They were hunted by the Taliban for helping the US. Now, Trump wants to send these families to the DRC
Thousands of Afghans who risked their lives serving US forces now face abandonment and potential forced transfer to the war-torn DRC, as the Taliban actively hunts those associated with Western presence — a profound failure of protection for a vulnerable, persecuted population.
Deuteronomy 10:18-19
Direct Principle“He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing. Love the sojourner, therefore, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.”
Why this passage
Moses delivered this covenantal charge to Israel as a direct command flowing from the character of God Himself — the Lord who loves the sojourner is the standard by which His people's treatment of displaced persons is measured.
The principle is not merely humanitarian sentiment; it is grounded in covenant identity: 'you were sojourners.' The original hearers were commanded to remember their own displacement as the lens through which to view the vulnerable foreigner.
The prophet Jeremiah declared on behalf of the oppressed: 'Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength' (Jeremiah 17:5). These Afghan families placed their trust in the promises of a superpower, and now find themselves hunted, stateless, and discarded — a haunting illustration of what Scripture has always warned: that the arm of flesh will fail where it once beckoned.
Yet the Lord is not silent toward the abandoned. 'He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing' (Deuteronomy 10:18).
The Church is called to remember those whom governments forget, and to press the case of the sojourner before both throne rooms — earthly and heavenly.
Today's Prayer
Pray that God would raise up advocates, open doors of true refuge, and frustrate every plan that would deliver the vulnerable into greater danger — and that the Church worldwide would not be silent before the cause of the abandoned.
Further Scripture
Additional passages that illuminate this event, each grounded in a distinct interpretive lens.
“Trusting in a treacherous man in time of trouble is like a bad tooth or a foot that slips.”
Why this passage
The wisdom tradition of Proverbs consistently warns against placing confidence in those whose reliability is proven only in self-interest. The Hebrew for 'treacherous' (boged) denotes one who acts faithlessly — who covers betrayal with the appearance of alliance.
The proverb's concrete imagery — a broken tooth that fails when biting, a foot that gives way at the critical step — captures precisely the moment when trust is most desperately needed and most catastrophically withdrawn.
How it applies
These Afghan allies trusted US assurances during years of service under fire; that trust now 'slips' at the very moment of greatest need, with resettlement promises revoked and relocation to the DRC proposed instead.
Scripture's wisdom does not merely describe this dynamic — it pronounces it a recognizable, recurring failure of human covenants, and implicitly calls those with power to be the kind of ally that does not become 'a bad tooth' to the vulnerable.
“Thus says the Lord: 'Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the Lord.'”
Why this passage
Jeremiah's oracle was addressed to a people tempted to rely on political alliances with regional powers — Egypt, Assyria — rather than on the Lord. The 'arm of flesh' refers to military and political covenants that substitute human guarantees for divine faithfulness.
The verse is not a rebuke of the helpless who are abandoned; it is a structural warning about the nature of any covenant that excludes God — it will, in time, collapse.
How it applies
Those who served the US military did so under explicit promise of protection and resettlement — a covenant of flesh that is now being withdrawn. The event illustrates with painful clarity what Jeremiah diagnosed: earthly pledges made by states are inherently contingent and breakable.
For the believer watching this unfold, the verse is simultaneously a lament for the betrayed and a reminder that ultimate security can never be anchored in the promises of governments.
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Source: Stefanie Glinski— we link to the original for full context.