President Donald Trump said July 20, 2025, that he will “try to save” more than two dozen Afghans facing expulsion from the United Arab Emirates and return to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. (Courtesy photo/The White House)
More than two dozen Afghans who assisted the U.S. military during 20 years of war and were stranded in the United Arab Emirates while awaiting stateside resettlement now have President Donald Trump backing their bid.
Addressing a recent report that the UAE had struck a deal to turn over the 30 refugees to Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers, Trump posted Sunday on his Truth Social platform that he would “try to save them.”
They’re among hundreds of Afghans who helped the U.S. during the war with the Taliban and remain abroad while waiting for legal entry to the United States. The Trump administration broadly suspended refugee resettlement in January.
Reuters on Monday reported that the Emirati government had already begun returning refugees to Afghanistan, citing an internal State Department message.
Still, Trump’s statement has bolstered the hopes of veterans groups working to secure safe passage to the U.S. for the Afghans in the UAE and other places, including 1,500 Afghans being held at a former military base in Qatar known as Camp As Saylilyah.
At least 200 of the people held in Qatar are family of active-duty American service members.
“His words ... could mean the difference between life and death for the brave Afghan men, women and children currently stuck in the UAE, in Qatar and elsewhere around the world,” said Shawn VanDiver, a Navy veteran and president of the group #AfghanEvac.
Trump’s comments come against the backdrop of a wider trend of forced repatriation of Afghans.
Pakistan earlier this year began expelling tens of thousands of Afghan refugees. In Iran, more than 1 million people have voluntarily gone back or been forced to return to Afghanistan since January, according to the U.N. Refugee Agency.
Many Afghans worked as interpreters and translators for the U.S. or fought alongside American soldiers during the war, putting them and their families at increased risk of retaliation from the Taliban.
Following the chaotic American withdrawal from Kabul in 2021 after the Taliban return to power, the U.S. set up channels to allow eligible Afghans to seek new lives in the U.S. through the granting of special immigrant visas and refugee status.
Since 2021, the U.S. has resettled more than 190,000 Afghans as part of Operation Enduring Welcome, according to White House figures.
Veterans groups have criticized administration efforts to curtail the program, such as closing the State Department office that coordinates Afghan relocation efforts, eliminating funding for Operation Enduring Welcome in its 2026 budget proposal and ending temporary protected status for Afghans in the U.S.
