 18 years they are going to work, and my daughter can go to varsity,” he mentioned.
It’s a life that he additionally needed for his niece. The couple exhibits movies of their cell telephones of their drawing and paint. When the Taliban returned to energy in 2021, their niece may not research. Then they started to plan it to america at the least to advertise their training.
Nuriya Sharafoddin doesn’t know if her niece has heard the information from america but. She has not had her coronary heart to name and say.
“I am not able to name her. This isn’t excellent news. That is very unhappy information as a result of she is fearful and desires to return,” mentioned Nuriya Sharafoddin.
Whereas the couple spoke, Jim Ray got here. He has helped a sequence of refugee households to settle in Columbia and helped the Sharafoddins navigate questions of their second language.
Ray mentioned that Afghan in Columbia know that the return of the Taliban modified the best way america offers with their native nation.
However whereas the prohibition permits spouses, kids or mother and father to journey to america, different members of the family should not included. Many Afghas know that their prolonged households starve or endure, and immediately a path to assist is closed, Ray mentioned.
“We must wait and see how the prohibition of journeys and particulars actually develop,” Ray mentioned. “These sorts of issues which can be experiencing the place the household can not meet is definitely the place it hurts.”
The Taliban have criticized Trump for the ban, with their most chief Hibatullah Akhundada saying that america was now the oppressor of the world.
“Residents from 12 international locations are prohibited from coming into their lands, and Afghans should not allowed both,” he mentioned in a shared recording on social networks. “Why? As a result of they declare that the Afghan authorities has no management over its individuals and that individuals go away the nation. So, oppressor! Is that this what you name friendship with humanity?”