A former employee of Afghanistan's Defense Ministry walks in his neighborhood with his youngest daughter on Jan. 21, in Islamabad, Pakistan. Betsy Joles for NPR hide caption
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Afghan refugees
A U.S. Air Force captain goes over the day's mission route map with an Afghan National Army officer with assistance from an Afghan interpreter (left), before the U.S.-Afghan convoy sets off in Ghazni, Afghanistan, on March 16, 2009. Robert Nickelsberg/Getty Images Europe hide caption
Afghans seeking asylum in U.S. left in limbo after Trump suspends refugee program
A growing community of immigrants from Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo now call Dayton, Ohio, home. Anita Nzigiye and her family opened a market to sell familiar foods, including smoked fish from Tanzania and specialty flours made from cassava and yams. Madeleine Hordinski for NPR hide caption
Ukrainian refugees enter the El Chaparral border crossing between Tijuana, Mexico, and San Diego in April 2022. The foreign-born share of the U.S. population, which had been roughly flat since 2017, rose to nearly 14% last year. Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
The immigrant population in the U.S. is climbing again, setting a record last year
As Kabul fell to the Taliban in 2021, a teenager got separated from his family at the airport and has been living on his own in the U.S. Hokyoung Kim for NPR hide caption
Afghan Special Immigrant Visa applicants crowd into the Herat Kabul Internet cafe, seeking help applying for the SIV program on Aug. 8, 2021, in Kabul, Afghanistan. The Taliban took over Afghanistan a week later. More than 74,000 applicants remain in the backlog of the SIV program, designed to help those who served the U.S. overseas. Paula Bronstein/Getty Images hide caption
Feraidon Hakimi, wearing Afghan clothes, stands outside Fort Pickett military base in Blackstone, Va., in October 2021. Hakimi spent four months on the base before moving to Maryland. Feraidon Hakimi hide caption
After several months of temporarily housing, Kamila Noori, a prominent Afghan judge, stands on the balcony of the apartment where she will live with her husband and two of their daughters. Alyssa Schukar for NPR hide caption
Some of Afghanistan's most talented young soccer players, members of what used to be the girls national team, gather for practice in Lisbon, Portugal, in November. Claire Harbage/NPR hide caption
An Afghan girls soccer team rebelled to play the game they love. Now they're refugees
A still from the 1961 Hindi film Kabuliwala, directed by Hemen Gupta. Kabuliwala (1961) hide caption
This 19th-century short story might help combat racism against refugees today
In this file photo from 2016, a bookshop owner in Pakistan shows a National Geographic magazine with the cover photograph of Afghan refugee woman Sharbat Gula. She arrived in Italy as part of the West's evacuation of Afghans following the Taliban takeover of the country, the Italian government said Thursday. The office of Premier Mario Draghi said she asked to be helped to leave the country. B.K. Bangash/AP hide caption
Zahra Yagana, her daughter Parisa and son Jawed spent close to two months at Fort McCoy in western Wisconsin. Eman Mohammed for NPR hide caption
Newly arrived Afghans get creative and find their own way to homes
The White House point person on Afghan resettlement, Jack Markell, is trying to ensure a smooth — and politics-free — resettlement of the largest group of war evacuees since Vietnam. Franco Ordoñez/NPR hide caption
EXCLUSIVE: Governors have questions about Afghan refugees. Here's who they call
Kristyn Peck, CEO of Lutheran Social Services of the National Capital Area, outside the group's Fairfax office. Joel Rose/NPR hide caption
Newly arrived Afghans test a refugee resettlement system that's rebuilding on the fly
Dr. Saleema Rehman stands outside Holy Family Hospital in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. The Afghan refugee of Turkmen origin has won UNHCR's Nansen Award for her work helping refugee moms and babies in Pakistan. Betsy Joles for NPR hide caption
Imam Mohamed Herbert of the Islamic Society of Tulsa, the city's only mosque, whose congregation is preparing to aid in resettling the 850 Afghan refugees bound for the city. Chris Polansky/Public Radio Tulsa hide caption
Oklahoma Welcomes Hundreds Of Afghan Refugees — Despite The State GOP's Objections
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Oklahoma Welcomes Hundreds Of Afghan Refugees — Despite The State GOP's Objections
Fifty barracks are available for accommodation in the Krnjaca asylum center in Serbia, just outside the capital Belgrade. Single men live in separate housing, while families stay together. For those who decide to return home, the International Organization for Migration offers a "voluntary return and reintegration" program in the camp. Elisa Oddone hide caption
The FBI's El Paso, Texas, office received a report of an assault of a female service member by male Afghan evacuees at a complex in New Mexico. Adria Malcolm/Bloomberg via Getty Images hide caption
Sayyid Ali Hussaini (center), his wife Mahbube and daughter Elisa sit together in the Turkish city of Trabzon. Originally from the northern Afghan city of Mazar-e-Sharif, the family fled Taliban advances over the summer and arrived in Turkey last month. Özge Sebzeci for NPR hide caption
His Family Fled Afghanistan. In Turkey, Other Afghans Help Them Build A New Life
Ahmad Zai Ahmadi began interpreting for U.S. forces in Afghanistan when he was a teenager. Since coming to the U.S. as a recipient of a special immigrant visa, he has mainly relied on gig work to support his family. Andrea Hsu/NPR hide caption
He Was An Interpreter For U.S. Forces In Afghanistan And Now He's Driving For Uber
Afghan refugees wait to be processed Sept. 8 inside Hangar 5 at Ramstein Air Base in Germany. Olivier Douliery/Pool/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
Support For Resettling Afghan Refugees In The U.S. Is Broad — But Has Limits
Afghan evacuees wait for the next flight to the U.S. in a fenced-in enclosure in a hangar at Ramstein Air Base in Germany. More than 25,000 Afghans have traveled through Ramstein to get to the United States. Rob Schmitz/NPR hide caption
The U.S. Air Base At The Heart Of America's Biggest Airlift
Afghan Abdul Aman Sediqi, a special immigrant visa recipient, holds his son Edris as he and his family prepare to sign a lease on a new apartment on Thursday. Callaghan O'Hare/Reuters hide caption
Refugees from Afghanistan are escorted to a bus after arriving and being processed Monday at Dulles International Airport in Virginia. The federal government is reportedly offering COVID-19 vaccines for Afghan arrivals at a site near the airport. Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images hide caption