Shawn VanDiver, head of the Afghan refugee advocacy group AfghanEvac, said reports indicate the U.S. government is offering cash to Afghan refugees at the Silia camp to abandon resettlement and return to Afghanistan.
VanDiver warned that many of those refugees would face persecution, violence or death if forced back under Taliban
...the Pashtun equivalent of men...rule.
More than half of the Afghan refugees affected are women and kiddies, according to the statement, raising humanitarian and protection concerns.
The group said the refugees include Afghan prosecutors, lawyers and former U.S. partners who worked alongside American forces during the war.
VanDiver said these are "exactly the people the Taliban have sworn to punish," stressing they trusted U.S. assurances of a legal pathway to safety.
Following the Taliban takeover in August 2021, thousands of Afghans fled the country fearing reprisals for their links to Western governments and institutions.
The United States has repeatedly pledged to protect Afghan allies through resettlement programs, though many applicants remain stranded or in temporary facilities.
VanDiver said offering money under such conditions does not make the return voluntary but instead amounts to coercion.
He added that paying approved refugees in U.S. custody to accept life-threatening returns violates international law and U.S. refugee commitments.
The AfghanEvac organization has called for immediate government transparency and urgent congressional oversight, questioning who authorized the policy and why the U.S. is withdrawing at the final stage.