KABUL (Ariana News): The US State Department has notified Congress that it will shut down the office that helped resettle Afghan refugees who assisted the American war effort. Bloomberg reported on Friday.
The elimination of the Office of the Coordinator for Afghan Relocation Efforts was disclosed in a letter to Congress outlining efforts to reorganize the department. The office’s functions will be “realigned” to the Afghanistan Affairs Office and the role of special representative for Afghan reconstruction will also be eliminated.
The changes are part of a broader plan that will also include cuts to the federal workforce in the wake of a larger dismantling of the US government under President Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency program, and will take place by July 1, according to the notification. More than 300 offices will be reorganized “to refocus on core US foreign policy objectives and the needs of contemporary diplomacy.”
“The planned changes are also reflective of the administration’s and secretary’s broader efforts to streamline government functions, eliminate redundancy, and enhance accountability,” according to the letter.
The CARE Office, established by the Biden administration after the fall of the Afghan government in 2021, houses Enduring Welcome, a resettlement program that has bipartisan support in Congress. Both Republican and Democratic lawmakers had written to Trump urging him not to dismantle the office.
