Afghan family’s American dream for niece cut short by travel ban

Irmo (US): Mohammad Sharafoddin, his wife and young son walked at times for 36 hours in a row over mountain passes as they left Afghanistan as refugees to end up less than a decade later talking about their journey on a plush love seat in the family’s three-bedroom suburban American home.

He and his wife dreamed of bringing her niece to the United States to share in that bounty. Maybe she could study to become a doctor and then decide her own path.

But that door slams shut on Monday as America put in place a travel ban for people from Afghanistan and a dozen other countries.

“It’s kind of shock for us when we hear about Afghanistan, especially right now for ladies who are affected more than others with the new government,” Mohammad Sharafoddin said, referring to the country’s Taliban rulers. “We didn’t think about this travel ban.”

Since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan in August 2021 as the Western forces were in the final phase of their withdrawal from the country, they have barred education for women and girls beyond sixth grade, most employment and many public spaces. Last August, the Taliban introduced laws that ban women’s voices and bare faces outside the home. President Donald Trump signed the travel ban Wednesday. It is similar to one in place during his first administration but covers more countries. Along with Afghanistan, travel to the US is banned from Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.

Trump said visitors who overstay visas, like the man charged in an attack that injured dozens of demonstrators in Boulder, Colorado, earlier this month, are a danger to the country.

The suspect in the attack is from Egypt, which isn’t included in the ban.

The countries chosen for the ban have deficient screening of their citizens, often refuse to take them back and have a high percentage of people who stay in the U.S. after their visas expire, Trump said.

The ban makes exceptions for people from Afghanistan on Special Immigrant Visas who generally worked most closely with the US government during the two-decade war there.

Mohammad Sharafoddin, his wife and son fled Afghanistan on foot, crossing mountain passes in the dark before reaching Turkey, where he worked in a factory and taught himself English.

They were eventually resettled in Irmo, South Carolina, where they built a new life. Their son is now 11, and they’ve had a daughter in the US. His wife, Nuriya, is learning to drive and study — freedoms denied under Taliban rule. The couple hoped to bring their niece, who can no longer attend school in Afghanistan, to the US for a better future. But the new US travel ban blocks that plan, allowing only immediate family.

“I’m not ready to tell her,” Nuriya said. Volunteer Jim Ray, who has helped the family, said many Afghans are now cut off from relatives in crisis. “This is where it hurts the most.” Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhundzada condemned the ban, calling the US an oppressor for excluding citizens from 12 countries, including Afghanistan.