A review of federal immigration policy reveals that the Biden administration quietly authorized exemptions enabling former Taliban government workers to resettle in the United States following the 2021 Afghanistan withdrawal.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
A Just the News investigation found that the Biden administration created a terrorism-related exemption allowing hundreds of Afghans who served as “low-level civil servants” under the Taliban to enter the United States. The policy was introduced after the U.S. evacuation from Kabul in August 2021 and allowed entry for individuals who otherwise would have been barred under terrorism-related inadmissibility grounds, or TRIG.
According to a Department of Homeland Security announcement in June 2022, the exemptions covered Afghans who worked as civil servants during two periods of Taliban rule — between September 1996 and December 2001, and after August 15, 2021 — provided that their roles were not directly tied to violent activity or allegiance to the Taliban. Officials stated that the policy could apply to “teachers, professors, postal workers, doctors, and engineers,” some of whom they said were compelled to continue in their positions “under duress or intimidation.”
The Biden administration said the exemptions did not include Afghans who held senior Taliban positions, worked in ministries tied to violence, or supported the group’s ideology. Both the State Department and DHS argued that the policy ensured humanitarian relief for individuals who posed no national security risk.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas defended the move, saying it would prevent “doctors, teachers, engineers, and other Afghans” who supported U.S. forces from being denied protection due to “inescapable proximity to war.” Then-Secretary of State Antony Blinken added that the exemptions demonstrated the U.S. commitment to “Afghan allies and their family members.”
However, congressional Republicans raised concerns about the policy’s broad scope. In an August 2022 letter to Blinken and Mayorkas, GOP senators questioned the authority to exempt individuals who otherwise would have been barred from entry for supporting a terrorist organization.
A Fox News report earlier this year found that DHS granted nearly 6,850 terrorism-related waivers in fiscal year 2024 — more than triple the number from 2022 — with hundreds of those applied to former Taliban civil servants.
The exemptions resurfaced amid renewed scrutiny following the arrest of Rahmanullah Lakanwal, an Afghan evacuee charged with killing a member of the West Virginia National Guard in Washington, D.C. Lakanwal, a former member of CIA-backed Afghan “Zero Unit” forces, arrived in the U.S. during the 2021 evacuation. Reports indicate his vetting process is under investigation after President Donald Trump called the shooting “a monstrous, ambush-style attack just steps away from the White House.”
Senator Marco Rubio announced Friday that the State Department has paused visa issuance for all individuals traveling on Afghan passports, saying the United States “has no higher priority than protecting our nation and our people.”
The policy continues to draw bipartisan attention as lawmakers and inspectors general review the consequences of the administration’s 2021 evacuation and subsequent immigration decisions.
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