Afghans who worked alongside US troops during almost two decades of war were once promised a home in the United States to shelter them from the extremist intolerance of the Taliban.But after two National Guard soldiers were shot — one of them fatally — in Washington last month, allegedly by an Afghan national, their fates have been put on hold, and many are now terrified about what the future might bring.”Everybody is scared,” a 31-year-old Afghan green card holder told AFP.”We are scared that we will be judged by people for the crimes committed by one individual from Afghanistan.”West Virginia National Guard Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, 20, died from her wounds after what officials described as an “ambush-style” attack that also left fellow Guardsman Andrew Wolfe, 24, fighting for his life.The following day President Donald Trump announced he was halting all migration from what he called “third world countries,” including Afghanistan, as his administration announced a review of all residency grants for people from 19 countries — around 1.6 million people, according to an AFP tally.Now Afghans fear they might be sent back to a nation run by the Islamist extremists who they once worked to defeat.”I made my home in America, now this is my home. If I leave here where I have to go then?” sobbed Maryam.Like all Afghan nationals AFP spoke to for this story, Maryam did not want to be identified for fear of angering US immigration authorities.”When I sleep my chest feels very painful, empty,” she said. “I feel like I belong to nowhere.”- Collapse -The 27-year-old worked on projects for the US embassy in Kabul, where she helped produce education materials that she says cast the Taliban in a bad light.When the American-led international force was there, her country began to modernise, giving rights to women that their mothers did not have.”I did education, I had a big dreams for my country, for myself,” she said from her home outside Los Angeles.But in August 2021, the last US troops hurriedly withdrew from Afghanistan as the Taliban ran riot, taking over the institutions that American taxpayers had spent billions of dollars to prop up.Hundreds of thousands of Afghans scrambled to leave the country, terrified that the Islamists would exact revenge on anyone who had helped the West.”It was so difficult to get into the airport,” said Khan, who describes printing out dozens of documents, including proof that his wife was a US citizen living in California.”There was no water, no food, nothing. And we spent four days in there,” he said. “It was too cold during the night.”Khan, who worked in a university and at a government bank, finally got a plane to Qatar, then on to Germany before being flown to New Jersey, where he underwent two months of background checks and processing.”We truly thank United States. They helped us a lot to come… and rebuild our life here.”- Scared -Khan says he worked day and night in Anaheim, California to save money, often doing two jobs, and now has his own used car dealership.He has also bought a triplex, part of which he rents out to provide a source of income, and secured his green card for permanent US residency.”I was about to apply to my citizenship by the end of December, but unfortunately, after the incident in Washington DC, everything is paused,” he said.”Everybody is scared, whoever is having like a green card, a parole status, or they have applied for asylum or whatever status they have, all of them are scared.”We had a lot of dreams,and now every day everything becomes more difficult, and our dreams are, like, going the other way.”For Maryam, who works for an NGO in California’s Orange County, all she wants is to be able to get her green card application back on track, and for her community to be treated fairly.”What the person did does not represent us,” she said of the shooter in Washington.”We are all committed to America; we are not the traitor, we are the survivor.”

US President Donald Trump’s name was affixed to the Kennedy Center in Washington on Friday, one day after his hand-picked board members voted to rename the arts venue in spite of legal questions.Workmen on scissor lifts added metal lettering to the building’s facade, before dropping a blue tarpaulin to reveal the sign saying “The Donald J. Trump and the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center For the Performing Arts.”But family members of president Kennedy, who was assassinated in 1963, have criticized the move as “beyond wild” and said an act of Congress is needed to alter the name of the US national cultural center.Trump said Thursday that he was “surprised” by the rebranding — even though he personally purged the board of the center after calling it too woke, and had already talked about having his name added to it.The 79-year-old Republican even appointed himself as its chairman of the board earlier this year.”Today, we proudly unveil the updated exterior designation — honoring the leadership of President Donald J. Trump and the enduring legacy of John F. Kennedy,” the center said on its newly rebranded X account, along with photos of the lettering.Naming a national institution after a sitting president is unprecedented in US history. Landmarks like the Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial and indeed the Kennedy Center were all named after their deaths.But Trump, who long emblazoned his name on his skyscrapers and casinos during his career as a property magnate, has shown little hesitation about doing the same thing as president.He has stamped his mark on the Kennedy Center since the start of his second term as part of an assault on cultural institutions that his administration has accused of being too left-wing.During his second term he has given his name to a Washington peace institute, trust funds for children he has branded “Trump accounts” and a “Trump Gold Card” for high-paying immigrants that he showed off on Friday.Trump has also embarked on a huge overhaul of the White House, knocking down the East Wing to build a $400 million ballroom and this week putting up plaques rewriting the history of his presidential predecessors.

A US judge overturned Friday the murder conviction of one man in the killing of hip-hop legend Jam Master Jay after a judge found prosecutors did not prove intent.Ronald Washington and Karl Jordan Jr., the alleged shooter, were found guilty on all counts in February 2024, convicted of murder while engaged in narcotics trafficking and firearms-related murder of the artist whose real name was Jason Mizell.But on Friday, judge LaShann DeArcy Hall wrote that “Defendant Jordan’s motion for a judgment of acquittal is GRANTED,” while denying Washington’s legal bid to overturn his conviction in the case.Jordan had not yet been sentenced for the murder and remained in prison on drug charges unrelated to the 2002 death of Mizell.”In the absence of sufficient proof of any motive — here, a drug-related motive — the charge cannot be sustained. Jordan argues that the Government failed to…adduce evidence sufficient to support the conclusion that Jordan had a drug-related motive to kill Mizell. The Court agrees,” DeArcy Hall wrote in a 29-page order.A spokesman for the prosecutors who brought the case said “the decision is being reviewed.”Prosecutors presented a case of a drug deal gone wrong, saying that Washington and Jordan, who both knew Mizell, killed the famous artist as revenge for cutting them out of a cocaine deal.Run-DMC’s Jam Master Jay, one of the founding members of the 1980s rap group, was shot and killed by two gunmen inside his studio in Queens, New York in 2002.The 37-year-old, record-scratching member of the platinum-selling rap group, was shot in the head, while another man was wounded by the gunmen. The murder followed a series of tragedies in the hip-hop community, including the violent deaths of rapper Tupac Shakur and The Notorious B.I.G. in the 1990s.Run-DMC’s 1985 release “Raising Hell” became the first rap album to go platinum, and “Walk This Way,” a collaboration with Aerosmith’s Steve Tyler, made the top of the charts.Along with LL Cool J and Public Enemy, Run-DMC were trailblazers of new-school hip-hop — mixing rock elements, aggressive boasting and sociopolitical commentary — and its outgrowth, golden era hip-hop, which included eclectic sampling.The seminal group were the first rappers featured on MTV, and established a new rap aesthetic incorporating street culture — a departure from the flashy, disco-inflected attire of their predecessors.Prior to his death, Mizell was influential in New York as a cultivator of local talent, working with young rappers and co-founding a DJ academy.

The US Justice Department on Friday began publishing a long-awaited trove of records from investigations into the politically explosive case of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein — though many files were redacted.Among the material are multiple photographs showing former Democratic president Bill Clinton and other high-profile figures, including Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger, in Epstein’s company.The heavy blacking-out of large sections of the documents — combined with tight control by officials in President Donald Trump’s administration over the release — has fueled doubts over whether the disclosure will finally quiet long-running conspiracy theories of a high-level cover-up.The files are nevertheless expected to illuminate the disgraced financier’s close connections with the rich, famous and powerful, including Trump.The vast disclosure included seven pages listing 254 masseuses — every name obscured beneath thick black bars and the explanation “redacted to protect potential victim information.”Another file contains dozens of censored images showing naked or scantily clad figures. Others show Epstein and companions, their faces obscured, with firearms.Previously unseen photographs include one showing a younger-looking Clinton reclining in a hot tub, part of the image obscured by a stark black rectangle.In another, Clinton is pictured swimming alongside a dark-haired woman who appears to be Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell.The White House jumped on the Clinton appearances.”Slick Willy! @BillClinton just chillin, without a care in the world. Little did he know…” Communications Director Steven Cheung posted on X.”Oh my!” added Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt. Trump, once a close friend of Epstein, fought for months to prevent the release of the records related to the investigation of Epstein, who died in a New York jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.The Republican president eventually caved to pressure from Congress, including from his own party, and signed a law last month compelling publication of the materials.Friday was the deadline set by Congress for release of the records.Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said several hundred thousand documents would be released on Friday and many more in the coming weeks.Prosecutors have the latitude to withhold material related to active investigations and Blanche said the files will also be redacted to protect the identities of Epstein’s hundreds of victims. He also said “no new charges” were due.Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer condemned the partial release as “a cover up to protect Donald Trump from his ugly past.”- ‘Democrat hoax’ -Trump was once a close friend of Epstein, moving in the same Palm Beach and New York social circles in the 1990s and appearing together at parties for years. Trump severed ties with Epstein years before the 2019 arrest and is not accused of wrongdoing in the case.But his right-wing base has long been obsessed by the Epstein saga and conspiracy theories that the financier oversaw a sex trafficking ring for the world’s elite.Running for the White House, Trump promised to release all the files.Yet after returning to office, Trump dismissed the push for transparency as a “Democrat hoax.”Trump’s FBI and Justice Department triggered a political furor in July with a memo stating that there would be no further disclosures of evidence from the Epstein probe.The memo said there was “no credible evidence found that Epstein blackmailed prominent individuals as part of his actions” or had a “client list.”Trump then fought Congress over its drive to get the records out in public, only relenting in the face of a populist revolt.- Ghislaine Maxwell -Epstein’s former girlfriend Maxwell is the only person convicted in connection with Epstein, a fact that fuels the belief among Trump’s base of a cover-up.Maxwell, 63, is serving a 20-year prison sentence for recruiting underage girls for Epstein, whose death was ruled a suicide.For the public and victims, the release of the files marks the clearest opportunity yet to shed light on the scandal.The newly released records could clarify how Epstein operated, who assisted him and why prosecutors stalled for years before bringing charges against him.