A State Department cable seen by Reuters was sent to all US diplomatic posts on Friday, saying that effective immediately, consular officers are instructed to reject any immigrant or non-immigrant visa applications from Afghan nationals including applicants for Special Immigrant Visas.
On Wednesday, a former member of one of Afghanistan's CIA-backed units was accused of shooting two US National Guard soldiers in Washington, DC.
One of them later died. The State Department on Saturday referred Reuters to a statement on platform X by Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday in which he said that "ALL individuals" traveling on Afghan passports would have their visa issuance "paused".
The cable on Friday, which was earlier reported by the New York Times, said the move to stop processing visas for Afghan nationals was aimed at "ensuring the applicant's identity and eligibility for a visa under US law".
A volunteer group helping support the United States' Afghan allies said the cable was part of an effort by the Trump administration to bar all Afghans from making it to the United States.
"There is no doubt this is the outcome they have been driving toward for months," Shawn VanDiver, president of AfghanEvac, said in an email.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Appointments already scheduled for Afghan applicants will not be cancelled.
But when they occur, consular officers should refuse to give a visa to applicants, the cable said.
The State Department said that any authorised visas that have not been printed yet should be reversed and cancelled, while printed visas should be destroyed and those cases amended in the system and rejected.
The US Citizenship and Immigration Services had already halted processing of Afghan nationals' immigration requests indefinitely, earlier this week.
About 200,000 Afghans have entered the United States through 2021 through refugee and special visa programs.
Since returning to office in January, US President Donald Trump has aggressively prioritised immigration enforcement, sending federal agents to major US cities and turning away asylum seekers at the US-Mexico border.
