Notice2022-10923
Designation of Afghanistan for Temporary Protected Status
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
May 20, 2022
Effective
May 20, 2022
Issuing agencies
Homeland Security DepartmentU.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
Abstract
Through this notice, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announces that the Secretary of Homeland Security (Secretary) is designating Afghanistan for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for 18 months, effective May 20, 2022, through November 20, 2023. This designation allows eligible Afghan nationals (and individuals having no nationality who last habitually resided in Afghanistan) who have continuously resided in the United States since March 15, 2022, and who have been continuously physically present in the United States since May 20, 2022 to apply for TPS.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 87 Issue 98 (Friday, May 20, 2022)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 98 (Friday, May 20, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 30976-30988]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2022-10923]
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DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
[CIS No. 2709-21; DHS Docket No. USCIS-2022-0004]
RIN 1615-ZB94
Designation of Afghanistan for Temporary Protected Status
AGENCY: U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), Department
of Homeland Security (DHS).
ACTION: Notice of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) designation.
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SUMMARY: Through this notice, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)
announces that the Secretary of Homeland Security (Secretary) is
designating Afghanistan for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for 18
months, effective May 20, 2022, through November 20, 2023. This
designation allows eligible Afghan nationals (and individuals having no
nationality who last habitually resided in Afghanistan) who have
continuously resided in the United States since March 15, 2022, and who
have been continuously physically present in the United States since
May 20, 2022 to apply for TPS.
DATES:
Designation of Afghanistan for TPS: The 18-month designation of
Afghanistan for TPS is effective on May 20, 2022 and will remain in
effect for 18 months, through November 20, 2023.
Registration: The registration period for eligible individuals to
submit TPS applications begins May 20, 2022 and will remain in effect
through November 20, 2023.
ADDRESSES: For further information on TPS, including guidance on the
registration process and additional information on eligibility, please
visit the USCIS TPS web page at <a href="http://uscis.gov/tps">uscis.gov/tps</a>. You can find specific
information about Afghanistan's TPS designation by selecting
``Afghanistan'' from the menu on the left side of the TPS web page.
If you have additional questions about TPS, please visit <a href="http://uscis.gov/tools">uscis.gov/tools</a>. Our online virtual assistant, Emma, can answer many of your
questions and point you to additional information on our website. If
you are unable to find your answers there, you may also call our USCIS
Contact Center at 800-375-5283 (TTY 800-767-1833).
Applicants seeking information about the status of their individual
cases may check Case Status Online, available on the USCIS website at
<a href="http://uscis.gov">uscis.gov</a>, or visit the USCIS Contact Center at <a href="http://uscis.gov/contactcenter">uscis.gov/contactcenter</a>.
Further information will also be available at local USCIS offices
upon publication of this notice.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: You may contact Ren[aacute] Cutlip-
Mason, Chief, Humanitarian Affairs Division, Office of Policy and
Strategy, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Department of
Homeland Security, by mail at 5900 Capital Gateway Drive, Camp Springs,
MD 20746, or by phone at 800-375-5283.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Table of Abbreviations
BIA--Board of Immigration Appeals
CFR--Code of Federal Regulations
DHS--U.S. Department of Homeland Security
DOS--U.S. Department of State
EAD--Employment Authorization Document
FNC--Final Nonconfirmation
Form I-765--Application for Employment Authorization
Form I-797--Notice of Action (Approval Notice)
Form I-821--Application for Temporary Protected Status
Form I-9--Employment Eligibility Verification
Form I-912--Request for Fee Waiver
Form I-94--Arrival/Departure Record
FR--Federal Register
Government--U.S. Government
IER--U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, Immigrant
and Employee Rights Section
[[Page 30977]]
IJ--Immigration Judge
INA--Immigration and Nationality Act
SAVE--USCIS Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements Program
Secretary--Secretary of Homeland Security
TNC--Tentative Nonconfirmation
TPS--Temporary Protected Status
TTY--Text Telephone
USCIS--U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
U.S.C.--United States Code
Purpose of This Action (TPS)
Through this notice, DHS sets forth procedures necessary for
eligible nationals of Afghanistan (or individuals having no nationality
who last habitually resided in Afghanistan) to submit an initial
registration application under the designation of Afghanistan for TPS
and apply for an employment authorization document (EAD). Under the
designation, individuals must submit an initial Afghanistan TPS
application (Form I-821) and they may also submit an Application for
Employment Authorization (Form I-765), during the 18-month initial
registration period that runs from May 20, 2022, through November 20,
2023.\1\ In addition to demonstrating continuous residence in the
United States since March 15, 2022,\2\ and meeting other eligibility
criteria, initial applicants for TPS under this designation must
demonstrate that they have been continuously physically present in the
United States since May 20, 2022, the effective date of this
designation of Afghanistan, before USCIS may grant them TPS. DHS
estimates that approximately 72,500 individuals are eligible to file
applications for TPS under the designation of Afghanistan.
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\1\ In general, individuals must be given an initial
registration period of no less than 180 days to register for TPS,
but the Secretary has discretion to provide for a longer
registration period. See 8 U.S.C. 1254a(c)(1)(A)(iv). In keeping
with the humanitarian purpose of TPS and advancing the goal of
ensuring ``the Federal Government eliminates . . . barriers that
prevent immigrants from accessing government services available to
them'' under Executive Order 14012, Restoring Faith in Our Legal
Immigration Systems and Strengthening Integration and Inclusion
Efforts for New Americans, 86 FR 8277 (Feb. 5, 2021), the Secretary
has recently exercised his discretion to provide for TPS initial
registration periods that coincide with the full period of a TPS
country's initial designation or redesignation. See, e.g., 87 FR
23211 (Apr. 19, 2022) (providing 18-mos. registration period under
the new TPS designation of Ukraine); 87 FR 23202 (Apr. 19, 2022)
(providing 18-mos. registration period under the new TPS designation
of Sudan); 86 FR 38744 (July 22, 2021) (providing 18-mos.
registration period under the TPS redesignation of Somalia). For the
same reasons, the Secretary is similarly exercising his discretion
to provide applicants under this TPS designation of Afghanistan with
an 18-month initial registration period.
\2\ The ``continuous physical presence date'' (CPP) is the
effective date of the most recent TPS designation of the country,
which is either the publication date of the designation announcement
in the Federal Register or such later date as the Secretary may
establish. The ``continuous residence date'' (CR) is any date
established by the Secretary when a country is designated (or
sometimes redesignated) for TPS. See INA section 244(b)(2)(A)
(effective date of designation); 244(c)(1)(A)(i-ii) (discussing CR
and CPP date requirements).
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What is Temporary Protected Status (TPS)?
<bullet> TPS is a temporary immigration status granted to eligible
nationals of a foreign state designated for TPS under the INA, or to
eligible individuals without nationality who last habitually resided in
the designated foreign state, regardless of their country of birth.
<bullet> During the TPS designation period, TPS beneficiaries are
eligible to remain in the United States, may not be removed, and are
authorized to work so long as they continue to meet the requirements of
TPS. They may apply for and receive EADs as evidence of employment
authorization.
<bullet> TPS beneficiaries may also apply for and be granted travel
authorization as a matter of discretion.
<bullet> To qualify for TPS, beneficiaries must meet the
eligibility standards at INA section 244(c)(1)-(2), 8 U.S.C.
1254a(c)(1)-(2).
<bullet> When the Secretary terminates a foreign state's TPS
designation, beneficiaries return to one of the following:
[cir] The same immigration status or category that they maintained
before TPS, if any (unless that status or category has since expired or
terminated); or
[cir] Any other lawfully obtained immigration status or category
they received while registered for TPS, as long as it is still valid
beyond the date TPS terminates.
Why was Afghanistan designated for TPS?
DHS has reviewed conditions in Afghanistan. Based on this review,
and after consulting with the Department of State (DOS), the Secretary
has determined that an 18-month designation is warranted because of
ongoing armed conflict and the extraordinary and temporary conditions
described below.
Overview
In August 2021, the Taliban took over Kabul after waging a 20-year
insurgency against the government of Afghanistan and U.S. and NATO
forces. Armed conflict and insurgency continue throughout the country
of Afghanistan.\3\ The Taliban is seen as both ill-equipped and
unwilling to meet the country's numerous challenges including the
current security situation, economic collapse, a crumbling healthcare
system, severe food insecurity, and respect for human rights.\4\
Afghanistan is undergoing a humanitarian disaster. The United Nations
has called the current situation ``unparalleled, with more than 24.4
million people requiring humanitarian assistance to survive.'' \5\
``Half the population [is] facing acute hunger, including 9 million
people in emergency food insecurity--the highest number globally [with]
[m]alnutrition on the rise, and livelihoods [that] have been
destroyed.'' \6\
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\3\ Afghanistan's Collapsing Economy Heightens `Risk of
Extremism,' UN Envoy Warns, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Nov.
18, 2021, available at: <a href="https://gandhara.rferl.org/a/afghanistan-un-lyons-assets-humanitarian-crisis-hunger/31567075.html">https://gandhara.rferl.org/a/afghanistan-un-lyons-assets-humanitarian-crisis-hunger/31567075.html</a> (last visited
Apr. 8, 2022).
\4\ Nilofar Sakhi, The humanitarian and human security crises in
Afghanistan, Middle East Institute (MEI), Oct. 12, 2021, available
at: <a href="https://www.mei.edu/publications/humanitarian-and-human-security-crises-afghanistan">https://www.mei.edu/publications/humanitarian-and-human-security-crises-afghanistan</a> (last visited Apr. 8, 2022).
\5\ Afghanistan Conference 2022, UN Web TV, Mar. 31, 2022,
available at: <a href="https://media.un.org/en/asset/k1p/k1puubpv5u">https://media.un.org/en/asset/k1p/k1puubpv5u</a> (last
visited Apr. 15, 2022).
\6\ Afghanistan Conference 2022, UN Web TV, Mar. 31, 2022,
available at: <a href="https://media.un.org/en/asset/k1p/k1puubpv5u">https://media.un.org/en/asset/k1p/k1puubpv5u</a> (last
visited Apr. 15, 2022).
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Armed Conflict and Security Situation
The Taliban controlled most of Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001,
invoking Sharia law to remove women from public life, enforce strict
moral codes, and exact draconian punishments for transgressions
including dismemberment and public executions.\7\ In response to the
Taliban harboring al-Qaida and Osama bin Laden after the attacks of
September 11, 2001,\8\ U.S. forces began airstrikes and a ground
invasion that, by mid-November 2001, in concert with actions by
remaining Mujahideen fighters under the Northern Alliance, drove the
Taliban from most of Afghanistan. Following a transition of security
responsibility from the NATO-led International Security Assistance
Force (ISAF) to the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces
(ANDSF),\9\ the Taliban expanded its presence across larger parts of
the country \10\ and by
[[Page 30978]]
2017, the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant-Khorasan Province (ISIS-
K) emerged, adding ``a new, dangerous dimension'' to the situation.\11\
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\7\ Carter Malkasian, The American War in Afghanistan, pp. 43
(Oxford University Press, 2021).
\8\ Carter Malkasian, The American War in Afghanistan, pp. 53-67
(Oxford University Press, 2021).
\9\ Inteqal: Transition to Afghan lead, NATO, updated Nov. 17,
2020, available at: <a href="https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/topics_87183.htm">https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/topics_87183.htm</a> (last visited Apr. 8, 2022).
\10\ Afghanistan: Growing Challenges, International Crisis
Group, Apr. 30, 2017, available at: <a href="https://www.crisisgroup.org/asia/south-asia/afghanistan/afghanistan-growing-challenges">https://www.crisisgroup.org/asia/south-asia/afghanistan/afghanistan-growing-challenges</a> (last
visited Apr. 8, 2022).
\11\ Special report on the strategic review of the United
Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, Report of the Secretary-
General, A/72/312-S/2017/696, UN Security Council, p. 3, Aug. 10,
2017, available at: <a href="https://unama.unmissions.org/sites/default/files/special_report_on_the_strategic_review_of_the_united_nations_assistance_mission_in_afghanistan.pdf">https://unama.unmissions.org/sites/default/files/special_report_on_the_strategic_review_of_the_united_nations_assistance_mission_in_afghanistan.pdf</a> (last visited Apr. 8, 2022).
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Beginning in 2019, the United States engaged with the Taliban to
establish an agreement to withdraw troops, with various efforts over
the next two years seeking assurances that the Taliban would meet
counter-terrorism pledges and participate in intra-Afghan peace
talks.\12\ In April 2021, President Biden announced a complete U.S.
military withdrawal by September 11, 2021, and in early July 2021, U.S.
troops began withdrawal operations, including from their largest base
at Bagram.\13\ The Taliban began rapidly taking territory including
regional urban centers, and beginning August 6, provincial
capitals.\14\ The Taliban took over Kabul on August 15, and on August
30, 2021, the last U.S. forces departed Afghanistan.\15\
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\12\ The U.S. War in Afghanistan: 1999-2021, Council on Foreign
Relations, 2021, available at: <a href="https://www.cfr.org/timeline/us-war-afghanistan">https://www.cfr.org/timeline/us-war-afghanistan</a> (last visited Apr. 12, 2022).
\13\ Thomas Gibbons-Neff, U.S. Leaves Its Last Afghan Base,
Effectively Ending Operations, N.Y. Times, Jul. 4, 2021, available
at: <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/02/world/asia/afghanistan-bagram-us-withdrawal.html">https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/02/world/asia/afghanistan-bagram-us-withdrawal.html</a> (last visited Apr. 8. 2022).
\14\ The U.S. War in Afghanistan: 1999-2021, Council on Foreign
Relations, 2021, available at: <a href="https://www.cfr.org/timeline/us-war-afghanistan">https://www.cfr.org/timeline/us-war-afghanistan</a> (last visited on Apr. 12, 2022).
\15\ The U.S. War in Afghanistan: 1999-2021, Council on Foreign
Relations, 2021, available at: <a href="https://www.cfr.org/timeline/us-war-afghanistan">https://www.cfr.org/timeline/us-war-afghanistan</a> (last visited Apr. 12, 2022).
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Before the withdrawal of U.S. and NATO troops, armed conflict had
taken a high toll on Afghan civilians. The U.N. Assistance Mission in
Afghanistan (UNAMA) recorded 116,076 civilian deaths and injuries due
to armed conflict from 2009 until June 2021 with record numbers of
girls and women killed and injured, as well as record numbers of
overall child casualties.\16\
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\16\ Afghanistan: Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict--
Annual Report 2020, U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, Feb.
2021, available at: <a href="https://unama.unmissions.org/sites/default/files/afghanistan_protection_of_civilians_report_2020_revs3.pdf">https://unama.unmissions.org/sites/default/files/afghanistan_protection_of_civilians_report_2020_revs3.pdf</a>
(last visited Apr. 8, 2022); Afghanistan: Protection of Civilians in
Armed Conflict--Midyear Update: 1 January to 30 June 2021, U.N.
Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, Jul. 2021, available at: <a href="https://unama.unmissions.org/sites/default/files/unama_poc_midyear_report_2021_26_july.pdf">https://unama.unmissions.org/sites/default/files/unama_poc_midyear_report_2021_26_july.pdf</a> (last visited Apr. 8,
2022).
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Civilians face continuing risk of harm due to ground engagements
between the Taliban and ISIS-K, as well as direct punitive targeting by
Taliban fighters reportedly taking retaliatory action against people
associated with the Ashraf Ghani administration \17\ and sectarian
attacks on the Shiite minority by ISIS-K.\18\ It is reported that
``attacks on civilians made up 36 percent of all disorder events,
indicating that civilians will continue to remain at heightened risk of
violence under'' the Taliban.\19\
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\17\ ``No Forgiveness for People Like You'' Executions and
Enforced Disappearances in Afghanistan under the Taliban, Human
Rights Watch, Nov. 30, 2021, available at: <a href="https://www.hrw.org/report/2021/11/30/no-forgiveness-people-you/executions-and-enforced-disappearances-afghanistan">https://www.hrw.org/report/2021/11/30/no-forgiveness-people-you/executions-and-enforced-disappearances-afghanistan</a> (last visited Apr. 15, 2022).
\18\ See Afghanistan Security situation update, Country of
Origin Information Report, European Asylum Support Office (EASO),
Sept. 9, 2021, available at: <a href="https://coi.easo.europa.eu/administration/easo/PLib/2021_09_EASO_COI_Report_Afghanistan_Security_situation_update.pdf">https://coi.easo.europa.eu/administration/easo/PLib/2021_09_EASO_COI_Report_Afghanistan_Security_situation_update.pdf</a>
(last visited Apr. 8, 2022).
\19\ 10 Conflicts to Worry About in 2022, High risk of violence
targeting civilians under Taliban rule, The Armed Conflict Location
& Event Data Project (ACLED), Jan. 2022, available at: <a href="https://acleddata.com/10-conflicts-to-worry-about-in-2022/afghanistan/">https://acleddata.com/10-conflicts-to-worry-about-in-2022/afghanistan/</a> (last
visited Apr. 8, 2022).
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i. Taliban
Following the withdrawal of U.S. and NATO troops and collapse of
the Afghan military, armed conflict continues in Afghanistan as the
Taliban attempts to impose their rule across the country.\20\ Taliban
forces have clashed with remaining resistance fighters in Panjshir
Province \21\ and unknown and little-known groups, including
``Anonymous Fighters'' and ``Turkistan Freedom Tigers,'' have targeted
Taliban forces, notably in Jowzjan and Takhar provinces.\22\
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\20\ See Afghanistan Security situation update, Country of
Origin Information Report, European Asylum Support Office (EASO),
Sept. 9, 2021, available at: <a href="https://coi.easo.europa.eu/administration/easo/PLib/2021_09_EASO_COI_Report_Afghanistan_Security_situation_update.pdf">https://coi.easo.europa.eu/administration/easo/PLib/2021_09_EASO_COI_Report_Afghanistan_Security_situation_update.pdf</a>
(last visited Apr. 8, 2022).
\21\ Regional Overview: South Asia and Afghanistan 5-11 March
2022, ACLED, Mar. 2022, available at: <a href="https://acleddata.com/2022/03/16/regional-overview-south-asia-and-afghanistan-5-11-march-2022">https://acleddata.com/2022/03/16/regional-overview-south-asia-and-afghanistan-5-11-march-2022</a>
(last visited Apr. 8. 2022); Regional Overview: South Asia and
Afghanistan 19-25 February, ACLED, Feb. 2022, available at: <a href="https://acleddata.com/2022/03/03/regional-overview-south-asia-and-afghanistan-19-25-february-2022/">https://acleddata.com/2022/03/03/regional-overview-south-asia-and-afghanistan-19-25-february-2022/</a> (last visited Apr. 8, 2022).
\22\ Regional Overview: South Asia and Afghanistan 26 February
to 4 March 2022, ACLED, Mar. 2022, available at: <a href="https://acleddata.com/2022/03/10/regional-overview-south-asia-and-afghanistan-26-february-4-march-2022/">https://acleddata.com/2022/03/10/regional-overview-south-asia-and-afghanistan-26-february-4-march-2022/</a> (last visited Apr. 8, 2022);
Regional Overview: South Asia and Afghanistan 5-11 February 2022,
ACLED, Feb. 2022, available at: <a href="https://acleddata.com/2022/02/17/regional-overview-south-asia-and-afghanistan-5-11-february-2022/">https://acleddata.com/2022/02/17/regional-overview-south-asia-and-afghanistan-5-11-february-2022/</a>
(last visited Apr. 8, 2022).
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Despite their pledge not to do so, reports indicate that the
Taliban are targeting old adversaries including former Afghan police
and military personnel, increasing the potential for escalating armed
conflict.\23\ General instability in the country, including instability
caused by an economic crisis, increases the difficulty of establishing
security and thwarting the rise of further extremism.\24\
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\23\ Radio Azadi, Michael Scollon, Taliban Takes Revenge On
Former Afghan Security Forces, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Oct.
12, 2021, available at: <a href="https://gandhara.rferl.org/a/taliban-revenge-afghan-security-forces/31505696.html">https://gandhara.rferl.org/a/taliban-revenge-afghan-security-forces/31505696.html</a> (last visited Apr. 8.
2022).
\24\ Afghanistan's Collapsing Economy Heightens `Risk of
Extremism,' UN Envoy Warns, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Nov.
18, 2021, available at: <a href="https://gandhara.rferl.org/a/afghanistan-un-lyons-assets-humanitarian-crisis-hunger/31567075.html">https://gandhara.rferl.org/a/afghanistan-un-lyons-assets-humanitarian-crisis-hunger/31567075.html</a> (last visited
Apr. 8, 2022).
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The Taliban appear committed to maintaining its methods of warfare
that have taken a heavy toll on civilians, including retaining a
contingent of trained suicide bombers, as central to its combat and
political strategy.\25\ Though the Taliban pledged to not allow al-
Qaida to ``threaten the security of the United States and its allies''
from Afghan soil, veteran Taliban leaders with deep relationships with
al-Qaida organizers have returned to positions of power, raising
concern that the Taliban will once again create a safe space for global
jihadists.\26\ The Taliban have announced the appointment to positions
of power members of the Haqqani family, known for operating a brutal
terrorist network during the Taliban insurgency,\27\ and veteran
Taliban leaders with ties to al-Qaida.\28\
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\25\ Abubakar Siddique, As Taliban Attempts to Transform from
Insurgency to Government, Suicide Bombers Remain Key to Its
Strategy, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, November 4, 2021,
available at: <a href="https://gandhara.rferl.org/a/taliban-suicide-bombings-afghanistan/31546216.html">https://gandhara.rferl.org/a/taliban-suicide-bombings-afghanistan/31546216.html</a> (last visited Apr. 8, 2022).
\26\ Abubakar Siddique & Abdul Hai Kakar, Al-Qaeda Could
Flourish With New Strategy Under Taliban Rule, Radio Free Europe/
Radio Liberty, Sept. 30, 2021, available at: <a href="https://gandhara.rferl.org/a/afghanistan-al-qaeda-taliban/31486256.html">https://gandhara.rferl.org/a/afghanistan-al-qaeda-taliban/31486256.html</a>
(last visited Apr. 8, 2022); Driss El-Bay, Afghanistan: The pledge
binding al-Qaeda to the Taliban, BBC News, Sept. 7, 2021, available
at: <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-58473574">https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-58473574</a> (last visited Apr.
8, 2022).
\27\ Hardliners get key posts in new Taliban government, BBC
News, Sept. 7, 2021, available at: <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-58479750">https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-58479750</a> (last visited Apr. 8, 2022).
\28\ Hardliners get key posts in new Taliban government, BBC
News, Sept. 7, 2021, available at: <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-58479750">https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-58479750</a> (last visited Apr. 8, 2022).
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ii. Islamic State-Khorasan
The threat of ISIS-K is growing, with increasing risk to civilians.
The Department of State designated ISIS-K as a ``foreign terrorist
organization'' in
[[Page 30979]]
January 2016, and U.S. forces engaged in significant operations to
reduce its numbers and to reclaim the small swaths of territory that it
held.\29\ The Taliban have long engaged in efforts to eradicate the
organization, and they continue to fight a renewed ISIS-K insurgency,
frequently resulting in civilian casualties.\30\ ISIS-K claimed
responsibility for the August 26, 2021, suicide attack outside Kabul
airport, and has been behind some of the deadliest operations against
Afghan civilians.\31\ A feature of ISIS-K's attacks is large-scale IED
and suicide bombings of Hazara Shia mosques and gatherings, which are
dramatically increasing sectarian violence in Afghanistan.\32\
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\29\ Golnaz Esfandiari, Explainer: Who Are Islamic State-
Khorasan and What Are They After?, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty,
Aug. 27, 2021, available at: <a href="https://gandhara.rferl.org/a/islamic-state-khorasan-expainer/31431763.html">https://gandhara.rferl.org/a/islamic-state-khorasan-expainer/31431763.html</a> (last visited Apr. 8, 2022).
\30\ Golnaz Esfandiari, Explainer: Who Are Islamic State-
Khorasan and What Are They After?, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty,
Aug. 27, 2021, available at: <a href="https://gandhara.rferl.org/a/islamic-state-khorasan-expainer/31431763.html">https://gandhara.rferl.org/a/islamic-state-khorasan-expainer/31431763.html</a> (last visited Apr. 8, 2022).
\31\ Golnaz Esfandiari, Explainer: Who Are Islamic State-
Khorasan and What Are They After?, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty,
Aug. 27, 2021, available at: <a href="https://gandhara.rferl.org/a/islamic-state-khorasan-expainer/31431763.html">https://gandhara.rferl.org/a/islamic-state-khorasan-expainer/31431763.html</a> (last visited Apr. 8, 2022).
\32\ Golnaz Esfandiari, Explainer: Who Are Islamic State-
Khorasan and What Are They After?, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty,
Aug. 27, 2021, available at: <a href="https://gandhara.rferl.org/a/islamic-state-khorasan-expainer/31431763.html">https://gandhara.rferl.org/a/islamic-state-khorasan-expainer/31431763.html</a> (last visited Apr. 8, 2022).
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United Nations Special Representative for Afghanistan, Deborah
Lyons, indicated that the Taliban have been unable to stem the
expansion of ISIS-K, and that it now appears to be present in nearly
all provinces.\33\ As of November 17, 2021, she stated that the number
of attacks attributed to ISIS-K has increased significantly from 60
last year to 334 this year.\34\ The Armed Conflict Location & Event
Data Project (ACLED), a non-profit data collection, analysis, and
crisis mapping project, reports multiple recent attacks by ISIS-K
during the months of October and November 2021, including engagements
with the Taliban and targeting of civilians.\35\
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\33\ Afghanistan's Collapsing Economy Heightens `Risk Of
Extremism,' UN Envoy Warns, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Nov.
18, 2021, available at: <a href="https://gandhara.rferl.org/a/afghanistan-un-lyons-assets-humanitarian-crisis-hunger/31567075.html">https://gandhara.rferl.org/a/afghanistan-un-lyons-assets-humanitarian-crisis-hunger/31567075.html</a> (last visited
Apr. 8, 2022).
\34\ Afghanistan's Collapsing Economy Heightens `Risk Of
Extremism,' UN Envoy Warns, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Nov.
18, 2021, available at: <a href="https://gandhara.rferl.org/a/afghanistan-un-lyons-assets-humanitarian-crisis-hunger/31567075.html">https://gandhara.rferl.org/a/afghanistan-un-lyons-assets-humanitarian-crisis-hunger/31567075.html</a> (last visited
Apr. 8, 2022).
\35\ Regional Overview: South Asia and Afghanistan 30 October to
5 November 2021, ACLED, Nov. 2021, available at: <a href="https://acleddata.com/2021/11/11/regional-overview-south-asia-and-afghanistan-30-october-5-november-2021/">https://acleddata.com/2021/11/11/regional-overview-south-asia-and-afghanistan-30-october-5-november-2021/</a> (last visited Apr. 8, 2022).
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iii. Destruction of Infrastructure
Afghanistan faces significant challenges due to the destruction of
vital infrastructure during armed conflict. There are numerous reports
that the Taliban targeted power stations and distribution equipment,
dug up roads and destroyed bridges, destroyed cell towers and
communications infrastructure, and damaged schools, medical facilities,
and government buildings during their insurgency.\36\ The education
system is also at risk of complete collapse due to the economic
crisis.\37\
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\36\ Statement on Continuation of Assassinations, Kidnappings,
and Destruction of Vital Infrastructure, US Embassy in Afghanistan,
Jan. 31, 2021, available at: <a href="https://af.usembassy.gov/statement-on-continuation-of-assassinations-kidnappings-and-destruction-of-vital-infrastructure/">https://af.usembassy.gov/statement-on-continuation-of-assassinations-kidnappings-and-destruction-of-vital-infrastructure/</a> (last visited May 3, 2022); Secretary-General's
press encounter on Afghanistan, U.N. Secretary-General, Aug. 13,
2021, available at: <a href="https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/secretary-general%E2%80%99s-press-encounter-afghanistan">https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/secretary-general%E2%80%99s-press-encounter-afghanistan</a> (last visited Apr. 8,
2022); Sayed Salahuddin, 10 killed in twin Kabul blasts, power
supply disrupted across Afghanistan, Arab News, Jun. 2, 2021,
available at: <a href="https://www.arabnews.com/node/1869436/world">https://www.arabnews.com/node/1869436/world</a> (last
visited May 3, 2022); Anisa Shaheed, Taliban Destroyed, Damaged
Infrastructure in 116 Districts: IARCS, TOLOnews, Jul. 15, 2021,
available at: <a href="https://tolonews.com/afghanistan-173540">https://tolonews.com/afghanistan-173540</a> (last visited
May 3, 2022); Country of Origin Information Report: Afghanistan
Security Situation Update, European Asylum Support Office (EASO),
Sep. 2021, available at: <a href="https://coi.euaa.europa.eu/administration/easo/PLib/2021_09_EASO_COI_Report_Afghanistan_Security_situation_update.pdf">https://coi.euaa.europa.eu/administration/easo/PLib/2021_09_EASO_COI_Report_Afghanistan_Security_situation_update.pdf</a>
(last visited May 3, 2022).
\37\ Four Ways to Support Girls' Access to Education in
Afghanistan, Human Rights Watch, Mar. 20, 2022, available at:
<a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/03/20/four-ways-support-girls-access-education-afghanistan">https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/03/20/four-ways-support-girls-access-education-afghanistan</a> (last visited Apr. 8, 2022).
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During the Taliban insurgency in the first half of 2021, the ``39
electricity pylons that bring imported power into Afghanistan [were]
damaged.'' \38\ Power supply subsequently became ``extremely erratic
even in the capital Kabul,'' with notable disruptions to Kunduz,
Baghlan, Kabul, Nangarhar and Parwan provinces.\39\ ``Millions of
Afghans have become intimately familiar with regular power cuts and
being forced to navigate daily tasks and chores with just a few hours
of electricity supply.'' \40\
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\38\ Ruchi Kumar, Taliban targeting Afghanistan's crucial power,
IT infrastructure, Al Jazeera, Jul. 15, 2021, available at: <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/7/15/taliban-afghanistan-it-electricity-power">https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/7/15/taliban-afghanistan-it-electricity-power</a> (last visited Apr. 8, 2022).
\39\ Ruchi Kumar, Taliban targeting Afghanistan's crucial power,
IT infrastructure, Al Jazeera, Jul. 15, 2021, available at: <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/7/15/taliban-afghanistan-it-electricity-power">https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/7/15/taliban-afghanistan-it-electricity-power</a> (last visited Apr. 8, 2022).
\40\ Ruchi Kumar, Taliban targeting Afghanistan's crucial power,
IT infrastructure, Al Jazeera, Jul. 15, 2021, available at: <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/7/15/taliban-afghanistan-it-electricity-power">https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/7/15/taliban-afghanistan-it-electricity-power</a> (last visited Apr. 8, 2022); Blasts cut power to millions in
Afghanistan before Eid holiday, Al Jazeera, Apr. 30, 2022, available
at: <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/4/30/blasts-cut-power-to-millions-in-afghanistan-ahead-of-eid">https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/4/30/blasts-cut-power-to-millions-in-afghanistan-ahead-of-eid</a> (last visited May 4, 2022).
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In July 2021, the Taliban reportedly frequently attacked power and
communications infrastructure in their advance, blowing up fiber optics
systems and destroying telecommunications antennas across the country,
seriously affecting digital and mobile communication.\41\ The Taliban
reportedly either torched or destroyed 260 government buildings and
assets in 116 districts,\42\ leaving more than 13 million people
without access to public services and halting ``hundreds of development
projects such as the reconstruction of water supply networks, roads,
retaining walls, the construction of schools, bridges, hospitals,
stadiums, cold storage facilities, [and] drilling wells.'' \43\ The
armed conflict left the Afghan countryside ``littered with abandoned
and decaying power plants, prisons, schools, factories, office
buildings and military bases.'' \44\
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\41\ Ruchi Kumar, Taliban targeting Afghanistan's crucial power,
IT infrastructure, Al Jazeera, Jul. 15, 2021, available at: <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/7/15/taliban-afghanistan-it-electricity-power">https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/7/15/taliban-afghanistan-it-electricity-power</a> (last visited Apr. 8, 2022).
\42\ Anisa Shaheed, Taliban Destroyed, Damaged Infrastructure in
116 Districts: IARCS, TOLO News, Jul. 15, 2021, available at:
<a href="https://tolonews.com/afghanistan-173540">https://tolonews.com/afghanistan-173540</a> (last visited Apr. 8, 2022).
\43\ Anisa Shaheed, Taliban Destroyed, Damaged Infrastructure in
116 Districts: IARCS, TOLO News, Jul. 15, 2021, available at:
<a href="https://tolonews.com/afghanistan-173540">https://tolonews.com/afghanistan-173540</a> (last visited Apr. 8, 2022).
\44\ Daniel Nasaw, U.S. Left Afghanistan Littered With Decaying
Factories, Schools, Offices, Wall Street Journal, Sept. 6, 2021,
available at: <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-left-afghanistan-littered-with-decaying-factories-schools-offices-11630933200">https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-left-afghanistan-littered-with-decaying-factories-schools-offices-11630933200</a> (last
visited Apr. 8, 2022).
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iv. Danger From Explosive Remnants of War Including Landmines
Explosive remnants of war (ERW) which failed to detonate, including
landmines, pose a significant risk to civilians in Afghanistan, killing
or injuring tens of thousands during the past three decades.\45\ These
munitions ``from more recent armed clashes caused over 98 percent of
the [ERW] casualties recorded in 2021,'' of which more than 79 percent
were children.\46\ And ``[d]ue to evolving conflict dynamics,
Afghanistan's humanitarian mine action needs are now as great as they
have ever
[[Page 30980]]
been.'' \47\ The Taliban have reportedly agreed to permit the HALO
Trust (Hazardous Area Life-Support Organization), a British-American
charity in Afghanistan that has been clearing land mines for decades,
to continue its work,\48\ yet in June 2021 ISIS-K militants attacked
HALO staff members, killing 10, suggesting that they continue to face
substantial risk.\49\ In addition, the organization reports that new
mines and explosive devices were laid and left behind in the battles
leading up to the Taliban's takeover of Kabul.\50\
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\45\ Afghanistan, The United Nations Mine Action Service
(UNMAS), Mar. 2022, available at: <a href="https://www.unmas.org/en/programmes/afghanistan">https://www.unmas.org/en/programmes/afghanistan</a> (last visited May 4, 2022).
\46\ Afghanistan, The United Nations Mine Action Service
(UNMAS), Mar. 2022, available at: <a href="https://www.unmas.org/en/programmes/afghanistan">https://www.unmas.org/en/programmes/afghanistan</a> (last visited May 4, 2022).
\47\ Afghanistan, The United Nations Mine Action Service
(UNMAS), Mar. 2022, available at: <a href="https://www.unmas.org/en/programmes/afghanistan">https://www.unmas.org/en/programmes/afghanistan</a> (last visited May 4, 2022).
\48\ Clearing Afghanistan's Landmines One Careful Step a Time,
Voice of America (VOA) News, Nov. 21, 2021, available at: <a href="https://www.voanews.com/a/clearing-afghanistan-s-landmines-one-careful-step-a-time/6318080.html">https://www.voanews.com/a/clearing-afghanistan-s-landmines-one-careful-step-a-time/6318080.html</a> (last visited Apr. 28, 2022).
\49\ Najim Rahim & Mike Ives, Attack in Afghanistan Kills 10
From Charity That Clears Land Mines, N.Y. Times, Jun. 9, 2021,
available at: <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/09/world/asia/afghanistan-land-mines-halo-trust.html">https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/09/world/asia/afghanistan-land-mines-halo-trust.html</a> (last visited Apr. 8, 2022).
\50\ Clearing Afghanistan's Landmines One Careful Step a Time,
Voice of America (VOA) News, Nov. 21, 2021, available at: <a href="https://www.voanews.com/a/clearing-afghanistan-s-landmines-one-careful-step-a-time/6318080.html">https://www.voanews.com/a/clearing-afghanistan-s-landmines-one-careful-step-a-time/6318080.html</a> (last visited Apr. 28, 2022).
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v. Rising Internal Displacement
Rising internal displacement emanates from the ongoing armed
conflict and the unstable security situation in Afghanistan. Land
pressures and related disputes have also been a challenge in
Afghanistan, fueling displacements, and complicating the security and
relocation options for internally displaced persons (IDPs).\51\ As of
March 15, 2022, UNHCR reported there were approximately 3.4 million
conflict-induced IDPs in Afghanistan--with 736,889 of those added in
2021.\52\ The United Nations Office for the Coordination of
Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) noted that these IDPs are from 33 out of
the 34 provinces in Afghanistan, and 79 percent of those added in 2021
are women and children.\53\ UNOCHA further stated, ``[i]nadequate
shelter, food insecurity, insufficient access to sanitation and health
facilities, as well as a lack of protection, often result in precarious
living conditions that jeopardizes the well-being and dignity of
affected families.'' \54\ Reports reflect that the Taliban exacerbated
the IDP problem by forcing thousands of people from their homes,
including Hazaras as well as former government officials, and
redistributing their property to Taliban supporters.\55\
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\51\ See Land, People, and the State in Afghanistan: 2002-2012,
Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit (AREU), Feb. 2013,
available at: <a href="http://www.refworld.org/docid/5136fbc72.html">http://www.refworld.org/docid/5136fbc72.html</a> (last
visited Apr. 8, 2022); Gulamaiz Sharifi, Abubakar Siddique, Afghan
Hazaras Fear The Worst After Forced Taliban Evictions, Radio Free
Europe/Radio Liberty, Oct. 6, 2021, available at: <a href="https://gandhara.rferl.org/a/afghanistan-hazaras-taliban/31496224.html">https://gandhara.rferl.org/a/afghanistan-hazaras-taliban/31496224.html</a> (last
visited Apr. 8, 2022).
\52\ Flash External Update: Afghanistan Situation #15, U.N. High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Mar. 15, 2022, available at:
<a href="https://data2.unhcr.org/en/documents/details/91524">https://data2.unhcr.org/en/documents/details/91524</a> (last visited
Apr. 8, 2022).
\53\ Afghanistan: Conflict Induced Displacements, U.N. Office
for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), Nov. 21,
2021, available at: <a href="https://www.humanitarianresponse.info/en/operations/afghanistan/idps">https://www.humanitarianresponse.info/en/operations/afghanistan/idps</a> (last visited Apr. 8, 2022).
\54\ Afghanistan: Conflict Induced Displacements, U.N. Office
for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), Nov. 21,
2021, available at: <a href="https://www.humanitarianresponse.info/en/operations/afghanistan/idps">https://www.humanitarianresponse.info/en/operations/afghanistan/idps</a> (last visited Apr. 8, 2022).
\55\ Emma Graham-Harrison, Taliban `forcibly evicting' Hazaras
and opponents in Afghanistan, The Guardian, Oct. 23, 2021, available
at: <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/oct/23/taliban-forcibly-evicting-hazaras-and-opponents-in-afghanistan">https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/oct/23/taliban-forcibly-evicting-hazaras-and-opponents-in-afghanistan</a> (last visited Apr. 8,
2022).
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Economic Collapse and Health Concerns
i. Economic Impacts of Taliban Takeover
Economic ramifications of the Taliban takeover in August 2021
include ``millions of dollars in lost income, spiking prices, a
liquidity crisis, and shortages of cash.'' \56\ The cessation of
purchasing power of the Afghan population as a result of the
termination of international assistance once used to pay salaries has
caused an ``enormous number of Afghan households [to] immediately
los[e] their primary sources of income. According to a World Food
Program survey released in February 2022, four out of five households
reported no income or significantly reduced incomes in January 2022.''
\57\ In October 2021, the World Bank noted that ``the sudden loss of
public sector activity will have impacts throughout the economy,
especially in the service and construction sectors (which account for
58 percent of GDP).'' \58\
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\56\ Afghanistan Facing Famine, UN, World Bank, US Should Adjust
Sanctions, Economic Policies, Human Rights Watch, Nov. 11, 2021,
available at: <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/11/11/afghanistan-facing-famine">https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/11/11/afghanistan-facing-famine</a> (last visited Apr. 8, 2022).
\57\ Afghanistan: Economic Roots of the Humanitarian Crisis,
Questions and Answers on Human Costs of Sanctions, Banking
Restrictions, Human Rights Watch, Mar. 1, 2022, available at:
<a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/03/01/afghanistan-economic-roots-humanitarian-crisis?gclid=Cj0KCQjw5-WRBhCKARIsAAId9Fnpi5weaKquaERnky8T0Ry0t9FSOsR2mWY_nGA5NmEA3iRz1L8BjF4aAkmGEALw_wcB#_Why_did_the">https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/03/01/afghanistan-economic-roots-humanitarian-crisis?gclid=Cj0KCQjw5-WRBhCKARIsAAId9Fnpi5weaKquaERnky8T0Ry0t9FSOsR2mWY_nGA5NmEA3iRz1L8BjF4aAkmGEALw_wcB#_Why_did_the</a> (last visited Apr. 8, 2022).
\58\ The World Bank in Afghanistan Overview, The World Bank,
Oct. 8, 2021, available at: <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/afghanistan/overview#1">https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/afghanistan/overview#1</a> (last visited Apr. 8, 2022).
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In November 2021, the Taliban banned the use of foreign currency,
which may ``further disrupt an economy on the brink of collapse.'' \59\
Banking officials note that ``most Afghan banks cannot cover
withdrawals by private actors and aid organizations'' and ``[e]ven when
funds are transmitted electronically into banks, the lack of cash means
that money is not physically available and therefore cannot flow into
the country's economy.'' \60\ When compared to the Taliban's previous
peak in the 1990s, ``poverty this time can only be predicted to be
worse and more keenly felt.'' \61\ As of February 2022, the UN
Development Programme (UNDP) could not access its funds in the
Afghanistan International Bank (AIB) for program implementation because
the Taliban-run AIB cannot convert it to Afghani currency.\62\ Of the
$4 billion worth of afghanis, in the economy, only $500 million worth
was in circulation, ``hindering humanitarian operations in Afghanistan,
where more than half the country's 39 million people suffer extreme
hunger and the economy, education and social services face collapse.''
\63\
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\59\ Taliban bans foreign currencies in Afghanistan, BBC News,
Nov. 3, 2021, available at: <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/business-59129470">https://www.bbc.com/news/business-59129470</a> (last visited Apr. 8, 2022).
\60\ Afghanistan Facing Famine, UN, World Bank, US Should Adjust
Sanctions, Economic Policies, Human Rights Watch, Nov. 11, 2021,
available at: <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/11/11/afghanistan-facing-famine">https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/11/11/afghanistan-facing-famine</a> (last visited Apr. 8, 2022).
\61\ Kate Clark, Killing the Goose that Laid the Golden Egg:
Afghanistan's economic distress post-15 August, Afghanistan Analysts
Network, Nov. 11, 2021, available at: <a href="https://www.afghanistan-analysts.org/en/reports/economy-development-environment/killing-the-goose-that-laid-the-golden-egg-afghanistans-economic-distress-post-15-august/">https://www.afghanistan-analysts.org/en/reports/economy-development-environment/killing-the-goose-that-laid-the-golden-egg-afghanistans-economic-distress-post-15-august/</a> (last visited Apr. 8, 2022).
\62\ Michelle Nichols, U.N. has millions in Afghanistan bank,
but cannot use it, Reuters, Feb. 3, 2022, available at: <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/un-has-millions-afghanistan-bank-cannot-use-it-2022-02-03/">https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/un-has-millions-afghanistan-bank-cannot-use-it-2022-02-03/</a> (last visited May 4, 2022).
\63\ Michelle Nichols, U.N. has millions in Afghanistan bank,
but cannot use it, Reuters, Feb. 3, 2022, available at: <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/un-has-millions-afghanistan-bank-cannot-use-it-2022-02-03/">https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/un-has-millions-afghanistan-bank-cannot-use-it-2022-02-03/</a> (last visited May 4, 2022).
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ii. Access to Food, Potable Water, and Healthcare
Rising prices, increasing unemployment, and a drop in the value of
the local currency exacerbate food insecurity trends.\64\ The Executive
Director of the World Food Programme
[[Page 30981]]
(WFP) described the likelihood of widespread famine in Afghanistan as
``the worst humanitarian crisis on Earth.'' \65\ One in three Afghan
nationals are acutely food insecure.\66\ For the first time, urban and
rural areas now experience similar rates of food insecurity.\67\
According to recent WFP surveys, ``only five percent of households in
Afghanistan have enough to eat every day'' and ``half reported they had
run out of food altogether at least once, in the past two weeks.'' \68\
As a result of current circumstances, some families are selling their
children, especially girls, to obtain food.\69\
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\64\ In the grip of hunger: Only 5 percent of Afghan families
have enough to eat, World Food Programme, Sept. 23, 2021, available
at: <a href="https://www.wfp.org/stories/grip-hunger-only-5-percent-afghan-families-have-enough-eat">https://www.wfp.org/stories/grip-hunger-only-5-percent-afghan-families-have-enough-eat</a> (last visited Apr. 8, 2022).
\65\ John Simpson, Afghans facing `hell on earth' as winter
looms, BBC News, Nov. 8, 2021, available at: <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-59202880">https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-59202880</a> (last visited Apr. 8, 2022).
\66\ Federica Marsi, Medics overwhelmed as Afghanistan
healthcare crumbles, Al Jazeera, Sept. 28, 2021, available at:
<a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2021/9/28/medics-in-afghanistan-face-tough-choices-as-healthcare-crumbles">https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2021/9/28/medics-in-afghanistan-face-tough-choices-as-healthcare-crumbles</a> (last visited Apr. 8,
2022).
\67\ Afghanistan's healthcare system on brink of collapse, as
hunger hits 95 per cent of families, UN News, Sept. 22, 2021,
available at: <a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2021/09/1100652">https://news.un.org/en/story/2021/09/1100652</a> (last
visited Apr. 8, 2022).
\68\ Afghanistan's healthcare system on brink of collapse, as
hunger hits 95 per cent of families, UN News, Sept. 22, 2021,
available at: <a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2021/09/1100652">https://news.un.org/en/story/2021/09/1100652</a> (last
visited Apr. 8, 2022).
\69\ Afghanistan Facing Famine, UN, World Bank, US Should Adjust
Sanctions, Economic Policies, Human Rights Watch, Nov. 11, 2021,
available at: <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/11/11/afghanistan-facing-famine">https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/11/11/afghanistan-facing-famine</a> (last visited Apr. 8, 2022).
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The Afghan government officially declared a drought on June 22,
2021.\70\ Considered ``one of the worst droughts of the last two
decades,'' the resulting conditions ``are particularly severe in the
south, western, and northwestern parts of the country.'' \71\ Severe
drought has impacted 7.3 million people across 25 out of 34
provinces.\72\ The U.S. Special Inspector General for Afghanistan
Reconstruction (SIGAR) reports that ``drought conditions are likely to
persist and even worsen into 2022, further deteriorating food security
among Afghans.'' \73\ The current drought also ``inhibits hydroelectric
production in Afghanistan,'' exacerbating the country's reliance on
electricity imports that it can no longer afford.\74\ In 2021,
``reduced winter snowfall'' and ``below average spring rainfall in the
west'' contributed to ``low river flows and insufficient water in
existing reservoirs and dams.'' \75\ Some drinking water wells in Kabul
went dry due to decreasing groundwater levels, and ``...the groundwater
table (meaning the level of the water naturally stored underground) in
Kabul city has dropped by 12 meters in 2021 alone.'' \76\
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\70\ Quarterly Report to the United States Congress, SIGAR--
Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, Oct. 30,
2021, available at: <a href="https://www.ecoi.net/en/file/local/2063773/2021-10-30qr.pdf">https://www.ecoi.net/en/file/local/2063773/2021-10-30qr.pdf</a> (last visited Apr. 8, 2022).
\71\ Global Warming and Afghanistan: Drought, hunger, and thirst
expected to worsen, Afghanistan Analysts Network, Nov. 6, 2021,
available at: <a href="https://www.afghanistan-analysts.org/en/reports/economy-development-environment/global-warming-and-afghanistan-drought-hunger-and-thirst-expected-to-worsen/">https://www.afghanistan-analysts.org/en/reports/economy-development-environment/global-warming-and-afghanistan-drought-hunger-and-thirst-expected-to-worsen/</a> (last visited Apr. 8,
2022).
\72\ `Shah Meer Baloch, `The challenge for us now is drought,
not war': Livelihoods of millions of Afghans at risk, The Guardian,
Sept. 21, 2021, available at: <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2021/sep/21/drought-war-livelihoods-afghan-farmers-risk-taliban-security-forces-kandahar">https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2021/sep/21/drought-war-livelihoods-afghan-farmers-risk-taliban-security-forces-kandahar</a> (last visited on Apr. 8, 2022).
\73\ Quarterly Report to the United States Congress, SIGAR--
Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, Oct. 30,
2021, available at: <a href="https://www.ecoi.net/en/file/local/2063773/2021-10-30qr.pdf">https://www.ecoi.net/en/file/local/2063773/2021-10-30qr.pdf</a> (last visited Apr. 8, 2022).
\74\ Quarterly Report to the United States Congress, SIGAR--
Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, Oct. 30,
2021, available at: <a href="https://www.ecoi.net/en/file/local/2063773/2021-10-30qr.pdf">https://www.ecoi.net/en/file/local/2063773/2021-10-30qr.pdf</a> (last visited Apr. 8, 2022).
\75\ Global Warming and Afghanistan: Drought, hunger, and thirst
expected to worsen, Afghanistan Analysts Network, Nov. 6, 2021,
available at: <a href="https://www.afghanistan-analysts.org/en/reports/economy-development-environment/global-warming-and-afghanistan-drought-hunger-and-thirst-expected-to-worsen/">https://www.afghanistan-analysts.org/en/reports/economy-development-environment/global-warming-and-afghanistan-drought-hunger-and-thirst-expected-to-worsen/</a> (last visited Apr. 8,
2022).
\76\ Global Warming and Afghanistan: Drought, hunger, and thirst
expected to worsen, Afghanistan Analysts Network, Nov. 6, 2021,
available at: <a href="https://www.afghanistan-analysts.org/en/reports/economy-development-environment/global-warming-and-afghanistan-drought-hunger-and-thirst-expected-to-worsen/">https://www.afghanistan-analysts.org/en/reports/economy-development-environment/global-warming-and-afghanistan-drought-hunger-and-thirst-expected-to-worsen/</a> (last visited Apr. 8,
2022).
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An insufficiently staffed healthcare system predated the Taliban
takeover of Kabul.\77\ In 2018, Afghanistan ``had a nationwide average
of only 4.6 medical doctors, nurses, and midwives per 10,000 people,
far below the WHO threshold of 23 per 10,000 people,'' indicating a
critical shortage that was more pronounced in rural areas.\78\ By
September 2021, the World Health Organization (WHO) asserted that the
healthcare system was on the brink of collapse.\79\ The World Bank and
other organizations froze approximately $600 million in health care
aid, leaving at risk the effective deployment of a variety of
treatments, surgeries, immunizations, and procedures.\80\ While there
have been recent dispersals of international aid, ``including $308
million in relief authorized by the United States, they have not been
enough to cover 1,200 health facilities and 11,000 health workers.''
\81\
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\77\ Quarterly Report to the United States Congress, SIGAR--
Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, p. 139,
Oct. 30, 2021, available at: <a href="https://www.ecoi.net/en/file/local/2063773/2021-10-30qr.pdf">https://www.ecoi.net/en/file/local/2063773/2021-10-30qr.pdf</a> (last visited Apr. 8, 2022).
\78\ Quarterly Report to the United States Congress, SIGAR--
Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, p. 139,
Oct. 30, 2021, available at: <a href="https://www.ecoi.net/en/file/local/2063773/2021-10-30qr.pdf">https://www.ecoi.net/en/file/local/2063773/2021-10-30qr.pdf</a> (last visited Apr. 8, 2022).
\79\ Afghanistan's healthcare system on brink of collapse, as
hunger hits 95 per cent of families, UN News, Sept. 22, 2021,
available at: <a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2021/09/1100652">https://news.un.org/en/story/2021/09/1100652</a> (last
visited Apr. 8, 2022).
\80\ Apoorva Mandavilli, Health Care in Afghanistan Is
Crumbling, Aid Groups Warn, N.Y. Times, Sept. 12, 2021, available
at: <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/12/health/afghanistan-health-taliban.html">https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/12/health/afghanistan-health-taliban.html</a> (last visited Apr. 8, 2022).
\81\ Afghanistan's Health Care System Is Collapsing Under
Stress, N.Y. Times, Feb. 06, 2022, available at: <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/06/world/asia/afghanistans-health-care-system.html">https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/06/world/asia/afghanistans-health-care-system.html</a> (last visited May 3, 2022).
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Declining staffing levels is a factor during the recent conflict as
doctors, nurses, and midwives have ``stopped working or fled the
country'' \82\ and there have been reported incidents of insurgent
groups targeting healthcare workers with threats, intimidation,
abduction, and killings.\83\ Additionally, Taliban restrictions
requiring that women be escorted to health appointments by male family
members and bans on male healthcare professionals treating women are
further compromising women's access to health care.\84\ The
International Rescue Committee has predicted that 90 percent of health
clinics in Afghanistan will likely close in the near future as a result
of the Taliban takeover and the freezing of international funding.\85\
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\82\ Country Policy and Information Note Afghanistan: Medical
treatment and healthcare, UK Home Office, p. 10, Oct. 2021,
available at: <a href="https://www.ecoi.net/en/file/local/2062549/AFG_CPIN_Medical_and_healthcare.pdf">https://www.ecoi.net/en/file/local/2062549/AFG_CPIN_Medical_and_healthcare.pdf</a> (last visited Apr. 8, 2022)
(citing Giving birth under the Taliban, BBC News, Sept. 20, 2021,
available at: <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-58585323">https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-58585323</a>).
\83\ Country Guidance: Afghanistan, Common analysis and guidance
note, European Asylum Support Office (EASO), p. 65, Nov. 2021.
available at: <a href="https://www.easo.europa.eu/sites/default/files/Country_Guidance_Afghanistan_2021.pdf">https://www.easo.europa.eu/sites/default/files/Country_Guidance_Afghanistan_2021.pdf</a> (last visited Apr. 8, 2022).
\84\ Afghanistan: Economic Roots of the Humanitarian Crisis,
Questions and Answers on Human Costs of Sanctions, Banking
Restrictions, Human Rights Watch, Mar. 1, 2022, available at:
<a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/03/01/afghanistan-economic-roots-humanitarian-crisis?gclid=Cj0KCQjw5-WRBhCKARIsAAId9Fnpi5weaKquaERnky8T0Ry0t9FSOsR2mWY_nGA5NmEA3iRz1L8BjF4aAkmGEALw_wcB#_Why_did_the">https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/03/01/afghanistan-economic-roots-humanitarian-crisis?gclid=Cj0KCQjw5-WRBhCKARIsAAId9Fnpi5weaKquaERnky8T0Ry0t9FSOsR2mWY_nGA5NmEA3iRz1L8BjF4aAkmGEALw_wcB#_Why_did_the</a> (last visited Apr. 8, 2022).
\85\ Crisis in Afghanistan: Unprecedented hunger after the
conflict, International Rescue Committee, Jan. 7, 2022, available
at: <a href="https://www.rescue.org/article/crisis-afghanistan-unprecedented-hunger-after-conflict">https://www.rescue.org/article/crisis-afghanistan-unprecedented-hunger-after-conflict</a> (last visited Apr. 8, 2022).
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Human Rights Abuses and Repression
The Taliban exclude women, as well as non-Pashtuns with only a few
exceptions,\86\ and have been described
[[Page 30982]]
as highly totalitarian.\87\ The Taliban's takeover presents significant
concerns about the stability of human rights and safety for segments of
the population.
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\86\ Alissa J. Rubin, Taliban Complete Interim Government, Still
Without Women, N.Y. Times, Sept. 21, 2021, available at: <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/21/world/asia/taliban-women-government.html">https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/21/world/asia/taliban-women-government.html</a>
(last visited Apr. 8, 2022).
\87\ Nilofar Sakhi, The Humanitarian and Human Security Crises
in Afghanistan, Middle East Institute (MEI), Oct. 12, 2021,
available at: <a href="https://www.mei.edu/publications/humanitarian-and-human-security-crises-afghanistan">https://www.mei.edu/publications/humanitarian-and-human-security-crises-afghanistan</a> (last visited Apr. 8, 2022).
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i. Women and Girls
Despite substantial improvements in the social, political, and
economic conditions for women and girls since 2001, violence targeting
women and girls remained pervasive in Afghanistan before the Taliban
takeover.\88\ Even before the Taliban takeover of Kabul,
``discrimination, harassment, and violence against women'' were
``endemic in government-controlled areas and in government
ministries.'' \89\ Studies cited by the former Ministry of Women's
Affairs showed that greater than half of Afghan women reported physical
abuse, and 17 percent reported sexual violence, with rampant
underreporting.\90\ Since August 2021, the status of women and girls
has become ``increasingly precarious,'' with reports of new
restrictions placed on women.\91\ In September 2021, the Taliban
announced the revival of the so-called Ministry for the Propagation of
Virtue and Prevention of Vice,\92\ which when it previously existed,
``became a notorious symbol of abuse, particularly against women and
girls.'' \93\ These developments exist within a broader context of
``traditional, restrictive views of gender roles and rights, including
some views consistent with the Taliban's former practices . . .
especially in rural areas and among younger men.'' \94\
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\88\ Country Guidance: Afghanistan--Common analysis and guidance
note, European Asylum Support Office (EASO), p. 78, Nov. 2021,
available at: <a href="https://www.easo.europa.eu/sites/default/files/Country_Guidance_Afghanistan_2021.pdf">https://www.easo.europa.eu/sites/default/files/Country_Guidance_Afghanistan_2021.pdf</a> (last visited Apr. 8, 2022).
\89\ Afghan Women and Girls: Status and Congressional Action,
Congressional Research Service, p. 1, updated Aug. 18, 2021,
available at: <a href="https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/IF/IF11646">https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/IF/IF11646</a>
(last visited Apr. 8, 2022).
\90\ Alissa J. Rubin, Threats and Fear Cause Afghan Women's
Protections to Vanish Overnight, N.Y. Times, Sept. 4, 2021, updated
October 7, 2021, available at: <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/04/world/middleeast/afghanistan-women-shelter-taliban.html">https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/04/world/middleeast/afghanistan-women-shelter-taliban.html</a> (last
visited Apr. 8, 2022).
\91\ Afghan Women and Girls: Status and Congressional Action,
Congressional Research Service, p. 1, updated Aug. 18, 2021,
available at: <a href="https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/IF/IF11646">https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/IF/IF11646</a>
(last visited Apr. 8, 2022).
\92\ Afghanistan: Taliban `Vice' Handbook Abusive,
Discriminatory Rules, Ignored Protections, Human Rights Watch, Oct.
29, 2021, available at: <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/10/29/afghanistan-taliban-vice-handbook-abusive">https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/10/29/afghanistan-taliban-vice-handbook-abusive</a> (last visited Apr. 8,
2022); Haq Nawaz Khan, Ellen Francis, and Adam Taylor, The Taliban
is bringing back its feared ministry of `vice' and `virtue', The
Washington Post, Sept. 8, 2021, available at: <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/09/08/afghan-vice-virtue-ministry/">https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/09/08/afghan-vice-virtue-ministry/</a>
(last visited Apr. 15, 2022); Kathy Gannon, Taliban replace ministry
for women with `virtue' authorities, AP News, Sept. 18, 2021,
available at: <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/09/08/afghan-vice-virtue-ministry/">https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/09/08/afghan-vice-virtue-ministry/</a> (last visited Apr. 15, 2022).
\93\ Afghanistan: Taliban `Vice' Handbook Abusive,
Discriminatory Rules, Ignored Protections, Human Rights Watch, Oct.
29, 2021, available at: <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/10/29/afghanistan-taliban-vice-handbook-abusive">https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/10/29/afghanistan-taliban-vice-handbook-abusive</a> (last visited Apr. 8.
2022).
\94\ Afghan Women and Girls: Status and Congressional Action,
Congressional Research Service, p. 1, updated Aug. 18, 2021,
available at: <a href="https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/IF/IF11646">https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/IF/IF11646</a>
(last visited Apr. 8, 2022).
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Since August 2021, specialized courts and prosecution units,
``responsible for enforcing the 2009 Law on the Elimination of Violence
Against Women, have been discontinued.'' \95\ Many legal professionals
involved with women's protections from sexual, domestic, and other
violence went into hiding or fled the country, and most domestic
violence shelters have closed.\96\ As shelters closed some survivors
were reportedly sent to detention centers while individuals convicted
of gender-based violence were released by the Taliban. \97\
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\95\ Experts decry measures to `steadily erase' Afghan women and
girls from public life, United Nations News, Jan. 17, 2022,
available at: <a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/01/1109902">https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/01/1109902</a> (last
visited Apr. 8, 2022).
\96\ Fereshta Abbasi, Afghan Women Fleeing Violence Lose Vital
Protection, For Survivors of Abuse, Shelters Offered Lifeline, Human
Rights Watch, Sept. 24, 2021, available at: <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/09/24/afghan-women-fleeing-violence-lose-vital-protection">https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/09/24/afghan-women-fleeing-violence-lose-vital-protection</a>
(last visited Apr. 8, 2022).
\97\ Freedom of the World 2022, Afghanistan, Freedom House, Feb.
28, 2022, available at: <a href="https://freedomhouse.org/country/afghanistan/freedom-world/2022">https://freedomhouse.org/country/afghanistan/freedom-world/2022</a> (last visited Apr. 8. 2022).
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Afghan women are becoming ``socially invisible'' in public
life.\98\ The By-Law of the Commission for Preaching and Guidance,
Recruitment and Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, a
manual used by the Taliban in a number of provinces since August 2021,
and now across the country, place ``tough restrictions on the conduct
of women and girls.'' \99\ These authorities provide instruction on
which family members qualify to be a mahram, or chaperone, for women
and older girls, and commands women to wear a veil when in the presence
of non-mahrams.\100\ In some parts of the country, women have been
barred from leaving their home without a mahram \101\ and have been
attacked or blocked from receiving social services such as healthcare
when leaving their home without a mahram.\102\ The manual also requires
women to wear a hijab and veil in public.\103\ As punishments for non-
conformity, the Taliban has carried out lashings and executions.\104\
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\98\ Marie McAuliffe, Struggling to Survive: Gender,
Displacement, and Migration in Taliban-Controlled Afghanistan,
Center for Strategic & International Studies, Feb. 23, 2022, <a href="https://www.csis.org/analysis/struggling-survive-gender-displacement-and-migration-taliban-controlled-afghanistan">https://www.csis.org/analysis/struggling-survive-gender-displacement-and-migration-taliban-controlled-afghanistan</a> (last visited Apr. 8,
2022).
\99\ Afghanistan: Taliban `Vice' Handbook Abusive,
Discriminatory Rules, Ignored Protections, Human Rights Watch, Oct.
29, 2021, available at: <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/10/29/afghanistan-taliban-vice-handbook-abusive">https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/10/29/afghanistan-taliban-vice-handbook-abusive</a> (last visited Apr. 8.
2022).
\100\ Afghanistan: Taliban `Vice' Handbook Abusive,
Discriminatory Rules, Ignored Protections, Human Rights Watch, Oct.
29, 2021, available at: <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/10/29/afghanistan-taliban-vice-handbook-abusive">https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/10/29/afghanistan-taliban-vice-handbook-abusive</a> (last visited Apr. 8.
2022).
\101\ Country of Origin Information (COI) Brief Report,
Afghanistan: Recent developments in the security situation, impact
on civilians and targeted individuals, Ministry of Immigration and
Integration, The Danish Immigration Service, p. 1, Sept. 2021,
available at: <a href="https://www.ecoi.net/en/file/local/2060188/Afghanistan_Targetedindiv_FINAL.pdf">https://www.ecoi.net/en/file/local/2060188/Afghanistan_Targetedindiv_FINAL.pdf</a> (last visited Apr. 8, 2022).
\102\ Heather Barr, Afghan Women Watching the Walls Close In,
Taliban Crushes Women's Freedom of Movement and Other Rights, Human
Rights Watch, Mar. 2, 2022, available at: <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/03/02/afghan-women-watching-walls-close">https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/03/02/afghan-women-watching-walls-close</a> (last visited Apr. 8,
2022).
\103\ Afghanistan: Taliban `Vice' Handbook Abusive,
Discriminatory Rules, Ignored Protections, Human Rights Watch, Oct.
29, 2021, available at: <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/10/29/afghanistan-taliban-vice-handbook-abusive">https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/10/29/afghanistan-taliban-vice-handbook-abusive</a> (last visited Apr. 8.
2022).
\104\ Country Guidance: Afghanistan, Common analysis and
guidance note, European Asylum Support Office (EASO), p. 78, Nov.
2021, available at: <a href="https://www.easo.europa.eu/sites/default/files/Country_Guidance_Afghanistan_2021.pdf">https://www.easo.europa.eu/sites/default/files/Country_Guidance_Afghanistan_2021.pdf</a> (last visited Apr. 8, 2022).
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Reports indicate that women were forced to marry Taliban fighters
prior to the takeover of Kabul in 2021.\105\ Although the Taliban has
denied the occurrence of forced marriage, local activists report the
practice occurs, stating that women are being married as ``sexual
slaves.'' \106\ A statement shared
[[Page 30983]]
on social media featuring Taliban insignia instructed religious leaders
in Takhar and Badakhshan ``to refer girls older than 15 and widows
younger than 45'' to the ``Mujahideen Cultural Commission'' for
marriage to Taliban fighters.\107\
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\105\ Country of Origin Information (COI) Brief Report,
Afghanistan: Recent developments in the security situation, impact
on civilians and targeted individuals, Ministry of Immigration and
Integration, The Danish Immigration Service, p. 1, Sept. 2021,
available at: <a href="https://www.ecoi.net/en/file/local/2060188/Afghanistan_Targetedindiv_FINAL.pdf">https://www.ecoi.net/en/file/local/2060188/Afghanistan_Targetedindiv_FINAL.pdf</a> (last visited Apr. 8, 2022)
(citing Lynne O'Donnell, As Taliban Expand Control, Concerns About
Forced Marriage and Sex Slavery Rise, Foreign Policy, Jul. 23, 2021,
available at: <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/07/23/afghanistan-taliban-women-gender/">https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/07/23/afghanistan-taliban-women-gender/</a>; and Frud Bezhan & Mustafa Sarwar, Return To
The `Dark Days': Taliban Reimposes Repressive Laws On Women In Newly
Captured Areas in Afghanistan, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Jul.
14, 2021, available at: <a href="https://gandhara.rferl.org/a/taliban-repression-afghan-women/31358597.html">https://gandhara.rferl.org/a/taliban-repression-afghan-women/31358597.html</a>).
\106\ Country Policy and Information Note Afghanistan: Fear of
the Taliban [Version 1.0], UK Home Office, p. 33-34, Oct. 2021,
available at: <a href="https://www.ecoi.net/en/file/local/2061589/AFG_CPIN_Fear_of_the_Taliban.pdf">https://www.ecoi.net/en/file/local/2061589/AFG_CPIN_Fear_of_the_Taliban.pdf</a> (last visited Apr. 8, 2022) (citing
Taliban trying to force Afghan girls as young as 13 into marriage,
The National, Aug. 3, 2021, <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/asia/2021/08/03/taliban-trying-to-force-afghan-girls-as-young-as-13-into-marriage/">https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/asia/2021/08/03/taliban-trying-to-force-afghan-girls-as-young-as-13-into-marriage/</a>).
\107\ Country Policy and Information Note Afghanistan: Fear of
the Taliban [Version 1.0], UK Home Office, p. 33-34, Oct. 2021,
available at: <a href="https://www.ecoi.net/en/file/local/2061589/AFG_CPIN_Fear_of_the_Taliban.pdf">https://www.ecoi.net/en/file/local/2061589/AFG_CPIN_Fear_of_the_Taliban.pdf</a> (last visited Apr. 8, 2022) (citing
Taliban trying to force Afghan girls as young as 13 into marriage,
The National, August 3, 2021, available at: <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/asia/2021/08/03/taliban-trying-to-force-afghan-girls-as-young-as-13-into-marriage/">https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/asia/2021/08/03/taliban-trying-to-force-afghan-girls-as-young-as-13-into-marriage/</a>).
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The Taliban have banned girls from attending secondary school past
the sixth grade,\108\ although the Taliban permitted women to attend
universities in February 2022.\109\ Rules segregating teachers and
classes according to gender ``exacerbated a severe teacher shortage and
threaten to eliminate higher education opportunities for girls.'' \110\
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\108\ Fereshta Abbasi, Afghan Girls' Education: `I Don't Think I
Have a Future,' Closing Secondary Schools to Girls Causing Lasting
Harm, Human Rights Watch, Oct. 31, 2021, available at: <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/10/31/afghan-girls-education-i-dont-think-i-have-future">https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/10/31/afghan-girls-education-i-dont-think-i-have-future</a> (last visited Apr. 8, 2022).
\109\ Ayaz Gul, All Public Universities in Afghanistan Open to
Male, Female Students, Voice of America (VOA), Feb. 26, 2022,
available at: <a href="https://www.voanews.com/a/all-public-universities-in-afghanistan-open-to-male-female-students/6461202.html">https://www.voanews.com/a/all-public-universities-in-afghanistan-open-to-male-female-students/6461202.html</a> (last visited
Apr. 15, 2022); The Taliban closes Afghan girls' schools hours after
reopening, Al Jazeera, Mar. 23, 2022, available at: <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/3/23/taliban-orders-girls-schools-shut-hours-after-reopening">https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/3/23/taliban-orders-girls-schools-shut-hours-after-reopening</a> (last visited May 3, 2022).
\110\ Christina Goldbaum, Taliban Allow Girls to Return to Some
High Schools, but With Big Caveats, N.Y. Times, Oct. 27, 2021,
updated Nov. 3, 2021, available at: <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/27/world/asia/afghan-girls-school-taliban.html?searchResultPosition=8">https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/27/world/asia/afghan-girls-school-taliban.html?searchResultPosition=8</a> (last visited Apr. 8, 2022).
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Afghan women are unable to hold positions of authority in almost
all spheres of public life.\111\ They have been ``barred from paid
employment, except as teachers for girls and health-care workers.''
\112\ Women aid employees are allowed to work unconditionally in just
three out of 34 provinces.\113\ In the remaining provinces, ``women aid
workers face severe restrictions, such as requirements for a male
family member to escort them while they do their jobs, making it
difficult or impossible for them to do their job effectively.'' \114\
In the legal field, female lawyers and judges ``have left the courts
under Taliban pressure'' and ``live in a state of perpetual fear that
they or their loved ones could be tracked down and killed.'' \115\
Although Taliban representatives claim that female lawyers and judges
are protected by a general amnesty for all former government workers,
these women fear retribution for their work.\116\
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\111\ Marie McAuliffe, Struggling to Survive: Gender,
Displacement, and Migration in Taliban-Controlled Afghanistan,
Center for Strategic & International Studies, Feb. 23, 2022,
available at: <a href="https://www.csis.org/analysis/struggling-survive-gender-displacement-and-migration-taliban-controlled-afghanistan">https://www.csis.org/analysis/struggling-survive-gender-displacement-and-migration-taliban-controlled-afghanistan</a>
(last visited Apr. 8, 2022).
\112\ HRW Says Donors Should Link Afghan Aid to Taliban's
Observing Rights for Girls, Women, Gandahara Radio Free Europe/Radio
Liberty, Mar. 21, 2022, available at: <a href="https://gandhara.rferl.org/a/hrw-donors-afghan-aid-taliban-womens-rights/31762920.html">https://gandhara.rferl.org/a/hrw-donors-afghan-aid-taliban-womens-rights/31762920.html</a> (last
visited Apr. 8, 2022).
\113\ Afghanistan: Taliban Blocking Female Aid Workers, Human
Rights Watch, Nov. 4, 2021, available at: <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/11/04/afghanistan-taliban-blocking-female-aid-workers">https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/11/04/afghanistan-taliban-blocking-female-aid-workers</a> (last
visited Apr. 8, 2022).
\114\ Afghanistan: Taliban Blocking Female Aid Workers, Human
Rights Watch, Nov. 4, 2021, available at: <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/11/04/afghanistan-taliban-blocking-female-aid-workers">https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/11/04/afghanistan-taliban-blocking-female-aid-workers</a> (last
visited Apr. 8, 2022.
\115\ David Zucchino, Afghan Women Who Once Presided Over Abuse
Cases Now Fear for Their Lives, N.Y. Times, Oct. 20, 2021, updated
Oct. 22, 2021, available at: <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/21/world/asia/afghan-judges-women-taliban.html?searchResultPosition=5">https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/21/world/asia/afghan-judges-women-taliban.html?searchResultPosition=5</a>
(last visited Apr. 8, 2022).
\116\ David Zucchino, Afghan Women Who Once Presided Over Abuse
Cases Now Fear for Their Lives, N.Y. Times, Oct. 20, 2021, updated
Oct. 22, 2021, available at: <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/21/world/asia/afghan-judges-women-taliban.html?searchResultPosition=5">https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/21/world/asia/afghan-judges-women-taliban.html?searchResultPosition=5</a>
(last visited Apr. 8, 2022).
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Women activists and former members of public life have been
targeted with severe violence since the Taliban takeover of Kabul.
Protests by women ``outraged by the . . . hard-line'' nature of the
Taliban's so-called ``caretaker government'' have been met by violence
from the Taliban fighters.\117\ According to ACLED, during the week of
October 30 to November 5, 2021, ``the bodies of four women civil
society activists were recovered in Balkh province, including a well-
known women's rights defender . . . [allegedly] killed by an organized
network targeting civil society activists, who introduced themselves as
representatives of a human rights organization.'' \118\
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\117\ Yaroslav Trofimov, Afghan Women Protest Hard-Line Taliban
Government, Face Violent Crackdown, The Wall Street Journal, Sep. 8,
2021, available at: <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/afghan-women-protest-talibans-all-male-government-face-violent-crackdown-11631105098">https://www.wsj.com/articles/afghan-women-protest-talibans-all-male-government-face-violent-crackdown-11631105098</a> (last visited May 3, 2022), cited by: Taliban Government
in Afghanistan: Background and Issues for Congress, Congressional
Research Service, p. 20, Nov. 2, 2021, available at: <a href="https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R46955">https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R46955</a> (last visited Apr. 8,
2022).
\118\ Regional Overview: South Asia and Afghanistan 30 October
to 5 November 2021, ACLED, Nov. 2021, available at: <a href="https://acleddata.com/2021/11/11/regional-overview-south-asia-and-afghanistan-30-october-5-november-2021/">https://acleddata.com/2021/11/11/regional-overview-south-asia-and-afghanistan-30-october-5-november-2021/</a> (last visited Apr. 8, 2022).
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ii. Targeted Killings and Evictions of Hazaras
Hazaras have been ``historic victims of prejudice on religious and
ethnic grounds.'' \119\ Though they made progress in achieving parity
with other ethnic groups over the last two decades, Hazaras were
particular targets of harm by the Taliban during the Taliban's period
of rule from 1996-2001. Recently, Taliban fighters massacred nine
ethnic Hazara men after taking control of Ghazni province in July
2021.\120\ Hazaras, an ethnic Shia minority, are also enduring a
pattern of increasing sectarian attacks from ISIS-K, which over the
last several years ``has been blamed for dozens of bombings and gun
attacks on mosques, shrines, schools . . . [as] the group views Shiites
as apostates.'' \121\
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\119\ Thomas Barfield, Afghanistan: A Cultural and Political
History, p.26, (Princeton University Press, 2010).
\120\ Afghanistan: Taliban responsible for brutal massacre of
Hazara men--new investigation, Amnesty International, Aug. 19, 2021,
available at: <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2021/08/afghanistan-taliban-responsible-for-brutal-massacre-of-hazara-men-new-investigation/">https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2021/08/afghanistan-taliban-responsible-for-brutal-massacre-of-hazara-men-new-investigation/</a> (last visited Apr. 8, 2022).
\121\ Pamela Constable, After Kabul school attack, Afghans fear
a return to violence, The Washington Post, Apr. 20, 2022, available
at: <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/04/20/afghanistan-school-attack-isis-hazara/">https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/04/20/afghanistan-school-attack-isis-hazara/</a> (last visited May 3, 2022).
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Human Rights Watch and other sources have reported that the Taliban
has begun forcibly evicting Hazaras from their homes, including 700
from the central province of Daikundi in late September 2021,\122\
hundreds of families from the southern Helmand province and northern
Balkh province,\123\ and others from Daikundi, Uruzgan, and Kandahar
provinces.\124\ Human Rights Watch stated that ISIS-K ``has repeatedly
carried out devastating attacks that appear designed to spread terror
and inflict maximum suffering particularly on Afghanistan's Hazara
[[Page 30984]]
community.'' \125\ Reuters reported that ``[w]ith more than 400 Shi'ite
mosques in Kabul alone, total security is impossible and no one knows
where the next attack will come.'' \126\
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\122\ Gulamaiz Sharifi, Abubakar Siddique, Afghan Hazaras Fear
The Worst After Forced Taliban Evictions, Radio Free Europe/Radio
Liberty, Oct. 6, 2021, available at: <a href="https://gandhara.rferl.org/a/afghanistan-hazaras-taliban/31496224.html">https://gandhara.rferl.org/a/afghanistan-hazaras-taliban/31496224.html</a> (last visited Apr. 8,
2022).
\123\ Afghanistan: Taliban Forcibly Evict Minority Shia,
Hazaras, Former Civil Servants Targets of Collective Punishment,
Land-Grabbing, Human Rights Watch, Oct. 22, 2021, available at:
<a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/10/22/afghanistan-taliban-forcibly-evict-minority-shia">https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/10/22/afghanistan-taliban-forcibly-evict-minority-shia</a> (last visited Apr. 8, 2022).
\124\ Afghanistan: Taliban Forcibly Evict Minority Shia,
Hazaras, Former Civil Servants Targets of Collective Punishment,
Land-Grabbing, Human Rights Watch, Oct. 22, 2021, available at:
<a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/10/22/afghanistan-taliban-forcibly-evict-minority-shia">https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/10/22/afghanistan-taliban-forcibly-evict-minority-shia</a> (last visited Apr. 8, 2022).
\125\ Afghanistan: Surge in Islamic State Attacks on Shia, ISIS
Affiliate's Targeted Killings Amount to Crimes Against Humanity,
Human Rights Watch, Oct. 25, 2021, available at: <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/10/25/afghanistan-surge-islamic-state-attacks-shia">https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/10/25/afghanistan-surge-islamic-state-attacks-shia</a> (last visited Apr. 8, 2022).
\126\ Gibran Naiyyar Peshimam, For Afghan Hazaras, where to pray
can be life and death choice, Reuters, Oct. 21, 2021, available at:
<a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/afghan-hazaras-where-pray-can-be-life-death-choice-2021-10-21/">https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/afghan-hazaras-where-pray-can-be-life-death-choice-2021-10-21/</a> (last visited Apr. 8,
2022).
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iii. Restrictions and Risks in Cases of Nonconformity
Optimism that the current Taliban may be more moderate than the
Taliban was from 1996-2001 has faded, as they are reportedly targeting
journalists,\127\ artists and musicians,\128\ barbers and those working
in fashion,\129\ civil society participants and protestors.\130\
According to Amnesty International, these actions have created a
climate of fear and intimidation that has caused many Afghan nationals
to engage in self-censoring, adopting conservative attire, and
abandoning former employment and public life.\131\ For example,
according to the chairperson of the Afghanistan Independent Human
Rights Commission, those formerly employed as ``[l]awyers, judges and
prosecutors are mostly in hiding.'' \132\ The Taliban have announced
that they will once again carry out executions and amputations of hands
for criminal offenses, and have begun doing so.\133\
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\127\ Afghanistan: Journalists tell of beatings by Taliban, BBC
News, Sept. 9, 2021, available at: <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-58500579">https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-58500579</a> (last visited Apr. 8, 2022).
\128\ Javier C. Hern[aacute]ndez, Musicians Flee Afghanistan,
Fearing Taliban Rule, N.Y. Times, Nov. 17, 2021, available at:
<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/03/arts/music/afghanistan-musicians-flee.html">https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/03/arts/music/afghanistan-musicians-flee.html</a> (last visited Apr. 8, 2022); Afghanistan: Gunmen attack
wedding to stop music being played, BBC News, Oct. 31, 2021,
available at: <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-59107046">https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-59107046</a> (last
visited Apr. 8, 2022).
\129\ The Taliban Order Barbers Not To Shave Beards In Afghan
Province Of Helmand, NPR, Sept. 27, 2021, available at: <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/09/27/1041025238/the-taliban-order-barbers-not-to-shave-beards-in-afghan-province-of-helmand">https://www.npr.org/2021/09/27/1041025238/the-taliban-order-barbers-not-to-shave-beards-in-afghan-province-of-helmand</a> (last visited Apr. 8,
2022).
\130\ Matthieu Aikins et al., As Taliban Crush Dissent, New
Leaders Face Cascading Challenges, N.Y. Times, Nov. 9, 2021,
available at: <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/08/world/asia/taliban-protests-pakistan.html?referringSource=articleShare">https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/08/world/asia/taliban-protests-pakistan.html?referringSource=articleShare</a> (last visited
Apr. 8, 2022).
\131\ Afghanistan: Taliban wasting no time in stamping out human
rights says new briefing, Amnesty International, Sept. 21, 2021,
available at: <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2021/09/afghanistan-taliban-wasting-no-time-in-stamping-out-human-rights-says-new-briefing/">https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2021/09/afghanistan-taliban-wasting-no-time-in-stamping-out-human-rights-says-new-briefing/</a> (last visited May 4, 2022).
\132\ Public Displays of Corpses Signal Return of Hard-Line
Afghan Taliban, Voice of America (VOA) News, Sept. 27, 2021,
available at: <a href="https://www.voanews.com/a/public-displays-of-corpses-signal-return-of-hard-line-afghan-taliban-/6248297.html">https://www.voanews.com/a/public-displays-of-corpses-signal-return-of-hard-line-afghan-taliban-/6248297.html</a> (last
visited Apr. 8, 2022).
\133\ Taliban Official Says Strict Punishment And Executions
Will Return, NPR, Sept. 24, 2021, available at: <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/09/24/1040339286/taliban-official-says-strict-punishment-and-executions-will-return">https://www.npr.org/2021/09/24/1040339286/taliban-official-says-strict-punishment-and-executions-will-return</a> (last Apr. 8, 2022); The Taliban's Sharia is
the Most Brutal of All, Foreign Policy, Oct.13, 2021, available at
<a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/10/13/the-talibans-sharia-is-the-most-brutal-of-all/">https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/10/13/the-talibans-sharia-is-the-most-brutal-of-all/</a> (last visited May 4, 2022).
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iv. Challenges for Individuals With Disabilities
At least one in five households in Afghanistan includes an adult or
child with a serious sensory, psychosocial, intellectual, or physical
disability, making Afghanistan one of the largest per capita
populations of individuals with disabilities in the world.\134\ Unlike
many other marginalized populations, merely the removal of
discrimination does not automatically enable equal participation in
society; rather there are often necessary accommodations or
remediations that must happen in physical, communications, or other
infrastructures.\135\ Access to physical rehabilitation services is ``.
. . complicated by poverty, poor quality roads, and danger along the
way due to armed conflict.'' \136\ After the Taliban takeover in 2021,
any strides that Afghanistan had made in protecting the rights of the
disabled through the signing and ratifying of conventions under the
administrations of Hamid Karzai and Ashraf Ghani ``have been virtually
abandoned'' as the withdrawal of foreign aid has ``reduced both the
funds to implement these programs and international commitments[,] and
the Afghan leadership's interest in carrying them out.'' \137\ The
European Asylum Support Office (EASO) confirms the stigmatization of
individuals with physical and mental disabilities, with ``women,
displaced persons and returned migrants with mental health issues''
being particularly vulnerable.\138\ EASO also notes the ``lack of
appropriate infrastructure and specialist care that covers the needs of
people with disabilities.'' \139\
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\134\ ``Disability Is Not Weakness,'' Discrimination and
Barriers Facing Women and Girls with Disabilities in Afghanistan,
Human Rights Watch, p. 1, Apr. 2020, available at: <a href="https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/report_pdf/afghanistan0420_web_0.pdf">https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/report_pdf/afghanistan0420_web_0.pdf</a>
(last visited Apr. 8, 2022).
\135\ Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, The
United Nations Human Rights Office (OHCHR), Dec. 13, 2006, available
at: <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/convention-rights-persons-disabilities">https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/convention-rights-persons-disabilities</a> (last visited May 4, 2022).
\136\ ``Disability Is Not Weakness,'' Discrimination and
Barriers Facing Women and Girls with Disabilities in Afghanistan,
Human Rights Watch, p. 17, Apr. 2020, available at: <a href="https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/report_pdf/afghanistan0420_web_0.pdf">https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/report_pdf/afghanistan0420_web_0.pdf</a>
(last visited Apr. 8, 2022).
\137\ Chris Fitzgerald, Humanitarian Crisis And Neglect In
Afghanistan Puts People With Disabilities At Risk, The Organization
for World Peace, Jan. 19, 2022, available at: <a href="https://theowp.org/reports/humanitarian-crisis-and-neglect-in-afghanistan-puts-people-with-disabilities-at-risk/">https://theowp.org/reports/humanitarian-crisis-and-neglect-in-afghanistan-puts-people-with-disabilities-at-risk/</a> (last visited May 3, 2022).
\138\ Country Guidance: Afghanistan, Common analysis and
guidance note, European Asylum Support Office (EASO), p. 88, Nov.
2021, available at: <a href="https://www.easo.europa.eu/sites/default/files/Country_Guidance_Afghanistan_2021.pdf">https://www.easo.europa.eu/sites/default/files/Country_Guidance_Afghanistan_2021.pdf</a> (last visited Apr. 8, 2022).
\139\ Country Guidance: Afghanistan, Common analysis and
guidance note, European Asylum Support Office (EASO), p. 88, Nov.
2021, available at: <a href="https://www.easo.europa.eu/sites/default/files/Country_Guidance_Afghanistan_2021.pdf">https://www.easo.europa.eu/sites/default/files/Country_Guidance_Afghanistan_2021.pdf</a> (last visited Apr. 8, 2022).
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What authority does the Secretary have to designate Afghanistan for
TPS?
Section 244(b)(1) of the INA, 8 U.S.C. 1254a(b)(1), authorizes the
Secretary, after consultation with appropriate agencies of the U.S.
Government, to designate a foreign state (or part thereof) for TPS if
the Secretary determines that certain country conditions exist.\140\
The decision to designate any foreign state (or part thereof) is a
discretionary decision, and there is no judicial review of any
determination with respect to the designation, termination, or
extension of a designation. See INA section 244(b)(5)(A); 8 U.S.C.
1254a(b)(5)(A).\141\ The Secretary, in his or her discretion, may then
grant TPS to eligible nationals of that foreign state (or individuals
having no nationality who last habitually resided in the designated
foreign state). See INA section 244(a)(1)(A), 8 U.S.C. 1254a(a)(1)(A).
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\140\ INA section 244(b)(1) ascribes this power to the Attorney
General. Congress transferred this authority from the Attorney
General to the Secretary of Homeland Security. See Homeland Security
Act of 2002, Public Law 107-296, 116 Stat. 2135. The Secretary may
designate a country (or part of a country) for TPS on the basis of
ongoing armed conflict such that returning would pose a serious
threat to the personal safety of the country's nationals and
habitual residents, environmental disaster (including an epidemic),
or extraordinary and temporary conditions in the country that
prevent the safe return of the country's nationals. For
environmental disaster-based designations, certain other statutory
requirements must be met, including that the foreign government must
request TPS. A designation based on extraordinary and temporary
conditions cannot be made if the Secretary finds that allowing the
country's nationals to remain temporarily in the United States is
contrary to the U.S. national interest. Id., at section 244(b)(1).
\141\ This issue of judicial review is the subject of
litigation. See, e.g., Ramos v. Wolf, 975 F.3d 872 (9th Cir. 2020),
petition for en banc rehearing filed Nov. 30, 2020 (No. 18-16981);
Saget v. Trump, 375 F. Supp. 3d 280 (E.D.N.Y. 2019).
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At least 60 days before the expiration of a foreign state's TPS
designation or extension, the Secretary, after consultation with
appropriate U.S.
[[Page 30985]]
Government agencies, must review the conditions in the foreign state
designated for TPS to determine whether they continue to meet the
conditions for the TPS designation. See INA section 244(b)(3)(A), 8
U.S.C. 1254a(b)(3)(A). If the Secretary determines that the foreign
state continues to meet the conditions for TPS designation, the
designation will be extended for an additional period of 6 months or,
in the Secretary's discretion, 12 or 18 months. See INA section
244(b)(3)(A), (C), 8 U.S.C. 1254a(b)(3)(A), (C). If the Secretary
determines that the foreign state no longer meets the conditions for
TPS designation, the Secretary must terminate the designation. See INA
section 244(b)(3)(B), 8 U.S.C. 1254a(b)(3)(B).
Notice of the Designation of Afghanistan for TPS
By the authority vested in me as Secretary under INA section 244, 8
U.S.C. 1254a, I have determined, after consultation with the
appropriate U.S. Government agencies, the statutory conditions
supporting Afghanistan's designation for TPS on the basis of ongoing
armed conflict and extraordinary and temporary conditions are met. See
INA section 244(b)(1)(A) and (C), 8 U.S.C. 1254a(b)(1)(A) and (C). I
estimate up to approximately 72,500 individuals may be eligible for TPS
under the designation of Afghanistan. On the basis of this
determination, I am designating Afghanistan for TPS for 18 months, from
May 20, 2022 through November 20, 2023. See INA section 244(b)(1)(C)
and (b)(2); 8 U.S.C. 1254a(b)(1)(C), and (b)(2).
Alejandro N. Mayorkas,
Secretary, U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Eligibility and Employment Authorization for TPS
Required Application Forms and Application Fees To Register for TPS
To register for TPS based on the designation of Afghanistan, you
must submit a Form I-821, Application for Temporary Protected Status,
and pay the filing fee or request a fee waiver, which you may submit on
Form I-912, Request for Fee Waiver. You may be required to pay the
biometric services fee. If you can demonstrate an inability to pay the
biometric services fee, you may request to have the fee waived. Please
see additional information under the ``Biometric Services Fee'' section
of this notice.
TPS beneficiaries are authorized to work in the United States. You
are not required to submit Form I-765 or have an EAD but see below for
more information if you want to work in the United States.
For more information on the application forms and fees for TPS,
please visit the USCIS TPS web page at <a href="http://uscis.gov/tps">uscis.gov/tps</a>. Fees for the Form
I-821, the Form I-765, and biometric services are also described in 8
CFR 103.7(b)(1)(i).
How can TPS beneficiaries obtain an Employment Authorization Document
(EAD)?
Everyone must provide their employer with documentation showing
that they have the legal right to work in the United States. TPS
beneficiaries are eligible to obtain an EAD, which proves their legal
right to work. TPS applicants who want to obtain an EAD must file the
Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization, and pay the fee
or request a fee waiver, by submitting Form I-912, Request for Fee
Waiver. TPS applicants may file this form along with their TPS
application, or at a later date, provided their TPS application is
still pending or has been approved.
Refiling an Initial TPS Registration Application After Receiving a
Denial of a Fee Waiver Request
If you receive a denial of a fee waiver request, you must refile
your Form I-821 for TPS along with the required fees during the
registration period, which extends until November 20, 2023. You may
also file for your EAD on Form I-765 with payment of the fee along with
your TPS application or at any later date you decide you want to
request an EAD during the registration period.
Filing Information
USCIS offers the option to applicants for TPS under Afghanistan's
designation to file Form I-821 and related requests for EADs online or
by mail. When filing a TPS application, applicants can also request an
EAD by submitting a completed Form I-765, Application for Employment
Authorization, with their Form I-821.
Online filing: Form I-821 and Form I-765 are available for
concurrent filing online.\142\ To file these forms online, you must
first create a USCIS online account.\143\
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\142\ Find information about online filing at ``Forms Available
to File Online,'' <a href="https://www.uscis.gov/file-online/forms-available-to-file-online">https://www.uscis.gov/file-online/forms-available-to-file-online</a>.
\143\ <a href="https://myaccount.uscis.gov/users/sign_up">https://myaccount.uscis.gov/users/sign_up</a>.
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Mail filing: Mail your application for TPS to the proper address in
Table 1.
Table 1--Mailing Addresses
Mail your completed Form I-821, Application for Temporary Protected
Status, Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization, and Form
I-912, Request for Fee Waiver, if applicable, and supporting
documentation to the proper address in Table 1.
Table 1--Mailing Addresses
------------------------------------------------------------------------
If . . . Mail to . . .
------------------------------------------------------------------------
You are using the U.S. Postal Service USCIS, Attn: TPS
(USPS) and you live in Alaska, Arizona, Afghanistan, P.O. Box
California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, 20300, Phoenix, AZ 85036-
Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New 0300.
Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon,
South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Washington,
Wyoming.
You are using FedEx, UPS, or DHL and you USCIS, Attn: TPS
live in Alaska, Arizona, California, Afghanistan (Box 20300),
Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Kansas, Montana, 1820 E. Skyharbor Circle
Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North S, Suite 100, Phoenix, AZ
Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, 85034-4850.
Texas, Utah, Washington, Wyoming.
You are using the U.S. Postal Service USCIS, Attn: TPS
(USPS) and live in Alabama, Arkansas, Afghanistan, P.O. Box
Connecticut, Delaware, District of 805282, Chicago, IL 60680-
Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, 5285.
Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine,
Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan,
Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, New
Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North
Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode
Island, South Carolina, Tennessee,
Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia,
Wisconsin.
[[Page 30986]]
You are using FedEx, UPS, or DHL and live USCIS, Attn: TPS
in Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Afghanistan, (Box 805282),
Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, 131 South Dearborn--3rd
Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Floor, Chicago, IL 60603-
Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, 5517.
Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota,
Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, New
Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio,
Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South
Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia,
West Virginia, Wisconsin.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you were granted TPS by an immigration judge (IJ) or the Board
of Immigration Appeals (BIA) and you wish to request an EAD, please
mail your Form I-765 application to the appropriate mailing address in
Table 1. When you are requesting an EAD based on an IJ/BIA grant of
TPS, please include a copy of the IJ or BIA order granting you TPS with
your application. This will help us verify your grant of TPS and
process your application.
Supporting Documents
The filing instructions on the Form I-821 list all the documents
needed to establish eligibility for TPS. You may also find information
on the acceptable documentation and other requirements for applying
(i.e., registering) for TPS on the USCIS website at <a href="http://uscis.gov/tps">uscis.gov/tps</a> under
``Afghanistan.''
Travel
TPS beneficiaries may also apply for and be granted travel
authorization as a matter of discretion. You must file for travel
authorization if you wish to travel outside of the United States. If
granted, travel authorization gives you permission to leave the United
States and return during a specific period. To request travel
authorization, you must file Form I-131, Application for Travel
Document, available at <a href="http://www.uscis.gov/i-131">www.uscis.gov/i-131</a>. You may file Form I-131
together with your Form I-821 or separately. When filing the Form I-
131, you must:
<bullet> Select Item Number 1.d. in Part 2 on the Form I-131; and
<bullet> Submit the fee for the Form I-131, or request a fee
waiver, which you may submit on Form I-912, Request for Fee Waiver.
If you are filing Form I-131 together with Form I-821, send your
forms to the address listed in Table 1. If you are filing Form I-131
separately based on a pending or approved Form I-821, send your form to
the address listed in Table 2 and include a copy of Form I-797 for the
approved or pending Form I-821.
Table 2--Mailing Addresses
------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you are . . . Mail to . . .
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Filing Form I-131 together with a Form I- The address provided in
821, Application for Temporary Protected Table 1.
Status.
Filing Form I-131 based on a pending or USCIS, Attn: I-131 TPS,
approved Form I-821, and you are using the P.O. Box 660167, Dallas,
U.S. Postal Service (USPS): You must TX 75266-0867.
include a copy of the receipt notice (Form
I-797C) showing we accepted or approved
your Form I-821.
Filing Form I-131 based on a pending or USCIS, Attn: I-131 TPS,
approved Form I-821, and you are using 2501 S. State Hwy. 121
FedEx, UPS, or DHL: You must include a Business, Ste. 400,
copy of the receipt notice (Form I-797C) Lewisville, TX 75067.
showing we accepted or approved your Form
I-821.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Biometric Services Fee for TPS
Biometrics (such as fingerprints) are required for all applicants
14 years of age and older. Those applicants must submit a biometric
services fee. As previously stated, if you are unable to pay the
biometric services fee, you may request a fee waiver, which you may
submit on Form I-912, Request for Fee Waiver. For more information on
the application forms and fees for TPS, please visit the USCIS TPS web
page at <a href="http://uscis.gov/tps">uscis.gov/tps</a>. If necessary, you may be required to visit an
Application Support Center to have your biometrics captured. For
additional information on the USCIS biometric screening process, please
see the USCIS Customer Profile Management Service Privacy Impact
Assessment, available at <a href="http://dhs.gov/privacy">dhs.gov/privacy</a>.
General Employment-Related Information for TPS Applicants and Their
Employers
How can I obtain information on the status of my TPS application and
EAD request?
To get case status information about your TPS application, as well
as the status of your TPS-based EAD request, you can check Case Status
Online at <a href="http://uscis.gov">uscis.gov</a>, or visit the USCIS Contact Center at <a href="http://uscis.gov/contactcenter">uscis.gov/contactcenter</a>. If your Form I-765 has been pending for more than 90
days, and you still need assistance, you may ask a question about your
case online at <a href="http://egov.uscis.gov/e-request/Intro.do">egov.uscis.gov/e-request/Intro.do</a> or call the USCIS
Contact Center at 800-375-5283 (TTY 800-767-1833).
When hired, what documentation may I show to my employer as evidence of
identity and employment authorization when completing Form I-9?
You can find the Lists of Acceptable Documents on the last page of
Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification, as well as the
Acceptable Documents web page at <a href="http://uscis.gov/i-9-central/acceptable-documents">uscis.gov/i-9-central/acceptable-documents</a>. Employers must complete Form I-9 to verify the identity and
employment authorization of all new employees. Within three days of
hire, employees must present acceptable documents to their employers as
evidence of identity and employment authorization to satisfy Form I-9
requirements.
You may present any document from List A (which provides evidence
of both identity and employment authorization) or one document from
List B (which provides evidence of your identity) together with one
document from List C (which provides evidence of employment
authorization), or you may present an acceptable receipt as described
in the Form I-9 Instructions. Employers may not reject a document based
on a future expiration date. You can find additional information about
Form I-9 on the I-9 Central web page
[[Page 30987]]
at <a href="http://uscis.gov/I-9Central">uscis.gov/I-9Central</a>. An EAD is an acceptable document under List A.
If I have an EAD based on another immigration status, can I obtain a
new TPS-based EAD?
Yes, if you are eligible for TPS, you can obtain a new TPS-based
EAD, regardless of whether you have an EAD or work authorization based
on another immigration status. If you want to obtain a new TPS-based
EAD valid through November 20, 2023, then you must file Form I-765,
Application for Employment Authorization, and pay the associated fee
(unless USCIS grants your fee waiver request).
Can my employer require that I provide any other documentation such as
evidence of my status or proof of my Afghan citizenship or a Form I-
797C showing that I registered for TPS for Form I-9 completion?
No. When completing Form I-9, employers must accept any
documentation you choose to present from the Form I-9 Lists of
Acceptable Documents that reasonably appears to be genuine and that
relates to you, or an acceptable List A, List B, or List C receipt.
Employers need not reverify List B identity documents. Employers may
not request proof of Afghan citizenship or proof of registration for
TPS when completing Form I-9 for new hires or reverifying the
employment authorization of current employees. Refer to the ``Note to
Employees'' section of this Federal Register notice for important
information about your rights if your employer rejects lawful
documentation, requires additional documentation, or otherwise
discriminates against you based on your citizenship or immigration
status, or your national origin.
Note to All Employers
Employers are reminded that the laws requiring proper employment
eligibility verification and prohibiting unfair immigration-related
employment practices remain in full force. This Federal Register notice
does not supersede or in any way limit applicable employment
verification rules and policy guidance, including those rules setting
forth reverification requirements. For general questions about the
employment eligibility verification process, employers may call USCIS
at 888-464-4218 (TTY 877-875-6028) or email USCIS at <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#b1f89c88f2d4dfc5c3d0ddf1c4c2d2d8c29fd5d9c29fd6dec7"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="145d392d57717a60667578546167777d673a707c673a737b62">[email protected]</span></a>. USCIS accepts calls and emails in English and
many other languages. For questions about avoiding discrimination
during the employment eligibility verification process (Form I-9 and E-
Verify), employers may call the U.S. Department of Justice, Civil
Rights Division, Immigrant and Employee Rights Section (IER) Employer
Hotline at 800-255-8155 (TTY 800-237-2515). IER offers language
interpretation in numerous languages. Employers may also email IER at
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#fcb5b9aebc898f989396d29b938a"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="b1f8f4e3f1c4c2d5dedb9fd6dec7">[email protected]</span></a>.
Note to Employees
For general questions about the employment eligibility verification
process, employees may call USCIS at 888-897-7781 (TTY 877-875-6028) or
email USCIS at <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#743d594d37111a00061518340107171d075a101c075a131b02"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="682145512b0d061c1a0904281d1b0b011b460c001b460f071e">[email protected]</span></a>. USCIS accepts calls in
English, Spanish and many other languages. Employees or job applicants
may also call the IER Worker Hotline at 800-255-7688 (TTY 800-237-2515)
for information regarding employment discrimination based on
citizenship, immigration status, or national origin, including
discrimination related to Form I-9 and E-Verify. The IER Worker Hotline
provides language interpretation in numerous languages.
To comply with the law, employers must accept any document or
combination of documents from the Lists of Acceptable Documents if the
documentation reasonably appears to be genuine and to relate to the
employee, or an acceptable List A, List B, or List C receipt as
described in the Form I-9 Instructions. Employers may not require extra
or additional documentation beyond what is required for Form I-9
completion. Further, employers participating in E-Verify who receive an
E-Verify case result of ``Tentative Nonconfirmation'' (TNC) must
promptly inform employees of the TNC and give such employees an
opportunity to contest the TNC. A TNC case result means that the
information entered into E-Verify from Form I-9 differs from records
available to DHS.
Employers may not terminate, suspend, delay training, withhold or
lower pay, or take any adverse action against an employee because of a
TNC while the case is still pending with E-Verify. A Final
Nonconfirmation (FNC) case result is received when E-Verify cannot
confirm an employee's employment eligibility. An employer may terminate
employment based on a case result of FNC. Work-authorized employees who
receive an FNC may call USCIS for assistance at 888-897-7781 (TTY 877-
875-6028). For more information about E-Verify-related discrimination
or to report an employer for discrimination in the E-Verify process
based on citizenship, immigration status, or national origin, contact
IER's Worker Hotline at 800-255-7688 (TTY 800-237-2515). Additional
information about proper nondiscriminatory Form I-9 and E-Verify
procedures is available on the IER website at <a href="http://justice.gov/ier">justice.gov/ier</a> and the
USCIS and E-Verify websites at <a href="http://uscis.gov/i-9-central">uscis.gov/i-9-central</a> and <a href="http://e-verify.gov">e-verify.gov</a>.
Note Regarding Federal, State, and Local Government Agencies (Such as
Departments of Motor Vehicles)
For Federal purposes, individuals approved for TPS may show their
Form I-797, Notice of Action, indicating approval of their Form I-821
application, or their A12 or C19 EAD to prove that they have TPS or a
pending TPS application. However, while Federal Government agencies
must follow the guidelines laid out by the Federal Government, state
and local government agencies establish their own rules and guidelines
when granting certain benefits. Each state may have different laws,
requirements, and determinations about what documents you need to
provide to prove eligibility for certain benefits. Whether you are
applying for a Federal, state, or local government benefit, you may
need to provide the government agency with documents that show you are
covered under TPS or show you are authorized to work based on TPS.
Examples of such documents are:
<bullet> Your new EAD with a category code of A12 or C19 for TPS,
regardless of your country of birth;
<bullet> A copy of your Form I-94, Arrival/Departure Record; or
<bullet> Form I-797, the notice of approval, for your Form I-821,
Application for Temporary Protected Status, if you received one from
USCIS.
Check with the government agency regarding which document(s) the
agency will accept.
Some benefit-granting agencies use the SAVE program to confirm the
current immigration status of applicants for public benefits. SAVE can
verify when an individual has TPS based on the documents above. In most
cases, SAVE provides an automated electronic response to benefit-
granting agencies within seconds, but occasionally verification can be
delayed. You can check the status of your SAVE verification by using
CaseCheck at <a href="http://uscis.gov/save/save-casecheck">uscis.gov/save/save-casecheck</a>, then by clicking the
``Check Your Case'' button. CaseCheck is a free service that lets you
follow the progress of your SAVE verification using your date of birth
and SAVE verification case number or an immigration identifier number
that you provided to the benefit-granting agency. If an agency has
denied your application based solely or in part on a SAVE response, the
agency must offer you the
[[Page 30988]]
opportunity to appeal the decision in accordance with the agency's
procedures. If the agency has received and acted on or will act on a
SAVE verification and you do not believe the final SAVE response is
correct, please see the SAVE Records: Fast Facts For Benefit Applicants
sheet under SAVE Resources at <a href="https://www.uscis.gov/save/save-resources">https://www.uscis.gov/save/save-resources</a>
for information about how to correct or update your immigration record.
[FR Doc. 2022-10923 Filed 5-19-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 9111-97-P
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</html>Indexed from Federal Register on May 20, 2022.
This is legal information, not legal advice. Laws vary by jurisdiction and change frequently. Always verify current law with official sources and consult a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction for advice on your specific situation.