The US State Department has announced that it is “immediately” pausing the issuance of visas for all individuals traveling on Afghan passports, according to media reports on Saturday.
The decision, announced Friday, follows confirmation from US immigration authorities that all asylum adjudications have also been halted for the foreseeable future, Al Jazeera reported.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated on X that the State Department had “paused visa issuance for ALL individuals traveling on Afghan passports,” adding that “the United States has no higher priority than protecting our nation and our people.”
The move comes in the wake of Wednesday’s shooting in Washington, DC, in which authorities identified Afghan national Rahmanaullah Lakanwal as the primary suspect. The attack killed one National Guard member and left another critically injured.
On Thursday evening, the Trump administration confirmed that 20-year-old Sarah Beckstrom had died from her injuries, while 24-year-old Wolfe remains in critical condition.
The CIA also confirmed this week that Lakanwal had previously worked for the agency in Afghanistan before emigrating to the US shortly after the 2021 withdrawal of Western forces.
In a separate statement on Friday, US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Director Joseph Edlow announced that the agency had paused all asylum decisions in the interest of “the safety of the American people.”
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