Advocacy groups call plan ‘unacceptable’ as 1,100 Afghans remain stranded in Qatar after visa freeze
DAKAR, April 30, 2026
The Trump administration is in discussions with the Democratic Republic of Congo to resettle approximately 1,100 Afghan nationals stranded in Qatar who had been approved for resettlement in the United States, according to an advocacy group with direct knowledge of the talks, deepening a diplomatic controversy with significant implications for Africa’s most conflict-affected nation.
The Afghans including former interpreters, special forces soldiers who served alongside U.S. troops, relatives of American service members and over 400 children have been housed at Camp As Sayliyah, a former U.S. Army base near Doha, since the U.S. withdrawal from Kabul in 2021. Immigrant visa processing for Afghan nationals was halted after the Trump administration included Afghanistan on a travel ban list in June 2025 and suspended processing entirely that November.
Shawn VanDiver, president of the AfghanEvac advocacy coalition, told Global ECHOS he had been briefed on the Congo plan by multiple State Department officials and described it as unacceptable given the DRC’s chronic insecurity and existing displacement crisis of over 600,000 refugees. “There’s no jobs. They’re in the middle of a civil war. It’s not a place for Afghans,” VanDiver said. A prior plan to send the group to Botswana fell through after that country objected to a new U.S. requirement that its citizens pay a $15,000 visa bond when seeking entry to the United States.
The State Department said it is “continuing to work to identify options for voluntary resettlement” for the camp’s residents and described a third-country solution as a positive outcome that could provide safety for the group while upholding U.S. security interests. It declined to confirm or deny the Congo talks.
The DRC is currently navigating one of the world’s most acute humanitarian emergencies, with ongoing armed conflict in its eastern provinces, millions of internally displaced people, and an active M23 insurgency. Critics say the proposal to add a cohort of Afghans with no ties to the region reflects a fundamental disregard for the welfare of both the evacuees and the Congolese population.
