Trump Team Pushes to Relocate Afghans in Limbo on U.S. Mideast Base

For over a year, a group of more than 1,100 Afghans have been stranded on a former U.S. military base in Qatar, evacuated by the former Biden administration but prevented from entering the U.S. after President Trump restricted travel for Afghans.

Now, with no signs of the restrictions lifting, the State Department is negotiating with countries in Africa and Asia to take the Afghans so it can close the base. The Trump administration set, and then failed to meet, a self-imposed deadline of March 31 to empty Camp As Sayliyah, the former U.S.-run military base in Qatar where the Afghans are housed.

The U.S. is in negotiations with at least three countries—two in sub-Saharan Africa and one in southeast Asia—to take in these Afghans, many of whom say they risked their lives to help the U.S. war effort and have been stuck at the camp for over a year, U.S. officials said.

After Afghanistan fell to the Taliban in 2021, Camp As Sayliyah was meant to serve as a safe way station for Afghans who worked with the U.S. and applied to come to the U.S. They were required to wait for final approval on their visa or refugee paperwork.

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The U.S. has offered economic incentives for Afghans at the camp to voluntarily return to Afghanistan. This option comes with high risk, as the Taliban since taking power has detained, tortured or killed Afghans who worked alongside the U.S. before its military defeat in 2021.

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