Reveal · The Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX

Afghan War Allies Were Promised Safety in the US—Until Now

March 25, 2026·31 min·2 clips

After an Afghan national shot two National Guardsmen in D.C., the administration ordered a re-examination of every Afghan who entered under Biden.

It opens in Washington, D.C., after two National Guardsmen patrolling the city were shot, one fatally. The suspect is described as an Afghan national, and the show uses that violence as the launch point for a wider fight over Afghan immigration. President Trump is heard calling for a re-examination of every single alien who entered the country from Afghanistan under Biden. He also says the government should remove any alien from any country who does not belong here or add benefit to the country, giving the episode its blunt political frame. From there, the story shifts to the promise made to Afghan allies who supported the U.S. military during wartime. That promise is now at risk of being broken under President Trump, and the episode keeps that tension in view as it broadens the frame. Pastor Jeff Holder of Tarjuman Relief explains how allies enter the Special Immigrant Visa process. The application can take up to a year, and applicants need employment information showing work for a U.S. contractor or another role tied to the war effort in Afghanistan. The interview stage is even tighter. Holder says the checks are filtered through the FBI, the CIA, and several intelligence streams in America so applicants can be compared against databases and screened for terror links. The episode treats that vetting as serious and necessary, while also showing how much waiting and uncertainty it creates for people trying to stay safe. Holder says many Afghans remain intimidated. He describes them as versatile and resilient, and says they are trying to learn the system as best they can to stay safe. The story stays close to the mechanics of the visa process instead of skipping straight to slogans. Holder says President Trump and his advisers know how strict the vetting is. He frames their position as one shaped by political power and by the instinct to keep one's place. By the end, the wartime promise and the security machinery sit in the same frame, and neither one looks simple.

As heard by us

A wartime promise runs into the machinery of visa vetting.

Reveal starts with a shooting in Washington, D.C., then uses that opening to revisit a promise made to Afghan allies who backed the U.S. military during wartime.

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Why you'd press play

You get a wartime promise, a rigorous visa vetting process, and a fraught question of who gets left waiting.

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