The death of 41-year-old Mohommad Nazeer Paktyawal comes at a time when the administration of US President Donald Trump has surged immigration enforcement as part of a mass deportation campaign. That drive has often touched on the lives of the about 70,000 Afghans evacuated to the US in the wake of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, like Paktyawal, who worked alongside US forces during Washington’s two-year military deployment to the country. In a statement relayed through the AfghanEvac advocacy group, they said he was detained on March 13 as he left to drop his children off at school. ” AfghanEvac said that Paktyawal had worked as an Afghan special forces soldier beginning in 2005, working alongside US Army special forces in Paktika province. After an Afghan national shot two National Guard members in Washington, DC, in November 2025, killing one of the soldiers, the administration announced it was pausing the issuance of new visas to Afghan nationals, as well as halting decisions on asylum cases. The administration also ended temporary protected status for Afghans, leaving an estimated 11,700 Afghans in the US without protection from deportation, according to the organisation Global Refuge.