Closure in works at Qatar camp whose Afghan evacuees include dozens of US forces’ kin

The United States is shuttering its Afghan resettlement operation in Qatar and plans to relocate the hundreds of evacuees there who are awaiting transfer to the U.S., according to the State Department.

More than 150 immediate family members of U.S. military personnel are among those currently housed at Camp As Sayliyah, advocates at the nonprofit group #AfghanEvac said.

The camp, situated on a former Army base in the Qatari desert, has been used since the American withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021 as a temporary holding platform for thousands of Afghans fleeing the Taliban.

Among them are Afghans who assisted U.S. service members during the 20-year war, as well as their families.

All occupants will be relocated from Qatar by March 31, the State Department said Tuesday in a statement, adding that it will completely demobilize the base by the end of September.

It’s unclear where the Afghans will be relocated, but the agency said they won’t be sent back to Afghanistan.

“It is not appropriate or humane to keep this group of individuals (there) indefinitely,” a department spokesperson said.

Moving them to a different country “is a positive resolution that provides safety for these remaining people to start a new life outside of Afghanistan while upholding the safety and security of the American people,” the spokesperson said.

Approximately 1,100 people are currently present at the camp, according to #AfghanEvac. Roughly 800 are in the refugee pipeline and have approved pathways to the U.S., the group said.

The decision prompted outcry from resettlement advocates and congressional Democrats, who say closing the camp without a clear plan could put Afghans at further risk.

President Donald Trump has already halted refugee admissions and paused the processing of special immigrant visas, narrowing the pathways for Afghans seeking to resettle in America.

“Closing (Camp As Sayliyah) is the latest reckless step by the Trump administration to dismantle every remaining pathway for these allies to safely relocate in the United States,” U.S. Rep. Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., said last week in a statement. “It is a profound betrayal of those who stood with us in Afghanistan, and of America’s word.”

In the past, the U.S. has used sites in Germany and the Philippines as temporary shelter for Afghan evacuees.

American efforts to resettle Afghans have fallen under increased scrutiny in recent months as Republican lawmakers and administration officials raise concerns that evacuees were not properly vetted.

During a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing last week, a number of them tore into the program, which was established under former President Joe Biden.

They pointed to a recent shooting that killed one member of the West Virginia National Guard and wounded another. An Afghan national who came to the U.S. under humanitarian parole after the American withdrawal is facing charges in the case.

Democrats and advocacy groups have defended the program’s security measures, saying Afghans were thoroughly vetted and pose little security risk to the United States.