UAE Sent Some Afghan Evacuees Home Days Before Trump Said He'd Save Them, Cable Shows

Days before US President Donald Trump said he would help Afghan evacuees who fled their country and were stuck in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the Emirati government had already begun returning them to Afghanistan and informed Washington that it was doing so, according to an internal State Department cable seen by Reuters on July 21.

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WASHINGTON —

The UAE, a close security partner of the US, agreed in 2021 to temporarily house several thousand Afghans evacuated from Kabul as the Taliban ousted the US-backed government during the final stages of the US-led withdrawal.

Throughout the years, about 17,000 Afghan evacuees have been processed through the Abu Dhabi facility, known as Emirates Humanitarian City. But more than 30 remaining Afghans have been stuck with their fate in limbo.

News outlet Just The News reported on July 21 that UAE officials were preparing to hand over some Afghan refugees to the Taliban.

“I will try to save them, starting right now,” Mr. Trump wrote in a post on his Truth Social platform on July 21 that linked to an article on the Afghans held in limbo there. But it may already be too late for some.

In a July 10 meeting with US officials in Abu Dhabi, Mr. Salem Al-Zaabi, UAE special adviser to the foreign minister, told the Americans that two families had been “successfully and safely” sent back to Afghanistan in early July, said the cable, which had the same date as the meeting.