The U.S. evacuated them from Afghanistan—Then they got stuck in the desert

Some 1,300 Afghans are in limbo at an American camp in Qatar, unable to continue to the U.S. but in danger if they go back home

- Robbie Gramer & Michelle Hackman

President Trump's clampdown on migration has closed off most of the Afghans' avenues to America.

(AP)

After three years evading the Taliban in Afghanistan, Mohammed Ibrahim thought he had made it to safety when the U.S. evacuated him, his wife and two of his children to a former American military base in Qatar.

Ibrahim had worked for over a decade with the U.S. military during America’s war in Afghanistan, putting him at risk for retribution by the Taliban. He had made it to the final stages of getting approved to permanently live in the U.S. as a refugee. He had been told it might take a few weeks for the final paperwork to clear.

Ten months later, he and his family members—along with some 1,300 other Afghans at the former base, known as Camp As Sayliyah—are stuck.

What had already been a narrow window into the U.S. has now all but shut. President Trump’s clampdown on migration has closed off most of the Afghans’ avenues to America, and many of the government officials in charge of relocating them have been let go.

Afghans with hopes of reaching the U.S. are stranded across the globe, but Camp As Sayliyah is unique: It’s the only place where the U.S. has direct custody. The Afghans there have grown increasingly fearful the U.S. government could eventually try to wash its hands of them and send them home.

“If there was a 50% chance the Taliban knew I was working for the Americans before, they will be 100% sure now,” Ibrahim said.

Ibrahim and his family arrived at the camp on Jan. 16, four days before Trump took office. The government was preparing to formally issue him paperwork as a refugee—a legal designation meaning the U.S. recognized his life was in danger in his home country—and made preparations to fly him to the U.S.

But Trump halted the refugee program when he took office, and Ibrahim’s paperwork was never completed.