Over 1,100 US-Linked Afghans Remain Stranded in Qatar

(MENAFN) More than 1,100 Afghans who claim to have served alongside American forces are languishing at Camp As Sayliyah in Qatar, caught in bureaucratic limbo after the Trump administration suspended relocation programs and allowed a key deadline to lapse without resolution, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Citing U.S. officials, the Journal said Washington is currently in negotiations with at least three nations across sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia to find permanent homes for the displaced group — talks that came only after a March 31 deadline to shutter the former American military installation came and went.

The human cost is compounded by a mounting financial burden. The facility is consuming more than $10 million each month to operate, and Qatar has pressed for its closure. Inside the camp, morale has deteriorated sharply among hundreds of individuals still awaiting word on their visa applications.

Shawn VanDiver of Afghan Evac painted a grim picture of conditions on the ground. "When the deadline passed without explanation or follow-through, that hope turned into something closer to despair," he said, warning that many are "effectively prisoners of bureaucratic incompetence."

The crisis has drawn condemnation from Capitol Hill. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen issued an urgent appeal, stating, "We cannot wash our hands of these individuals," and cautioning that a forced return could expose them to violent Taliban reprisals.

The State Department, meanwhile, deflected blame toward the previous administration. Spokesperson Tommy Pigott pointed to the "Biden Administration's chaotic and poorly executed withdrawal from Afghanistan" as the root cause of the ongoing impasse.

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