Thousands of Afghans who helped the U.S. war effort between 2001 and 2021 could be forced to choose between going back to a Taliban-run Afghanistan or moving to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which is facing one of “the most complex humanitarian crises” worldwide.
The group of Afghans, some of whom worked as interpreters for the U.S. military or are former members of the Afghan Special Operations forces, and their families have been living in Qatar while trying to obtain U.S. visas after the Fall of Kabul in 2021.
Initially, the U.S. government had promised to help resettle Afghans who had aided the U.S. and now face dire threats to their lives in Afghanistan.
But refugee resettlement groups were blindsided by President Donald Trump’s sudden suspension of refugee admissions into the U.S. last year. Following a deadly shooting of a National Guard member by an Afghan national, the administration froze a special visa program and announced plans to close the camp in Doha, stranding thousands of Afghans — more than 400 of whom are children, according to The New York Times.
Advocates say the ongoing discussion between the president and the DRC appears to be a way for the U.S. to use the war-torn nation as a “cover” to avoid obligations to resettle Afghans who helped the U.S. Instead, the move could be a “death sentence,” they said.
Details about the plan, such as how many Afghans would go to the DRC and when it could begin, are unclear at this time.
Shawn VanDiver, the president of #AfghanEvac, a nonprofit that provides resources for Afghan allies and ensures cooperation between the U.S. government and volunteer groups, said those refugees are not being given a choice.
“Rather than do the thing they should do, which is send them here, they’re going to send them into a civil war,” he told reporters Wednesday.
The Trump administration is not trying to “resettle” Afghans but force them back into Taliban control while using the DRC “as a cover that lets them do it,” he said.
A State Department spokesperson told The Independent it was still working to find voluntary resettlement options for residents of Camp As-Sayliyah, the former U.S. military base in Qatar where Afghan allies are residing — and that the U.S. was in communication with residents on those options.
Between 2021 and 2025, the U.S. helped nearly 200,000 Afghans, according to documents seen by CBS News.
The State Department spokesperson added that moving Afghans to a third country would provide people with a chance to start a new life outside of Afghanistan while maintaining the safety and security of the United States.
But the administration has given them an “impossible choice” instead, according to Democratic members of Congress working on refugee resettlement issues.
“These individuals stood with the United States throughout a 20-year war, many serving alongside American troops in combat,” according to a joint statement from Reps. Gregory Meeks, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove, the top Democrat on the Subcommittee on South and Central Asia.
“In return, we made a promise to protect them after the Taliban’s takeover,” they said. “Abandoning that commitment not only betrays our allies, it sends a dangerous message to future partners that U.S. promises cannot be trusted.”
Congresswoman Kamlager-Dove said she called the reversal “one of the greatest moral stains of this State Department.”
“A complete slap in the face,” she told reporters Wednesday. “It is a death sentence.”
For many Afghans who aided the U.S. during the Afghanistan War, going back to their home country could have deadly consequences.
Taiba Nawabi, a 27-year-old Afghan woman temporarily living in Pakistan, was physically attacked by members of the Taliban in her own home after it reclaimed power in 2021.
Nawabi told WBUR the Taliban attempted to behead her husband because she worked for a non-governmental organization that focused on women's issues and collaborated with the U.S. government during the war.
But resettling in the DRC, with an ongoing humanitarian crisis, may not be a reliable option for a new life.
Nearly 7 million people have been internally displaced due to the severe crisis, the United Nations Refugee Agency estimates. That’s on top of the more than 500,000 refugees and asylum seekers who are living in the DRC to escape violence in neighboring countries.
“You do not solve the world’s No. 1 refugee crisis by dumping it into the world’s No. 2 refugee crisis,” VanDiver told reporters.
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