The abrupt closure of Voice of America in Washington DC, which employed hundreds of reporters, producers, editors, translators from the Pak-Afghan region, has thrown their lives into disarray. A number of the VOA employees and contractors living in DC relied on the language services, Urdu, Pashto and Dari both financially, as well as for their visas. Their abrupt dismissal has upended lives, particularly for contractors, who did not receive any remuneration.
It has also bewildered long time listeners of the Urdu service, Pashto service, Deewa, Ashna and many other language services in the Pakistan Afghanistan region. These are die-hard audiences who got hooked to the VOA transmissions after the 9/11 attacks of 2001 – when the US went to war against the Taliban in Afghanistan.
On March 28, 2025, VOA employees won temporary relief from a New York court in terms of receiving pay for the next few months. However, the full picture will emerge in September 2025, when Congress needs appropriate funding for the USAGM. With Republican control of Congress, it is hardly likely that VOA will be reconstituted, at least not in its present form.