Skip Rohde, a U.S. Navy veteran and Asheville-based artist who served alongside Afghan interpreters during his deployment to Afghanistan, says the U.S. government is abandoning those who risked everything to help American forces.
“The government does not have the backs of those it owes a huge debt to,” he said, reflecting on the case of his former interpreter, Bashir, who remains in Afghanistan unable to secure a Special Immigrant Visa. “We tried to help him get his visa, but we could never find out what was preventing it.”
On May 14, the Department of Homeland Security announced that TPS for Afghanistan would be terminated effective July 14. The program, which offered temporary legal status to nationals unable to safely return to their home country, was originally established in response to the collapse of the Afghan government in 2021.
“This administration is returning TPS to its original temporary intent,” said Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. “Afghanistan has shown an improved security situation and a stabilizing economy.” Noem also cited national security concerns, alleging that some TPS recipients have been investigated for fraud.
Rohde, who also worked with the State Department in Iraq and Afghanistan after his military retirement, disagrees with that assessment. He described the decision as a moral failure, particularly given the risks many Afghans took on behalf of U.S. forces.
“One of the smartest people I’ve ever met worked with Navy SEALs in combat,” Rohde said, referring to another Afghan colleague whose family remains in the United States under TPS. “Now they may send some of his family back.”
TPS is distinct from the Special Immigrant Visa program. While SIVs are granted to Afghans who worked directly with U.S. forces, TPS applies more broadly to those unable to return safely due to ongoing conflict or instability. DHS can end a country’s TPS designation if it deems conditions have sufficiently improved.
Rohde’s war experiences continue to shape his art—drawings of Afghan civilians and interpreters now hang in the Smithsonian. His portrait of Bashir will be featured in a July exhibition of veteran-created artwork in New York.
“This isn’t abstract,” he said. “This is personal. These are lives, not policy points.”
