Washington:

President Donald Trump’s foreign aid pause has forced a suspension of flights for more than 40,000 Afghans approved for special US visas and at risk of Taliban retribution, a leading advocate and a US official said on Saturday.

The stoppage was triggered by Trump’s order to halt foreign development aid for 90 days pending a review of efficiencies and consistency with his “America First” foreign policy.

Experts and advocacy groups say the foreign aid pause has led to chaos in US and international aid operations and halted nutrition, health, vaccination and other programs.

The order also triggered a suspension by the State Department of funds for groups that help Afghans with Special Immigrant Visas (SIVs) to find housing, schools and jobs in the US.

Trump promised an immigration crackdown during his victorious 2024 reelection campaign.

Shawn VanDiver, head of #AfghanEvac, the main coalition of veterans and advocacy groups working with the U.S. government to evacuate and resettle those SIV holders, said he does not believe that the flight suspension was intentional.

“We think it was a mistake,” VanDiver said.

He said that he hoped the administration would grant exemptions to the orders for Afghans approved for SIVs because they worked for the U.S government during the 20-year war that ended in the final U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021.

“They fought alongside us. They bled alongside us,” said VanDiver, who pointed out that tens of thousands of other Afghans are waiting for SIV applications to be processed.

The White House and State Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Reports by the UN mission in Afghanistan say the Taliban have detained, tortured and killed former soldiers and officials of the prior US-backed government. The Taliban issued a general amnesty for former troops and government officials and deny the allegations.

The flight suspension has stranded more than 40,000 Afghans, including SIV holders who have been waiting to fly to the US from visa processing centers in Qatar and Albania, said VanDiver and the US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

That number also includes Afghans approved for SIVs who have been waiting in Afghanistan and Pakistan to be put on US-funded flights to the Doha and Tirana processing centers to receive their visas, they said.

Nearly 200,000 Afghans have been resettled in the US on SIVs or as refugees since the chaotic 2021 US withdrawal.

In a separate executive order that he signed hours after his inauguration on Monday, Trump suspended all US refugee resettlement programs.

That order resulted in hundreds of Afghan refugees losing their seats on flights, including family members of active-duty Afghan American military personnel, former Afghan soldiers and unaccompanied children.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

US President Donald Trump called a Washington bishop “nasty” for her remarks during the sermon at his presidential inaugural prayer service on Monday. Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde appealed to President Trump to have mercy on gay, lesbian, and transgender children. Ms Budde also alleged Trump of sowing fear into the hearts of immigrants and their children.

In his latest reaction to Bishop’s speech, Trump accused Ms Budde of being a Trump hater and carrying a nasty tone. In a post on Truth Social, Trump wrote, “The so-called Bishop who spoke at the National Prayer Service on Tuesday morning was a Radical Left hard line Trump hater. She brought her church into the World of politics in a very ungracious way. She was nasty in tone, and not compelling or smart.”

In her sermon, Ms Budde said that the vast majority of immigrants are “not criminals.” To this, Trump said, “She failed to mention the large number of illegal migrants that came into our Country and killed people. Many were deposited from jails and mental institutions. It is a giant crime wave that is taking place in the USA.”

Not just her comments, Trump also reacted to the service at large and called it a “very boring and uninspiring one.”

“She is not very good at her job! She and her church owe the public an apology!” he said.

On Tuesday, Trump visited the Washington National Cathedral for the inaugural prayer service. There, the Bishop pleaded, “In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now. There are gay, lesbian and transgender children in democratic, republican and independent families. Some who fear for their lives.”

Ms Budde described undocumented immigrants as “tax payers” and “good neighbours”.

“Our god teaches us that we are to be merciful to the stranger. For we were all once strangers in this land,” she said.

Following the service, when a reporter asked Trump for a reaction, he said, “Not too exciting, was it. I didn’t think it was a good service. No…They can do much better.”

Trump’s Moves Against Transgenders, Immigrants

During his inaugural speech at the US Capitol as the 47th President, Donald Trump issued measures against the third gender. He said, “As of today, it will henceforth be the official policy of the United States government that there are only two genders, male and female.”

He vowed to end the government policy of trying to socially engineer race and gender into every aspect of public and private life. “We will forge a society that is colour blind and merit based,” he added.

He also announced restrictions on immigration, attempting to end birthright citizenship.

A sweeping deportation program, ending “transgender lunacy,” “drill, baby, drill,” and peace for Ukraine: President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to move big and fast when he returns to the White House on Monday.

Here is a look at his sensational but frequently vague promises for a second term — much of them likely to be enacted through executive orders.

Immigration

Trump promises a hardline stance against an estimated 11 million undocumented migrants in the United States.

“When I am reelected, we will begin… the largest deportation operation in American history,” the Republican billionaire said on the campaign trail.

He also vowed to end birthright citizenship, calling it “ridiculous.”

To achieve those goals, Trump is weighing declaring a national emergency, which would allow him to unlock Pentagon resources.

Analysts also expect him to issue executive orders on other aspects of immigration policy, including possibly to terminate an app used by migrants hoping to petition for asylum.

However, birthright citizenship is guaranteed by the US Constitution, and any deportation program will face legal challenges as well as potential refusals by some countries to accept deportees.

Trade wars?

Trump has vowed to slap a 25 percent tariff on goods imported from Mexico and Canada — top US trading partners — as punishment for what he says is their failure to stem the flow of drugs and undocumented migrants into the United States.

But is Trump really ready to unleash a trade war with US neighbors, rupturing a North American free trade agreement? Some see this — and an even more provocative suggestion that Canada should be absorbed into the United States — as pre-negotiation bluster.

Beijing should also buckle up.

Trump has threatened to impose a 10 percent tariff on Chinese products, adding to existing tariffs that date back to his first term. Trump accuses China of allowing the chemical components used to make fentanyl.

January 6 pardons?

The president-elect has suggested he might pardon some or all of the people involved in the January 6, 2021 riot at the US Capitol, when his supporters tried to overthrow the 2020 election in which he lost to Democrat Joe Biden.

Trump has described them as “hostages” and “political prisoners” and said that he will be “making major pardons” in connection with the incident, but it remains unclear how he might differentiate cases involving violence against police officers.

More than 1,500 people have been charged with federal crimes in the deadly assault, and more than 1,100 of them have been sentenced.

Wars and diplomacy

Trump warned that “all hell will break out in the Middle East” if Hamas does not release Israeli hostages before his inauguration — and promptly took credit when a ceasefire and hostage release deal negotiated by the Biden Administration was announced Wednesday.

Trump also says he intends to quickly end Russia’s war against Ukraine, though it is unclear when or how he plans to do that.

After promising over the summer to end the nearly three-year conflict “in 24 hours,” Trump more recently suggested a timeline of several months.

Climate

Climate skeptic Trump has promised to “drill, baby, drill” for oil and gas.

He plans to repeal some of Biden’s key climate policies, such as tax credits for electric vehicles, which are meant to encourage a transition to a green economy.

Trump also wants to boost offshore drilling, though he might need to secure congressional support to do that. Biden has selected swaths of ocean as protected no-drill areas.

Transgender rights and race

“With the stroke of my pen on day one, we’re going to stop the transgender lunacy,” Trump said in December, vowing to “end child sexual mutilation, get transgender out of the military and out of our elementary schools and middle schools and high schools.”

He also said the US government would recognize only two genders, male and female.

Also among his plans is cutting federal funding to schools that have adopted “critical race theory,” an approach that looks at US history through the lens of racism.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)