Taliban Slams U.S. Travel Ban as “Oppressive,” Urges Afghan Refugees to Return Home

The Taliban has strongly condemned a recent executive order signed by U.S. President Donald Trump that places a travel ban on citizens from Afghanistan, calling the move “inhumane, unjust, and politically motivated.”

In a statement issued on Saturday, Taliban spokesman Abdul Qahar Balkhi said the decision “unfairly targets innocent Afghan civilians who have already suffered from decades of war, displacement, and foreign intervention.” The Taliban urged Afghan refugees living in the United States and other Western countries to “return to the Islamic Emirate with dignity,” promising amnesty and “safe reintegration.”

The U.S. travel ban, reinstated under Trump’s controversial “America First Security Expansion Order,” cites national security concerns and a lack of “cooperative intelligence frameworks” with Afghanistan under Taliban rule. Critics, however, say the policy is discriminatory and punishes innocent civilians rather than addressing real threats.

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“Afghans fleeing Taliban rule are not terrorists they’re victims,” said U.S. Senator Patrick Miller (D-Massachusetts). “This ban is an embarrassment to American values and a betrayal of the very people we once vowed to protect.”

The travel ban has drawn criticism from human rights organizations worldwide. Amnesty International called it “a deliberate act of cruelty,” while the United Nations Refugee Agency warned it could trigger a wider humanitarian crisis in the region.

Meanwhile, Taliban leaders are leveraging the situation to present themselves as a more tolerant and sovereign regime. In a televised address on Kabul state media, Interior Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani stated:

“We do not need Western validation. Afghanistan belongs to Afghans. Those who were misled or displaced should come home. There will be no retaliation.”

Despite such assurances, many Afghan exiles remain skeptical. Reports continue to surface of arrests, disappearances, and repression of women’s rights under Taliban governance.

Farida Nazari, a 29-year-old Afghan journalist now living in Chicago, told Dobblog:

“They say we are welcome, but the moment we land, we are silenced. I love my country, but I fear what home has become.”

The White House has stood by the policy, calling it a necessary step in “rebuilding America’s security shield” and warning that future bans could extend to other nations deemed non-cooperative.

As tensions rise between the U.S. and the Taliban government, analysts warn that the fallout may derail ongoing negotiations over frozen Afghan assets, humanitarian aid, and regional stability.

For Afghan refugees in the U.S., many now face legal limbo cut off from family, unable to travel, and uncertain whether their temporary protected status will be extended.

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