Afghanistan urges US-allied Afghans stranded in Qatar to return home

Afghanistan’s foreign ministry says Afghans who helped America’s war effort and have been stuck in Qatar in the hope of reaching the United States, can safely return to Afghanistan.

The statement Saturday by foreign ministry spokesman Abdul Qahar Balkhi comes after reports emerged that the Trump administration is in discussions to potentially send 1,100 Afghans who assisted the US during its war in Afghanistan and relatives of US service members to Congo. An organisation called #AfghanEvac that supports Afghan resettlement efforts said that US officials had informed the group of discussions between the United States and Congo about taking the Afghan refugees who have been in limbo at Camp As-Sayliyah, a US base in Doha, for the past year. The State Department said it is working to identify options to “voluntarily” resettle the refugees in a third country, but did not confirm which nations were being discussed. An alternative provided to the refugees was to return to Afghanistan, #AfghanEvac said, where they fear reprisals or even death at the hands of the Taliban, who have been running the country since they seized power in the wake of the chaotic withdrawal of US-led forces in 2021, for working alongside the US during the two-decade war.

Afghanistan’s foreign ministry “reiterates that Afghanistan constitutes the shared homeland of all Afghans and it invites all those concerned, as well as others sharing a similar situation, (to) return to their homeland, whose doors remain open to them, to do so with full confidence & peace of mind,” Balkhi wrote in his statement.

He added that “those intending to travel to another country may do so at an appropriate juncture through legal & dignified channels.” Afghanistan’s foreign ministry “stands ready to engage with all countries,” Balkhi said, adding that the foreign ministry “underscores to all sides that there exist no security threats in Afghanistan, & none is compelled to leave the country on account of security considerations.” In a joint statement posted by the #AfghanEvac group on behalf of those in Camp As-Sayliyah, the Afghans said they had received no information from US officials about the talks to potentially relocate them, and had found out about it from the press. The state of limbo they have been living in is taking a severe toll on them, they said.

“Many of us are not well. The uncertainty has been more than some of us can carry. There is deep depression,” the group said, adding that some were struggling with their mental health because of the situation.