Chinese firm launches Urumqi-Islamabad air cargo route to strengthen trade with Pakistan

WASHINGTON: A new travel ban by President Donald Trump could bar people from Afghanistan and Pakistan from entering the US as soon as next week based on a government review of countries’ security and vetting risks, three sources familiar with the matter said. The three sources, who requested anonymity, said other countries could also be on the list but did not know which ones.
The move harkens back to the Republican president’s first term ban on travelers from seven majority-Muslim nations, a policy that went through several iterations before it was upheld by the Supreme Court in 2018.
Former President Joe Biden, a Democrat who succeeded Trump, repealed the ban in 2021, calling it “a stain on our national conscience.”
The new ban could affect tens of thousands of Afghans who have been cleared for resettlement in the US as refugees or on Special Immigrant Visas because they are at risk of Taliban retribution for working for the US during a 20-year war in their home country.
Trump issued an executive order on January 20 requiring intensified security vetting of any foreigners seeking admission to the US to detect national security threats.
That order directed several cabinet members to submit by March 12 a list of countries from which travel should be partly or fully suspended because their “vetting and screening information is so deficient.”
Afghanistan will be included in the recommended list of countries for a complete travel ban, said the three sources and one other who also asked not to be identified.
The three sources said Pakistan also would be recommended for inclusion.
The departments of State, Justice and Homeland Security and the Office of the Director for National Intelligence, whose leaders are overseeing the initiative, did not respond immediately to requests for comment.
One source pointed out that Afghans cleared for resettlement in the US as refugees or on the special visas first undergo intense screening that makes them “more highly vetted than any population” in the world.
The State Department office that oversees their resettlement is seeking an exemption for Special Immigrant Visa holders from the travel ban “but it’s not assumed likely to be granted,” the source said.
That office, the Coordinator for Afghan Relocation Efforts, has been told to develop a plan by April for its closure, Reuters reported last month.
The Taliban, who seized Kabul as the last US troops pulled out in August 2021 after two decades of war, are confronting an insurgency by Islamic State’s regional branch. Pakistan also is grappling with violent Islamist militants.
Trump’s directive is part of an immigration crackdown that he launched at the start of his second term.
He previewed his plan in an October 2023 speech, pledging to restrict people from the Gaza Strip, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Yemen and “anywhere else that threatens our security.”
Shawn VanDiver, the head of #AfghanEvac, a coalition of groups that coordinates evacuation and resettlement of Afghans with the US government, urged those holding valid US visas to travel as soon as possible if they can.
“While no official announcement has been made, multiple sources within the US government suggest a new travel restriction could be implemented within the next week,” he said in a statement.
This “may significantly impact Afghan visa holders who have been awaiting relocation” to the US, he said.
There are some 200,000 Afghans who have been approved for US resettlement or have pending US refugee and Special Immigrant Visa applications. They have been stranded in Afghanistan and nearly 90 other countries — including about 20,000 in Pakistan — since January 20, when Trump ordered a 90-day freeze on refugee admissions and foreign aid that funds their flights.

ISLAMABAD: US National Security Adviser Michael Waltz called Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar on Wednesday during which the two officials discussed counterterrorism cooperation and bilateral cooperation in various sectors, Pakistan’s state broadcaster said.
The phone call followed US President Donald Trump’s Tuesday announcement about the arrest of a senior Daesh commander implicated in the 2021 Kabul airport bombing that killed 13 US service members. Trump thanked Pakistan for helping US arrest the Daesh commander. 
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif responded by thanking Trump for acknowledging Pakistan’s role and support in counterterrorism in a social media post. He said the Daesh commander was an Afghan national who was arrested in a successful operation conducted in the Pakistan-Afghanistan border region. 
“Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar received a call from US National Security Adviser Michael Waltz, who conveyed President Donald Trump’s appreciation and thanks for Government of Pakistan’s efforts in countering terrorism,” state broadcaster Radio Pakistan reported. 
Dar congratulated Waltz on assuming office and said Islamabad looks forward to building on its “longstanding and broad-based” relationship with Washington under Trump and his administration, the state-run media said. 
“He reaffirmed Pakistan’s commitment to continue its cooperation with the United States in the field of counterterrorism,” Radio Pakistan said, adding that Dar also appreciated Trump’s announcement to withdraw US military equipment left behind in Afghanistan.
The two sides reaffirmed their commitment to enhance cooperation in IT, energy and mineral sectors, Radio Pakistan said. 
They also agreed on the need to have continued dialogues on trade, investment, climate change and health as part of a broad-based agenda in the days to come, the state-run media said. 
Pakistan and the US have a history of cooperation in counterterrorism efforts, particularly during the “war on terror” following the Sept. 11 attacks.
Despite periods of strained relations, Pakistan has captured and handed over several Taliban and Al-Qaeda members to US authorities.
However, both nations have faced criticism from human rights organizations, alleging that not all detainees were affiliated with militant groups and highlighting concerns over the treatment of these individuals, including reports of extreme interrogation techniques such as waterboarding and sleep deprivation.
Ties between Pakistan and the US, which mostly remained strained under former prime minister Imran Khan’s premiership from 2018-2022, have improved since Khan’s ouster from office. His predecessor Sharif has called for closer ties with Washington since assuming office in March last year.